It is not uncommon to send a WhatsApp message and then look for a way to delete the sent Message, due to presence of an error, spelling mistake or an improper word being used in the message.
Luckily, the “Delete for Everyone” feature in WhatsApp can help you bail out of such situations by deleting the Message, even though it has already been sent out.
Apart from correcting mistakes, this feature can also be useful, if you end up sending a Message to the wrong Chat, post a somewhat personal Message in a Group Chat.
Delete Sent WhatsApp Messages
According to WhatsApp, the “Delete for Everyone” feature works, only if you take the steps to delete the sent message within 7 minutes of sending it.
When the Sent Message is successfully deleted, your original message will be replaced with “This Message was deleted” in the recipients Chats.
1. Delete Sent WhatsApp Messages on iPhone
You can follow the steps below to recall or delete sent WhatsApp Messages on your iPhone.
1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone > tap on Chats tab in the bottom menu.
2. On Chats Screen, open the Chat from which you want to Recall the sent Message.
3. Press and Hold (Long Press) on the Message that you want to Recall and select the Delete option in the contextual menu that appears.
4. On the pop-up that appears, tap on Delete for Everyone option.
5. On the Confirmation pop-up, tap on OK to confirm.
Once the selected Message is successfully Deleted For Everyone, the sent message will be replaced with “You deleted this Message” on your screen.
As mentioned above, this feature works only if you Delete the sent Messages within 7 minutes of sending the Message.
2. Delete Sent Messages in WhatsApp on Android Phone
If you are using an Android phone, you can follow the steps below to delete Sent WhatsApp Message.
1. Open WhatsApp > switch Chats tab and open the Chat from which you want to delete Sent Message.
2. Press and Hold (Long Press) on the Message that you want to Delete and tap on the Trash Can icon that appears in the top menu.
3. On the pop-up menu that appears, select Delete for Everyone option.
The selected Message will be deleted and replaced with “You deleted this Message” on your screen. On the recipients screen, the deleted Message will be replaced with “This Message was deleted”.
Delete For Me in WhatsApp
In addition to “Delete for Everyone” option, WhatsApp provides another option to delete Messages know as “Delete for Me.”
As you can guess from the Name, this option only deletes Messages from your Chat screen and has no impact on the Recipients Chats.
In other words, deleting WhatsApp Messages using “Delete For Me” has no impact on the Chats of your Recipients. They will continue to see the Messages, even after they have been deleted on your device using “Delete For Me” option.