Google Voice is a popular voice over IP (VoIP) service that provides users with a virtual phone number for making and receiving calls, sending and receiving text messages, voicemail services, and more. Over time, many Google Voice users accumulate a large number of messages in their account that they may eventually want to delete.
Fortunately, there are a few ways to delete messages from Google Voice, with options to delete individual messages or entire conversations. This guide will walk through the various methods for permanently deleting messages from your Google Voice account.
Table of Contents
Deleting Individual Google Voice Text Messages
If you only need to delete a few specific text messages from a conversation, you can easily do so right from the Google Voice website or mobile app.
On the Google Voice Website
To delete individual text messages from the Google Voice website:
- Log into your Google Voice account on the web at voice.google.com
- Click on the “Messages” icon in the left sidebar
- Open the conversation containing the message(s) you want to delete
- Hover your mouse over the message and click the three-dot menu icon
- Select “Delete” from the dropdown menu
- Confirm that you want to delete the message
The selected message(s) will be immediately and permanently deleted.
On the Google Voice Mobile App
To delete individual text messages from the Google Voice mobile app:
- Open the Google Voice app on your Android or iOS device
- Tap on “Messages” at the bottom
- Open the conversation containing the message(s) you want to delete
- Long press the specific message you want to delete
- Tap “Delete” in the pop-up menu
- Confirm that you want to delete the message
The selected message(s) will be immediately and permanently deleted.
Deleting Entire Google Voice Conversations
If you want to delete an entire text conversation from your Google Voice account, you can easily do so in just a few clicks. This will permanently delete the entire chat history with that contact.
On the Google Voice Website
To delete an entire text conversation from the Google Voice website:
- Log into your Google Voice account on the web at voice.google.com
- Click the “Messages” icon in the left sidebar
- Check the box next to any conversation you want to delete
- Click the “Delete” button at the top
- Confirm that you understand the messages will be permanently deleted
On the Google Voice Mobile App
To delete an entire text conversation from the Google Voice mobile app:
- Open the Google Voice app on your Android or iOS device
- Tap “Messages” at the bottom
- Tap and hold the conversation you want to delete
- Tap the trash icon in the upper right corner
- Tap “Delete” to confirm
Deleting Google Voice Voicemails
Much like text messages, you can also delete individual Google Voice voicemails one by one or clear out your entire voicemail inbox in one go.
Deleting Individual Google Voice Voicemails
To remove specific voicemail messages from your Google Voice account:
- Go to the “Voicemail” section of Google Voice on the web or in the mobile app
- Check the box next to each voicemail message you want to delete
- Click or tap the “Delete” button
- Confirm that you want to permanently delete the selected voicemail(s)
Deleting All Google Voice Voicemails
If you want to completely clear out your Google Voice voicemail box, you can quickly delete all messages with these steps:
- Go to the “Voicemail” section of Google Voice
- Click or tap the checkbox at the top to select all voicemails on the current page
- Click or tap the “Delete” button
- Check the box to confirm you understand the voicemails will be permanently deleted
- Click or tap “Delete” again to confirm
This will immediately delete all voicemail messages visible on that page. To clear out additional pages of voicemails, repeat the steps above.
Using Google Voice Settings to Delete Messages
In addition to manually deleting messages one by one or in bulk, you can also configure Google Voice settings to auto-delete messages after a certain period of time.
Here’s how to manage auto-delete settings in Google Voice:
- Open Google Voice on the web and click “Settings”
- Select the “Messages” or “Voicemail” tab
- Under auto-delete settings, choose the timeframe after which you want messages to be deleted (30 days, 90 days, etc.)
- Click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page
With this enabled, Google Voice will automatically delete messages after the selected number of days so you don’t have to manually manage the cleanup.
Deleting Your Google Voice Number
If you want to not just delete all your existing Google Voice messages but remove your Google Voice number entirely, you have the option to delete your entire Google Voice account.
However, be aware that deleting your Google Voice number is permanent and cannot be undone. You will lose the ability to use that number going forward if you rely on it as your primary number.
To delete your Google Voice number and account:
- Go to the “Phones” section of Google Voice
- Under your phone number, click the button to delete your number
- Select a reason for deleting your account
- Check the boxes to confirm you understand your number will be permanently disconnected
- Click “Delete Number” and then “OK” to confirm
Once deleted, your Google Voice number cannot be recovered or ported to another service. All messages and voicemails associated with your account will be erased from Google’s servers.
Conclusion
Google Voice stores long-term records of all calls, voicemails, and text message conversations in your account. While this history can be useful, over time it’s easy for old messages to pile up and clutter your inbox.
Thankfully, Google Voice provides options to prune back your account by deleting individual messages or entire conversations with just a few clicks. You can also configure auto-delete settings to have Google automatically purge older messages after a set number of days.
For those looking for a more complete clean slate, deleting your Google Voice number entirely will wipe the slate completely clean, at the cost of losing that number and account forever.
Hopefully this guide has provided a few helpful methods for taking out the digital trash and keeping your Google Voice account nice and tidy by permanently deleting messages you no longer need. Let me know if you have any other questions!