{"id":130985,"date":"2019-02-26T16:57:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T15:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=130985"},"modified":"2025-07-01T22:18:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:18:36","slug":"facebook-messenger-unsend-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-messenger-unsend-details\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you need to know about Facebook Messenger’s unsend feature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"messenger\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s finally here.<\/p>\n

Facebook Messenger now lets you unsend messages that perhaps should never have gone out in the first place. You\u2019ll have 10 minutes<\/strong> to make up your mind, too.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a WhatsApp user, you\u2019re already familiar with the app\u2019s unsend feature \u2014 and its generous 60-minute unsend period. Or, Instagram\u2019s unlimited window for takebacks.<\/p>\n

And many of us have long been users of the Gmail unsend add-on, and lately, ephemeral apps that range from the fun (Instagram<\/a> Stories, Snapchat<\/a>) to the secure (Signal<\/a>, Telegram<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Facebook\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Facebook Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Free<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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The basic rundown: what is Facebook Messenger Unsend?<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve already gone over how to \u201cunsend messages.\u201d<\/a> But there\u2019s been a lot of noise surrounding the topic since the feature was initially announced last year.<\/p>\n

The new feature is available in version 191.0<\/strong> of the app and Facebook says it comes in handy if you send the wrong information, photo, or message the wrong thread.<\/p>\n

The feature allows you to rethink that text, and take it back. However, many critics feel that the timeframe is too short<\/strong>, and the feature doesn\u2019t go far enough.<\/strong> Facebook says the limits imposed are an attempt to cut back on bullying.<\/p>\n

We looked back at how the media reported on the feature \u2014 and there were several reports of bullying experts saying the feature was a bad thing \u2014 a step in the wrong direction for combatting the problem of cyberbullying. In April, experts told Business Insider<\/a>\u00a0that deleting messages could be used to gaslight victims.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or this point raised by Sarah Jeong, who worries that the feature would allow sexual harrassers to send and unsend evidence.<\/p>\n

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disappearing messages are already a thing but when you start an ephemeral message session both sides already have the expectation that the messages are going to disappear, unsending selectively after the fact is…. wild<\/p>\n

\u2014 sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) April 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly, the feature was announced Facebook employees discovered Mark Zuckerberg himself had been deleting messages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, this resulted in an uproar; users were not happy that Facebook execs like Zuckerberg could delete messages while average Joe Facebook could not.<\/p>\n

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6 social media apps that are better than Facebook<\/p>\r\n Read Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Can you delete a message before someone reads it?<\/h3>\n

Yes, provided you act fast enough.<\/p>\n

The reality is \u2014 you can\u2019t control whether someone sees your message before you delete it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So hopefully, you luck out. The difference between Facebook\u2019s unsend and Gmail\u2019s is, Gmail builds in a delay<\/strong> \u2014 that\u2019s why you only have a few seconds to make your choice.<\/p>\n

Facebook sends the message as usual but gives you a window of time to delete it.<\/strong> They don\u2019t let you control who sees the message.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s Help section says that there\u2019s nothing keeping from people seeing your message \u2014 which, given that Messenger is a chat app, it\u2019s likely they\u2019ll see the message come through right away.<\/p>\n

This means you still need to be careful about what you send.<\/p>\n

Can you delete messages from both sides?<\/h3>\n

The unsend feature aims to reduce that embarrassment that goes hand-in-hand with sending out a text-based mistake. Or maybe a photo. You\u2019ll have two options, you can choose to remove a message from your end only or remove for everyone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, once that 10-minute period expires, the “remove for everyone” option is off the table — and your friend now owns that message.<\/p>\n

The second is the less useful, \u201cRemove for You,\u201d which clears your screen of unwanted missives. There\u2019s no time limit on this one \u2014 and it lets you at least forget about the embarrassing messages you\u2019ve sent to your friends, even if it\u2019s too late to erase it from their side of the thread.<\/p>\n

We tried researching some workarounds for deleting messages after the 10-minute limit.<\/strong> Unfortunately, the advice is all quite convoluted and involves marking messages as spam or abuse. Or, flat out deleting your account.<\/p>\n

Not exactly helpful.<\/p>\n

You also can\u2019t permanently<\/em> delete messages<\/h3>\n

Should you be able to delete messages at any point? We don\u2019t actually know how long Facebook hangs on to chat records.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We do know that if, say, you\u2019re harassing someone online and delete the evidence, Facebook can still access the initial record.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, we thought this feature was meant to be a convenience. Along the lines of Gmail\u2019s unsend, the initial interpretation was: I can delete that message that I immediately regretted. Or, “Oh god, there\u2019s an error,” etc.<\/p>\n

In the end, it\u2019s never been more obvious that if privacy features like being able to completely delete a record are important to you, Facebook isn\u2019t the messaging app that meets your needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Deleted Facebook? Say hello to these little-known social networks<\/p>\r\n Read Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

We\u2019re torn on whether we think anything is wrong here \u2014 we like the crackdown on hate speech and the moves toward reducing cyberbullying are admirable.<\/p>\n

However, this is a good reminder that all apps come with a certain set of risks<\/strong> \u2014 and it\u2019s a good idea to familiarize yourself with how all of Facebook\u2019s features work.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re worried about Facebook storing your messages, it might be a better idea to use a fully encrypted app instead.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of options:<\/p>\n

\r\n
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\r\n \"Signal\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Signal Private Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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\r\n \"Telegram\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Telegram<\/span>\r\n Download Free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>9<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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Here’s how to use Unsend, and why it may not solve all our problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9161,"featured_media":131101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2518,2441],"tags":[2445,1059,1063,1624],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-130985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionfacebook-messenger","tag-facebook","tag-facebook-messenger","tag-privacy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326512,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130985\/revisions\/326512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130985"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=130985"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=130985"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=130985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}