I receive lots of questions here at Rick’s Daily Tips, and there’s one question in particular that I receive time and again:
“If I delete a message I’ve sent to someone
on Facebook will it be deleted from the
recipient’s inbox as well?”
The answer to that question used to be no, but Facebook has just changed that.
Now when you send someone a private message Facebook will give you 10 minutes to change your mind and “Unsend” it if you want to.
This new feature is called “Remove for Everyone” and it’s very easy to use. Just follow the steps below for the device you’re using.
If you’re using the “Messenger” feature on the Facebook website (on a laptop or desktop PC):
1 – Hover your mouse over the message you want to delete, then click the three dots after they pop up on the screen.
2 – Click Delete.
3 – Click Delete for Everyone.
Note: The message should now be gone from both your account AND the recipient’s inbox.
If you’re using the Messenger app on a mobile device:
1 – Tap on the message you want to delete and hold it until a menu pops up.
2 – Tap Remove.
3 – Tap Remove for Everyone.
4 – Tap Remove again.
Note: The message should now be gone from both your account AND the recipient’s inbox.
Pretty cool, right? Users have been asking for the ability to do this for a long time and Facebook has finally made it happen.
Just be sure to remember these two important caveats:
1 – You only have 10 minutes from the time the message is sent to remove it from both accounts. If you wait longer than that only the recipient of the message will be able to delete it from his/her inbox.
2 – When you delete a message from the recipient’s inbox the deleted message will be replaced by a notice informing them that you’ve deleted a message that you sent to them.
They won’t know what the message was (because you deleted it before they read it) but they’ll know you sent one and then changed your mind and deleted it.
Bonus tip #1: This post explains why privacy really doesn’t exist on Facebook.
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