Unsend a message
You can undo a recently sent message for up to two minutes after sending it. Touch and hold the message bubble, then tap Undo Send. A note confirming that you unsent the message appears in both conversation transcripts: yours and your recipient's.
If you sent the text via traditional SMS, then the answer is no – once the text is sent, it cannot be unsent or deleted. If you sent the text via a service like iMessage or WhatsApp, then you may be able to delete the text before the other person reads it.
Yes, you can delete a text message after you send it. To do so, open the messaging app on your phone and locate the message that you sent. If the message is still in your outbox or sent messages folder, then there should be an option to delete it.
Deleting messages changes only your own Messages conversations, not those of your recipients. Tip: Use Undo Send to retract a message you sent accidentally.
You can only take back a message within two minutes of sending it. The recipient can read your message before you unsend it. If you unsend a message, it will disappear from the recipient's screen, but they'll be notified that you unsent it.
Unfortunately, you cannot delete a message from both your and the recipient's iPhone once it is sent using the default iMessage or SMS app. However, some third-party apps like WhatsApp or Telegram allow you to delete messages from both sides within a specific time frame.
In addition to the requirement of having iOS 16 to 'unsend' a message using an iOS device, Apple advises in Use Messages on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support that "If you unsend a message to someone on an older version of iOS, iPad OS, or macOS, your contact might still see the message."
To delete a message from both sides, you'll need to delete it on a device connected to each account. Once a message is deleted on both sides, it is permanently removed and cannot be retrieved.
How to unsend a message. To recall a message, it needs to be an iMessage in a blue bubble. Tap and hold the sent text bubble (iPhone or iPad) or right-click (Mac) until you see the options menu appear. Select Undo Send and the message will be deleted from the recipient's feed as well as yours.
One of the reasons you may not be able to unsend a message after you've sent it is that the recipient blocked you. If you sent someone a message but didn't unsend it immediately afterward, they probably blocked you in the time that passed between sending and attempting to unsend.
All of your deleted text messages can be found in the Messages app. To find your trashed messages, open Messages and tap the Filters option in the top left of your text threads. Here you can filter your text messages by known senders, unread messages and more. However, the option we want is Recently Deleted.
Once you send an iMessage from your iPhone, you have 15 minutes to unsend it. Unsending your message will delete it from your phone and from any device you sent it to. In its place, you and the recipient will see a message saying that a message was removed. Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks.
If you delete the message or conversation, the other person will still have a record of it. But it will appear on your phone like a new conversation. If you want to delete sent messages, you can use secure messaging apps like Telegram and Signal.
iPhones are not the only devices capable of retrieving deleted text messages. You can also do the same on an Android smartphone using other methods. If you own an Android, check out our guide on how to recover deleted Android texts.
With Messages in iCloud, anything you delete from iPhone is also deleted from your other Apple devices where Messages in iCloud is turned on. Deleting messages changes only your own Messages conversations, not those of your recipients.
The easiest and most effective way to restore deleted messages on an iPhone is to use a professional iOS data recovery tool iFindit. It can help you retrieve deleted messages directly from your iOS devices without iTunes or iCloud backup.
The removed message will be replaced by text alerting everyone in the conversation the message was removed. You will have up to 10 minutes to remove a message after it is sent. If you want to remove a message just for yourself, you can still do that anytime by selecting “Remove for You”.
You can't unsend a message to everyone if they blocked you or there is some bug. So, if you only see the option to unsend a message for yourself alone on Messenger, it implies that you are either blocked or facing some kind of bug/glitch.
First things first, you need to do these steps within 10 minutes of sending the message you are looking to unsend or remove so you need to work fast. If you are using a web browser: Tap on the three dots to the left of the message you want to remove. Tap on 'Remove'
Your only hope of "unsending" an iMessage is to stop it from being delivered. Depending on your internet connection, the message may be delivered instantly or take a few seconds. In order to stop that from happening, you'll need to act fast.
Time Limit for Deleting WhatsApp Messages
Unlike the normal delete that works all the time, there is a time limit in using Delete for everyone. You can unsend messages within an hour of sending them only. After that, you will not see the Delete for everyone option.
Tap Recover Message or Recover [Number] Messages. You need iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1, or later to recover deleted messages and conversations. You can only recover messages and conversations that you deleted within the last 30 to 40 days.