I found a serious Google Messages storage problem; Apple solved it

Published Nov 2, 2026, 5:00 PM EST I don't love the current state of RCS in Google Messages, but I still rely on it every day. This is also the story of many Android users who use RCS in Google Messages. Search any social media platform or forum, and you'll find several complaints about how Google handles RCS in the Messages app. While some of the criticisms unfairly label Google as the culprit, the Mountain View tech giant is responsible for most of the problems in the Messages app. Who else will I blame for missing features on Google Messages? These issues are well-known, and I accepted them and moved on a long time ago. However, I recently found a serious storage issue in Google Messages that hardly anyone talks about, and I can't help but hold Google accountable. What irks me even more is that Apple solved the problem in its Messages app a long time ago. RCS makes it feel even worse Text messages don't take up much storage, or at least not enough to cause worry. But I don't use the Google Messages app only for text messages. Most of it is text, but a large part of my communication includes images and videos. I send and receive those files on Google Messages through RCS almost every day. They pile up over time and silently take up your storage. It's easy to overlook this because most of us don't expect a messaging app as simple as Google Messages to turn into a storage guzzler. This is where the problem lies. When your phone storage is nearly full, one of the first things we usually check is whether we have saved movies or TV shows for offline viewing in our favorite streaming apps. That's the first thing I did when my Samsung Galaxy phone warned me of the storage crisis. I deleted those movies and TV shows, but I still wondered what else took up my storage. I accidentally tapped the Messages app in Settings and found out that it took up almost 20GB of storage. It didn't take long to figure out why a simple messaging app was taking up that much storage. Years of RCS messaging and not clearing it up turned the Messages app into a storage hoarder. Google should take lessons from how Apple solved the issue Messages on my iPhone won't face such issues You're unlikely to face such a problem if you use iMessage on an iPhone. The trick is to turn on the right settings in Messages, and you can do it easily. I have an iPhone 16e, and I use iMessage. Instead of using the default setup, I tweaked the settings to turn it into an app that auto-cleans itself after a few days. If you have an iPhone, open Settings, type "Messages" in the search bar, tap Messages, scroll, and find Keep Messages. I don't keep messages longer than 30 days, so I set it to 30 days after tapping Keep Messages. By default, it'll keep messages forever unless you manually delete them, like Google Messages. In addition to the 30 Days option, you can also keep messages for a year. The Messages settings handle Audio Messages the same way. You can either never delete them or tell the app to auto-delete them after two minutes. You'll find this option towards the bottom of the Messages settings page. This is a robust system, and the kind I want on Google Messages. Google Messages has an auto-delete mechanism, but it kicks in when messages remain in the trash folder for 30 days. I love this, but it doesn't fully eliminate the need for human intervention. You'll still need to delete those messages manually to move them to the trash folder. You won't find any evidence that suggests Google is working on auto-deletion features similar to the ones in the Messages app on iOS. So, I don't expect this feature anytime soon in Google Messages, though I'd love Google to prove me wrong. I'll keep using Google Messages despite the lack of these auto-delete features I'm not a fan of the iPhone and iOS, so I can't replace Google Messages with Apple's Messages. I wouldn't have done it even if Apple's Messages app were a thing on Android. This is a bold statement, especially when I have so many complaints about Google Messages. Despite all its imperfections, I love using Google Messages as my daily driver for its simplicity, which, unfortunately, is unmatched so far. However, I'm equally disappointed that the auto-delete features aren't available. I'm willing to wait another couple of years for this to change. If Google takes two more years to add the feature, I'd have to clean my inbox at least four times before I turn on auto-delete.