You may have noticed an option that says “Lock” whenever you tap and hold an individual text message from within some versions of the Android Messaging app. You might wonder what it does. You’re not the only one.
Locking a text message marks the message to prevent it from being deleted. There are still ways to delete locked text messages, the Lock feature just adds an extra layer of security to prevent accidental deletion.
So if you lock a text message, then later wish to delete the entire thread that message is included in, it will leave the locked messages and delete the rest. Some smartphones will prompt you to delete locked messages when deleting threads by providing an “Include protected message” or “Delete locked messages” check-box option.
FAQ
If I factory reset my Android, will it retain locked messages?
No, it will not.
Tom says
January 9, 2019 at 8:31 pmWhat happened in case I upgrad my phone?
Linda says
November 12, 2018 at 9:56 amI keep getting text messages from Unknown. Instead of using 2 or 3 minutes, they eat up 159 minutes or so!!
The last one left me with 29 minutes out of 1000 I buy monthly and never even use half that.
I don’t know how to block these, and if I delete, it takes forever for it to delete.
Mitch Bartlett says
October 21, 2018 at 11:59 amI am not aware of any mechanism that would report a message being locked.
Dela says
October 21, 2018 at 4:04 amIf I lock a message does the other person know?
Terry P. says
May 17, 2018 at 5:14 amNo….I have a Note 4, & the option of locking an individual text is no longer an option. I want to delete the thread & save ONLY special text. What happened?
Jeremy Weitzel says
February 25, 2018 at 5:51 pmBe careful! I had a bunch of locked messages that got deleted anyway, and I DID NOT check to include them them in the delete action.
Stephanie says
February 25, 2018 at 10:04 amI have an Android, Motorola Moto G5 . On my old phone I was able to lock certain messages so that they wouldn’t get deleted when I deleted the thread. I used it to save special messages from friends and especially from my kids. . Is there an app to do that on this new phone? I appreciate any help you can give me, thanks.
Mickey Scholwinski says
February 8, 2018 at 3:19 amThanks for answering my question. Very helpful.
Mitch Bartlett says
December 27, 2017 at 8:01 pmA third-party texting app. I believe Chomp SMS and Handcent do it.
Amy Vegan says
December 27, 2017 at 1:12 ami don’t have a press/hold message for “lock message” on 7.1 android zte blade. terrible. i need this feature. how can i get it?
Ms Barb Banen says
October 18, 2017 at 10:12 pmMy ZTE MaxPro has recently been deleting locked text mssgs when deleting thread: & I am NOT checking the box inquiring if I want to delect licked messages? Very frustrating & losing some needed texts. Thank you.
Faye says
October 7, 2017 at 12:59 pmNo.
My text disappeared and want to get it back, so, I need to undo the whole text
Jinky Panesa says
September 24, 2017 at 8:47 pmYes it did. Thank you much!