Just did it, I got rid of 8 GB out of 59 GB that my phone was using total, not bad!
Note: I have my messages set to keep for 1 year, then delete, and all of my messages are now deleted. Definitely set your messages to keep “forever” before doing this, just in case!
Edit: I turned off, then back on messages in iCloud and now all of my messages are re-downloading!
Whitehotburn t1_j2d24pj wrote
Reply to PSA: The proper way to delete or shrink iPhone System Data use on disk by Vertsix
Just did it, I got rid of 8 GB out of 59 GB that my phone was using total, not bad!
Note: I have my messages set to keep for 1 year, then delete, and all of my messages are now deleted. Definitely set your messages to keep “forever” before doing this, just in case!
Edit: I turned off, then back on messages in iCloud and now all of my messages are re-downloading!