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So, you own Apple devices, and you're looking to sync up all your iMessages across every device. Well, Apple's "iCloud for Messages" feature is the solution for you. In this guide, you'll learn how iCloud for Messages works and how to enable it on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Read: How to edit and unsend iMessage texts on iPhone and iPad

What is Apple's iCloud for Messages feature?

iCloud for Messages is a feature that syncs iMessages across all your Apple devices. iMessages are messages - texts, photos, or videos - that you send to another iPhone, iPad, or Mac user over Wi-Fi or cellular-data networks. When iCloud for Messages is enabled, your entire Apple Messages chat history stays up to date across any device signed in to your Apple ID. That also means your text, photos, videos, and attachments will take up iCloud storage, and if you delete a message on one Apple device, it will be gone from all your devices.

How does iCloud for Messages syncs your chats across Apple devices?

With iCloud for Messages, your iMessages are stored in the cloud instead of locally on your Apple device. That change is essentially what allows you to seamlessly sync messages across all your devices in real time. You can drop into an Apple Messages conversation and see the most up-to-date messages no matter what device you are using - be it an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. But you need to turn the feature on and be signed in to your Apple ID for all your iMessages to appear on the Apple device and for you to get the same view everywhere.

iCloud for Messages
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How to turn on iCloud for Messages

To enable Message in iCloud, make sure you have set up iCloud and are signed in with the same Apple ID across all your devices. You will also need to be using two-factor authentication with your Apple ID and have turned on iCloud Keychain.

  • For iPhone and iPad users: Go to Settings, tap on [your name] at the top, tap iCloud, look for Messages, and turn on Messages.
  • For Mac users: Open Messages on your Mac, select the Messages menu in the top left corner, tap on Settings from the menu, click iMessage, and select the box next to Enable iCloud for Messages.

With this feature turned on, you should never miss a message again, and all your conversations will be up to date.

How to turn off iCloud for Messages

To turn off iCloud for Messages, you basically repeat the same steps as above - but you toggle off the feature instead of toggle it on.

  • For iPhone and iPad users: Go to Settings, tap on [your name] at the top, tap iCloud, look for Messages, and turn off Messages.
  • For Mac users: Open Messages on your Mac, select the Messages menu in the top left corner, tap on Settings from the menu, click iMessage, and unselect the box next to Enable iCloud for Messages.

If you choose to turn off iCloud for Messages on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, your message history will be included in a separate iCloud backup. You can choose to turn iCloud for Messages off for just one device or for all your devices.

Need more help? See Apple's iCloud for Messages support page.

Want to know more about iMessages?

Check out Pocket-lint's guide: Apple iMessage tips and tricks.