WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to delete sent messages, allowing you to remove messages you no longer want to have in the conversation. But how does deleting WhatsApp messages work exactly? Can you delete messages just for yourself or will it delete them for everyone? Here’s what you need to know about deleting WhatsApp messages.
Deleting WhatsApp Messages for Yourself
Yes, you can delete WhatsApp messages just for yourself. When you delete a message you’ve sent, it will be removed from your view of the chat, but not for the recipient. So on your screen, it will appear as if the message was never sent, but the other people in the chat will still be able to see it.
Here are the steps to delete a WhatsApp message on your device:
- Open the WhatsApp chat containing the message you want to delete.
- Long press on the message to select it.
- Tap the trash can icon to delete the message.
- Confirm you want to delete the message.
And that’s it! The message will be removed from your view of the chat. However, a “This message was deleted” note will show for the other people in the chat in place of your message. They can still long press on that note to view the contents of your deleted message if you had only deleted it for yourself.
When Recipients Can Still See Deleted Messages
While deleting a WhatsApp message for yourself can remove it from your view of the chat, recipients may still be able to see the deleted message in some cases:
- If the recipient uses a third-party app to back up their WhatsApp chats, the deleted message may still be visible in those backups.
- If the recipient did not have internet connectivity when you deleted your message, the message will remain visible to them until their device syncs.
- If the recipient long presses on the “This message was deleted” note where your message used to be, they can still view the contents of the deleted message.
So while deleting a message removes it from your view, it does not guarantee the message will be permanently deleted or invisible on the recipient’s device in all cases.
How to Delete WhatsApp Messages for Everyone
While you cannot guarantee a message will be permanently deleted for another person, WhatsApp does give you the option to delete a message for all chat participants. This will fully remove the message for everyone in the chat and prevent it from being retrieved.
Here are the steps to delete a WhatsApp message for everyone:
- Open the WhatsApp chat containing the message you want to delete.
- Long press on the message to select it.
- Tap the delete icon (trash can) at the top of the screen.
- Confirm you want to delete the message for everyone when prompted.
Note that you only have a limited time to delete messages for everyone:
- For messages you sent, you can delete for everyone up to 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds after sending.
- For messages you received, you can delete for everyone up to 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds after receiving it.
If you attempt to delete a message for everyone after this time limit, the message will only be deleted from your view of the chat.
There are also some other caveats to be aware of with deleting WhatsApp messages for everyone:
- The message may still appear in message notifications until the recipient clears their notifications.
- If the recipient already viewed and opened the message before you deleted it, they may still have seen the contents.
- You cannot delete messages for everyone in group chats if a participant has already viewed it.
- Deleting for everyone does not prevent the recipient from taking a screenshot or copy of the message contents before it was deleted.
So while deleting for everyone removes the message from the chat, it does not guarantee the contents were never seen or stored by the recipients beforehand.
Can You Recover Deleted WhatsApp Messages?
If you accidentally deleted a crucial WhatsApp message, is there any way to recover it? Unfortunately recovering deleted WhatsApp messages is not straightforward.
Since deleting a WhatsApp message removes it from your phone’s storage, the only way to recover it is from a backup. Here are some options to try:
- WhatsApp cloud backup – If you have WhatsApp cloud backups enabled, you can restore messages from a previous backup date before the message was deleted.
- Local backup – On Android you can find WhatsApp backups locally and try to restore deleted messages from there.
- Third-party apps – Some third-party apps claim to recover deleted WhatsApp messages from your phone’s storage, though success rates vary.
- Ask the recipient – If you only deleted the message for yourself, ask the recipient to send you a screenshot or forward you the message again.
But there is no foolproof way to recover deleted WhatsApp messages reliably. That’s why it’s always advisable to back up your WhatsApp chats regularly so you have multiple backup copies should you ever need to restore a deleted or lost message.
Does WhatsApp Notify When You Delete Messages?
When you delete a message in WhatsApp, it does not directly notify other chat participants that a message was removed. However, there are some subtle indicators that can show a message was deleted:
- If you delete a message for yourself, a “This message was deleted” note shows for other participants.
- If you delete a message for everyone, the message is completely removed from the chat with no notice or trace.
- Any replies to the deleted message will no longer have the original message shown as the parent.
- If a message is deleted from a group chat, the message counter decreases by 1.
So while WhatsApp does not directly state “This message was deleted”, recipients can infer a message was removed by these other signals. Of course, if you delete a message before anyone views it, there is no notice or indication provided.
Can You See Deleted WhatsApp Messages Online?
Since deleting WhatsApp messages removes them from the user’s phones, they cannot be directly viewed online or on WhatsApp’s servers after being deleted. However, there are some indirect ways you may find traces of deleted WhatsApp messages online:
- In Google search results – If the message had been indexed by Google before deletion, it may still show up in searches.
- In files or images that were shared – The actual files or images sent via deleted WhatsApp messages could still be retrievable online.
- In third-party backups – Backups of WhatsApp chats on services like iCloud or Google Drive may retain copies of deleted messages.
- In screenshots – If someone took a screenshot of the message before it was deleted, they could share it online.
But there is no direct way to view the actual deleted WhatsApp message content through WhatsApp or online after deletion. Traces depend on whether external copies or backups of the content existed before deletion.
What Happens When You Delete WhatsApp?
What happens when you delete WhatsApp entirely off your phone? Here are the key effects:
- You will lose access to all your WhatsApp chats and message history on that device.
- Your WhatsApp account remains intact, along with your profile info, contacts, groups etc.
- You can reinstall WhatsApp again and restore your chats and data from a backup.
- If you don’t have backups enabled, your chat history cannot be retrieved once WhatsApp is deleted.
- Other WhatsApp users can still see past conversations with you even if you have deleted WhatsApp.
So deleting the WhatsApp app erases your local chat history and data, but your account and some data remains in WhatsApp’s servers. You can restore information as long as you have backups set up before deleting the app. Without backups, the data is permanently lost.
Can WhatsApp Deleted Messages Be Recovered by Police?
What if WhatsApp message contents are needed for a police investigation? Can they recover deleted WhatsApp messages? In some cases, it may be possible.
If the messages were deleted very recently, police can work with WhatsApp to attempt to recover them from their servers before permanent deletion. They can also seize the phones of the sender and recipient and try to recover deleted messages from storage or backups.
However, if the messages were deleted a long time ago, there is very little chance of message recovery, even by police. WhatsApp encrypts all stored data, so once messages are purged from their servers, even WhatsApp likely cannot retrieve them.
Police do have legal authority to demand WhatsApp provide message data. But if the messages were already permanently deleted by users, there is little even law enforcement can do to retrieve them.
Conclusion
In summary:
- You can delete WhatsApp messages for yourself, but recipients may still see them in some cases.
- Deleting messages for everyone removes them fully but only works within a short time frame.
- Deleted WhatsApp messages are nearly impossible to recover without backups.
- Police may be able to recover very recently deleted messages but not those deleted long ago.
Deleting messages on WhatsApp removes them from your view but does not always guarantee permanent deletion for recipients. Set up regular backups to be safe in case you ever need to restore deleted messages that were removed by accident or mistake.