iCloud Help! Messages take up too much space! Store in iCloud ONLY?

[GooseInTheCaboose]

So I got a new MacBook and I noticed my messages are taking up a whopping 20GB. I have no need for these to be stored DIRECTLY ON my device SSD.

I would be content with these messages in the Cloud. However, I want to be able to access them with my device...via iCloud. Just not store them on my MacBook.

Is this possible? How do I change the settings to do this?

 

[Queerwavves]

So I got a new MacBook and I noticed my messages are taking up a whopping 20GB. I have no need for these to be stored DIRECTLY ON my device SSD.

I would be content with these messages in the Cloud. However, I want to be able to access them with my device...via iCloud. Just not store them on my MacBook.

Is this possible? How do I change the settings to do this?

Any luck here? I’m encountering the same issue

 

[TonyC28]

I’ve struggled with this. I don’t think there’s a way for the user to decide. If you turn iCloud messages on, it will store some amount on the device and you don’t choose how.

 

[obesechess]

Has anyone found a fix for this yet? I have messages set to delete automatically after six months and automatically store all media in icloud, however for some reason Messages is taking up Seventy Gigabytes on my M2 Mac Mini's SSD, compared to 1.4GB on my iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I've already tried de-syncing, deleting, and re-syncing with iCloud as advised by Apple Support, and that didn't help. I wouldn't even mind them being stored on my 2TB External Drive, but that's more than a quarter of my 256gb of SSD space.

 

[splifingate]

My Local Messages storage (on the Studio) is ~188GB 🤷‍♂️

[I really need to do some date-housekeeping on the matter; weed-out the unnecessary cruft that follows me around]

I'm assuming that the d/l

functionality to which we are familiar--when we enable iCloud Drive--is not really a Prime consideration for AAPL with Messages.

My Photos Storage is ~339GB . . . I imagine that others hold much more.

I enable 'Optimize Storage' in Photos, because I really don't need 1:1 all the time (I am sufficiently-connected, and there is very little lag-time Cloud -> Device).

Personally, I hold no shortage in storage . . . a mirroring of 1TB wouldn't really tax my systems....

But, I hear your concern.

File a 'bug' with AAPL ?