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Promotions and auto-delete ​

ClearSMS keeps promotional texts quiet, and can delete old ones for you so they do not pile up. This page explains exactly what it deletes, so you can decide whether to keep it on.

Promotions are silent ​

Texts sorted as promotions go to the Promos tab on the silent Promotions (silent) notification channel. They never ring or vibrate. You can change this channel in Android's notification settings for ClearSMS.

Automatic clean-up ​

Auto-delete old promotions is on when you install ClearSMS, set to keep promotions for 2 wks.

Deleted messages cannot be recovered

Clean-up deletes messages from your phone's message store, not just from ClearSMS. Other SMS apps will not see them either, and there is no undo.

What is deleted ​

A message is deleted only when all of these are true:

  • It is a received message (not one you sent).
  • It is older than the period you chose.
  • ClearSMS sorts that single message as a promotion.
  • The sender is not in your contacts.

ClearSMS checks each message on its own, so a promotion inside a conversation that mostly holds other messages is still removed.

What is never deleted ​

  • Messages from saved contacts.
  • Messages you sent.
  • Messages sorted as Personal, Transactions or OTP.

Sorting uses keyword rules, so now and then a message you care about could be sorted as a promotion. If a business sends you something important in a message that also reads like an offer, save that sender as a contact, or turn clean-up off.

When it runs ​

  • When you open ClearSMS, and when a new text arrives, at most once every six hours.
  • Straight away when you turn the setting on or choose a different period.

It only works while ClearSMS is your default SMS app, because Android lets only the default app delete messages.

Change or turn off clean-up ​

  1. Open Settings. On the Promos tab you can also tap Change next to Auto-deleted after….

  2. Under PROMOTIONS, choose a period under Keep promotions for: 1 wk, 2 wks, 1 mo or 3 mo. The line below confirms it, for example Currently: promotions older than 2 weeks are deleted.

  3. To keep every message, turn off Auto-delete old promotions.

If the change deletes anything, ClearSMS tells you how many, for example "12 old promotion(s) deleted".

Next steps ​