How to Delete a Photo or Video Permanently from the iOS Messages App

You can delete photos and videos from a text thread without deleting the entire conversation.

To delete a photo or video from the Messages app for iOS:

 

• Open a text conversation, find the offending photo or video and tap-and-hold on it. 
• A short tap opens the photo and video, and a hard tap-and-hold will preview it via 3D touch on supported devices. Your gentle tap-and-hold will reveal a three-button menu: Copy, Save and More. 
• Tap More, which selects the photo or video via a small blue checkmark along the left edge. 
• Next, tap the trash can in the lower-left corner and then tap Delete Message. 
• The photo or video will be permanently deleted, but the rest of the conversation will remain.

You can delete multiple photo and videos using this method. After tapping the More button, you can scroll through the text conversation and select other photos, videos and messages before tapping the trash can.