How to delete and revoke accidental WhatsApp messages after you send them
Ever sent a message on WhatsApp then immediately regretted it? Ever tapped enter then felt cold fear flood your body as something embarrassing lands on the notifications screens of the wrong group chat, or the home screen of your boss?
Of course you have. And we've all fumbled our way through a 'lol wrong convo' follow-up, or bailed out of the group chat in a blind panic.
Help is — finally — at hand, as WhatsApp introduces a way to delete messages after they have been sent, removing them from the recipient's phone. We can almost feel your relief from here.
Documented in a new support article on WhatsApp's FAQ page, the social networking app states: "You can delete messages for everyone or just for yourself...Deleting messages for everyone allows you to delete specific messages you have sent to either a group or an individual chat. This is particularly useful if you sent a message to the wrong chat or if the message you sent contains a mistake."
How to delete sent WhatsApp messages:
- Open WhatsApp and go to the chat containing the message you wish to delete
- Tap and hold the message, then tape Delete from the menu. Or, select more messages to delete multiple mistakes at once
- Tap Delete, then Delete for Everyone
But before you rush out and delete every Friday night conversation you've ever had, WhatsApp can only undo your mistakes within seven minutes of the message first being sent. Also, you and all recipients must be using the latest version of WhatsApp for deleting to work.
WhatsApp also adds the disclaimer that "recipients may see your message before it's deleted or if deletion was not successful" —the latter might be because the recipient is not connected to the internet, and thus to the WhatsApp server sending the delete request. In that situation, you "will not be notified if deleting for everyone was not successful."
