How to Mark All Messages as Read in iOS 17 on iPhone

We receive many messages daily on our iPhones and tend to dismiss most right from the notifications. However, they keep piling up in the Messages app, and the glaring red dot of unread messages stares back at you whenever you unlock your iPhone.

If you are one of those people who don’t let it bother you, well, good for you. But if the badge of unread messages is unnerving you, thankfully, you do not have to open each thread of messages to mark them as read. You can bulk mark all messages ‘as read’ in one fell swoop and here’s how you can do it in iOS 17.

Mark All Messages as Read from the Messages App

First, head to the Messages app from the Home Screen or the App Library.

Now, make sure you’re in the ‘All Messages’ folder. Otherwise, even after marking all messages as read, some will still be left as unread, and you’ll need to hop folders and repeat the steps again. What good would that do? If you’re not in the All Messages folder, tap on ‘Filters’ in the top-left corner.

Next, tap the tile for ‘All Messages’. This folder contains all your messages, whether they are from known or unknown senders, transactions, or promotions. So, you’ll strike the unread messages where it will make the most impact. You can also go to the ‘Unread messages’ folder.

Now, tap on the ‘ellipsis’ in the top right corner. This will bring an overflow menu to your screen.

After that, tap on ‘Select Messages.’

Then, tap on ‘Read All’ in the bottom left corner of the screen. That’s it. All messages will be marked as read instantaneously.

If you have a ton of unread messages in your inbox, you can use this method to mark them ‘as read’ in bulk instead of letting the increasing number give you anxiety.