How to Delete Sent Facebook Messages
At some point in our lives we’ve probably all been guilty of sending a message and then later reconsidering our actions and wishing we hadn’t. WhatsApp has a relatively new feature that lets youdelete a sent message before it is read, and Facebook is following suit with Messenger.
Currently when you send a message via Facebook Messenger you can tap and hold the message to access a Delete option, and it will be removed from your conversation thread (as shown below). Except what you can’t see is that this message has only been deleted for you, and your recipient can still read it. This is signalled by the term ‘your copy of the message’.
Hope is coming, however. Twitter user@wongmjanehas spotted an in-beta Unsend feature, similar to that found on WhatsApp. This new feature, which has not yet rolled out to all users, will give you the option to delete for everyone.
We’ll update this story when we have confirmation of the upcoming feature from Facebook.
Author: Marie Black, Editorial Director, International
Marie is Editorial Director at Foundry. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for almost 20 years, covering all types of consumer tech from smartphones and their accessories to smart home gear. These days she manages our international editorial teams and leads on content strategy, having witnessed first-hand Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
