Last day at work today. So I clean out my Mac, copy code and documents - standard. Then I delete all my internet history, passwords, personal docs etc. I almost get ready to hand over the computer and realize iMessage still has full access to my phone and has saved every text/iMessage I've sent for the last 5 years or so. Woopsie!
So I go to delete my account and all saved stuff - which again - is basically a record of every text I've received or sent for 5 years. Kinda sensitive stuff. Should be easy right? Guess again. Logging out of my account is pretty easy. But then they have this awesome flow where you can decide not to login, then another step where you can say Cancel or Skip. And if you pick Skip - boom iMessage opens with every saved message you ever sent.
Yes you can delete each conversation one at a time. But we're talking several hundred and each one is a multi-step "Are you sure you want to delete this conversation?" process.
So here's just one step of the fun instructions for actually deleting existing messages:
https://www.imobie.com/support/how-t...ermanently.htm
So I do all that, temporarily forgetting that there is more than one /Library/messages dir on my Mac. Finally find all of them. Delete all the chat.mdb whatever file. Empty trash. Open iMessage - everything is still there. Naked texts from the gf - still there. I'm like wtf. How can I turn this in to my boss? Part of our instructions are we're supposed to give them access to our login when we leave.
Finally out of desperation I decided to reboot. And THEN it was finally gone. HYATHCHAYAYAYAYAY Why did that even work? I have no idea.
****ing hell Apple - think about **** every now and then. There is nothing more sensitive than your entire text history. Maybe don't make it like Raiders of the Lost Ark to delete? Should be one button - Delete All Saved Messages? Yes.