Uh oh – you’ve woken up after the night before and you’ve accidentally sent a message that you shouldn’t have sent. However, there’s a slim glimmer of hope, as the other person hasn’t read the message yet.
So, you go to delete the text message. But if you delete text messages, will it delete on the other person’s device too, or just yours? That’s what we’re going to run through now.
When You Delete Text Messages on iPhone, Does It Delete For Both Sides?
Unfortunately, if you’ve sent the message and then delete it later, this will only delete the message on your end.
Though you’ll no longer be able to read the message, the other person will still be able to see it when they next open their phone.
So the answer is that it’s not possible to erase messages from iPhone for other users, and it’ll still show up in their message history. This means that you need to be extra careful when you send messages to a friend.
However, in 2022 Apple introduced an unsend feature that may be useful if you want to delete messages without the other person seeing them. They also released an edit feature, which can be equally as useful.
How does the ‘Undo’ feature work?
With newer versions of iOS come new features, with one of these being the undo feature for Apple users.
This will allow you to unsend any messages that you’ve send out to other people. But there’s a catch – it needs to be less than 2 minutes after sending the message.
You may not unsend messages that have been sent more than two minutes ago. Whilst this doesn’t allow you deleted messages, it’s useful if you’ve accidentally sent a message to someone.
And if successful, they will still get a notification that you’ve sent a message, but they won’t be able to see it.
The bad thing about this is that if the recipient is running earlier versions of iOS, it may not work successfully.
This means that even if you try to unsend one or multiple messages, they may still be read.
Plus, there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to tap delete or unsend before the person who received the message has had the chance to read it.
How does the ‘Edit’ feature work on iPhones?
As well as being able to unsend messages on an iPhone, you also now have the ability to edit the message that you’ve sent.
Like the undo function, there’s also a time limit on how long you have to edit your message. Fortunately, this is extended to 15 minutes, so if you’ve sent a message by accident, this can come in useful.
Though it’s not quite a delete option, it can definitely prove useful with certain contacts.
How to Delete Message on IOS
If you want to delete text messages on your iPhone anyway, you can do this pretty easily from within the Messages app.
All you need to do is;
- Open up the Messages app.
- Scroll down to the message that you want to delete.
- Hold down your finger on the message for a second or two.
- Select the More option.
- Then, you can pick which messages you want to delete, and confirm.
It’s easy to delete text messages on an iPhone, and it can be done with just a few clicks. Though remember that your deleted message will still be visible to the other person.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Apple wants you to have a seamless experience on their devices, and once a message is sent and delivered, there’s no going back. If you opt to delete a message on your iPhone, it’ll only delete that individual message on your device.
This means if you’ve sent a message to the wrong person, you’ve not other choice than explain yourself and move on.
