You can delete a message for yourself, for everyone, or just stop it from being seen
WhatsApp gives you three ways to remove a message: delete it only from your own phone, delete it from everyone's phones in the conversation, or hide it without deleting. Which one works depends on how much time has passed and whether the other person has already read it. The fastest route is to press and hold the message, then tap the trash icon — but what happens next depends on which option you choose.
The "delete for me" option removes the message from your phone when ready and works on any message, no matter how old. The "delete for everyone" option removes it from all phones in the chat, but only works within 4 hours and 15 minutes of when you sent it. If you miss that window, you can still delete it for yourself, but the other person will see it was deleted.
Key Takeaways
- Press and hold any message you sent, then tap the trash icon to see your deletion options.
- Delete for everyone works only within 4 hours and 15 minutes of sending — after that, only delete for me is available.
- When you delete for everyone, the other person sees a notification that you deleted a message, but not the message itself.
- Deleting a message from your phone does not delete it from backups unless you also clear your backup.
How to delete a message from your phone only
Open the conversation where you sent the message. Press and hold the message with your finger until it highlights and a menu appears at the bottom of the screen. Tap the trash icon (it looks like a bin). A popup will ask which deletion option you want — select "Delete for me" or just "Delete". The message disappears from your phone when ready.
This works on any message, old or new, and the other person never knows you deleted it. They still see the message on their phone. Use this when you want to clean up your own chat history but do not mind that the other person still has the message.
How to delete a message from everyone's phones
Open the conversation and press and hold the message you want to remove. Tap the trash icon. When the popup appears, select "Delete for everyone". The message vanishes from both your phone and the other person's phone within a few seconds.
This option only works if you sent the message less than 4 hours and 15 minutes ago. If more time has passed, the "delete for everyone" button will not appear — you can only delete for yourself. When you successfully delete for everyone, the other person sees the text "This message was deleted" in place of what you wrote, but they do not see the original message.
What happens when you delete for everyone
The other person gets a notification that you deleted a message. In group chats, everyone in the group sees that you deleted a message. They cannot read what the message said, but they know something was removed. This is useful if you sent something by accident or changed your mind, but it does signal to the other person that you deleted something.
If you delete a message after the 4-hour window closes, the other person still sees it on their phone. You will see "This message was deleted" on your own phone, but they see the original text. There is no way to remove a message from someone else's phone after the time limit expires.
Deleting messages on different devices
If you use WhatsApp on both your phone and a linked device like a tablet or computer, deleting a message on one device deletes it on all of them. The same 4-hour window applies across all your devices. If you delete for everyone from your phone, it is deleted for everyone from your tablet or computer too.
If you use WhatsApp Web on a computer, the process is the same: right-click the message and select delete, then choose whether to delete for yourself or everyone. The time limit is still 4 hours and 15 minutes from when the message was sent, not from when you are deleting it.
Deleting messages in group chats
Deleting works the same way in group chats as in one-on-one conversations. Press and hold the message and tap the trash icon. If you delete for everyone within the time window, all group members see "This message was deleted" instead of the original text. Everyone in the group gets notified that you deleted a message.
Group admins cannot delete other people's messages — you can only delete messages you sent yourself. If someone sends something inappropriate in a group, you cannot remove it for them, but you can remove them from the group or leave the group yourself.
What about backups and recovery
Deleting a message from WhatsApp does not automatically delete it from your phone's backup. If you back up your chats to iCloud (on iPhone) or Google Drive (on Android), the deleted message may still exist in that backup. If you restore from a backup after deleting a message, the message comes back.
To prevent deleted messages from being recovered through a backup, you need to create a new backup after deleting. On iPhone, go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage > WhatsApp and turn off backup, then turn it back on. On Android, open WhatsApp > Settings > Chats > Chat backup and tap "Back up to Google Drive" to create a fresh backup. This overwrites the old backup with one that does not contain the deleted message.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I delete a message after 4 hours?
Yes, but only for yourself. After 4 hours and 15 minutes, the "delete for everyone" option disappears. You can still press and hold the message and choose "delete for me", which removes it from your phone but leaves it on the other person's phone.
Does the other person know I deleted a message?
If you delete for everyone, they see "This message was deleted" in the chat. If you delete for yourself only, they see nothing — the message stays on their phone and they have no way to know you deleted it from yours.
What if I delete a message by accident?
If you deleted it for yourself only, you can restore it from a backup by uninstalling WhatsApp, then reinstalling and restoring from your backup. If you deleted it for everyone, it is gone and cannot be recovered — the other person only sees that a message was deleted.
Can I delete a message in a chat I archived?
Yes. Archived chats work the same way as active ones. Press and hold the message in the archived chat and delete it using the same process. The message is removed from your phone or from everyone's phones depending on which option you choose.
Does deleting a message delete the whole conversation?
No. Deleting a single message only removes that one message from the chat. The rest of the conversation stays. If you want to delete an entire conversation, press and hold the chat name in your message list and tap delete — but this is different from deleting individual messages.