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Can the other person see when you delete WhatsApp message?

WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to delete sent messages, which can be useful if you sent something you regret. However, this raises the question – if you delete a message you sent, can the recipient still see that it was deleted? The short answer is no, deleting a WhatsApp message prevents the other person from seeing it. However, there are some important caveats to be aware of.

When You Delete a Message

When you delete a WhatsApp message that you sent, it is removed from your chat window and the recipient’s chat window. Once deleted, the other person can no longer see the contents of that message. However, deleting a message does not remove all traces of it. Here is what happens when you delete a message:

  • The text content of the message is removed for both you and the recipient.
  • On Android phones, the word “This message was deleted” appears in place of the deleted message.
  • On iPhones, there is no placeholder text, the message simply disappears.
  • Any attached media, like photos or videos, remains on the recipient’s phone but they can no longer view or open it.
  • If it was a group chat, the message is deleted for all participants.
  • The message still exists on WhatsApp’s servers until it is over-written.

So in essence, the other person cannot see the text content of a deleted message or any attachments. But they are still able to see that a message existed and was removed.

When Messages Cannot be Deleted

In most cases, deleting a WhatsApp message will prevent the recipient from seeing it. However, there are some scenarios where a deleted message may still be visible:

  • If the recipient was using a third-party app to back up their WhatsApp chats before the message was deleted, they may still be able to retrieve it from that backup.
  • If the recipient took a screenshot of the message before it was deleted, they will still have the screenshot.
  • On Android, if message notifications were enabled, the recipient might have seen a preview of the message.
  • If the message was a video or voice message, the recipient may have downloaded it before it was deleted.

So if any of the above applies, the recipient may still be able to see traces of a deleted message. The only way to truly ensure no trace is left is to delete the message before it is viewed.

Does WhatsApp notify the recipient when you delete a message?

A common concern is whether WhatsApp will tell the recipient that you deleted a message. The answer is no – WhatsApp does not send any notification when you delete a message. The app operates in a way that the message vanishes from the chat without leaving a trace.

Neither you nor the recipient will get a notification saying a specific message was deleted. The message will simply disappear from your chat windows.

However, if you delete messages frequently, the other person may notice gaps in your conversation thread where messages used to be. But there will be no specific indication of which messages were removed.

How long deleted messages stay on WhatsApp’s servers

When you send a WhatsApp message, it is stored on WhatsApp’s servers until it is delivered and downloaded to the recipient’s device. Even after being downloaded, messages exchanged between users are stored in encrypted form on WhatsApp’s servers for a period of time.

So when you delete a message, it continues to reside on WhatsApp’s servers although it disappears from your chat screen and the recipient’s screen. This raises the question – how long do deleted WhatsApp messages stay on the company’s servers before being permanently erased?

According to WhatsApp, when a message is deleted by a user, their servers retain that message for up to 30 days. The message remains on their servers during this period in case it needs to be downloaded again by either user.

  • For the first 7 days after deletion, the message can be restored from WhatsApp’s backups.
  • For up to 30 days, the message remains on WhatsApp’s servers but cannot be restored.
  • After 30 days, the message is permanently deleted from WhatsApp’s servers.

So if you need a message to be permanently gone from WhatsApp’s systems, you have to wait 30 days after deleting it before it is completely erased from their servers. Within the first 7 days, careful as it can still be restored.

Does deleting messages use up more space on your phone?

A common misconception is that repeatedly deleting and re-downloading WhatsApp media will use up more storage space on your phone compared to keeping those files. But that is not the case – deleting WhatsApp attachments does NOT increase the storage usage on your device.

Here is what happens when you delete WhatsApp media files:

  • When you first receive a media file like a photo, video or document, it is saved on your phone’s internal storage.
  • If you delete that file, it is removed from your phone’s storage and only exists on WhatsApp’s servers.
  • If you re-download that media, it will save again using the same amount of space.

No extra copies of the files are kept. The media is simply downloaded, deleted and re-downloaded from WhatsApp’s servers as needed. So you can delete and re-download media without multiply the storage space used.

Does the blue double check turn gray after deleting a message?

The blue double check mark on WhatsApp messages indicates the message has been successfully sent and delivered. When you delete a message, does it also remove this delivery indication?

The answer is no – deleting a WhatsApp message has no effect on the blue double check mark. When the recipient receives and downloads your message, the double check turns blue to confirm delivery. This remains unchanged even if the message is later deleted.

However, while the double check remains intact, the double gray tick that indicates the message was ‘read’ disappears when a message is deleted.

So in summary:

  • Blue double check continues to show the message was delivered
  • Gray double check showing ‘read’ status is removed

The blue ticks provide evidence that a message existed in the chat, even if it was subsequently deleted. But it does not reveal the deleted message contents.

Can WhatsApp notify you if your deleted message is backed up?

As mentioned earlier, even if you delete a WhatsApp message, the recipient may have already backed up the chat where that message existed. This backup on the recipient’s device, cloud storage or third-party app would still contain the deleted message.

Is there any way WhatsApp can notify you if a deleted message gets backed up by the recipient before you removed it?

Unfortunately, no. There is no feature in WhatsApp to alert you if your deleted messages have already been backed up and could be restored. WhatsApp firmly shifts that responsibility to the user – it is up to you to delete any unwanted messages before they get sent, delivered or backed up if you want to permanantly remove them.

Should you worry if recipients back up messages before you delete?

Since WhatsApp provides no reliable way to know if your deleted messages were backed up by the recipient, should you worry about them retrieving old messages you deleted?

For most casual WhatsApp users, there is no need for serious concern in these situations:

  • Backing up full chat histories is still not that common among average users.
  • Most people won’t go digging through old backups to look for deleted trivial messages.
  • If the messages weren’t highly inappropriate, most users likely won’t care if an old deleted message still existed in a backup.
  • You can ask the recipient directly to also delete the message from any backup if it’s important.

However, for potentially sensitive situations like workplace communications or confidential information, it is wise to be more cautious about ensuring no copies of deleted messages persist. But for everyday chat, backups likely pose limited concern.

Should You Use WhatsApp Delete for Everyone Feature?

To provide more control over deleted messages, WhatsApp introduced the ‘Delete for Everyone’ feature in 2017. This allows you to delete messages not only from your own chat window, but also force their deletion from the recipient’s window.

Here are key points about Delete for Everyone:

  • Works for deleting messages you sent only, not received ones.
  • Must be done within 7 days of sending the message.
  • Recipient may still have backed up the message before it got deleted.
  • Notifies recipient that a message was deleted.

Delete for Everyone provides more power to remove messages from both ends of the chat. However, the same limitations apply regarding backups and the 7 day window. Use judiciously only for important messages.

Conclusion

To conclude, while WhatsApp gives users the ability to delete sent messages, it does not reliably guarantee that no traces of that message persist. However, in most everyday usage, the recipient being able to retrieve deleted messages from backups is unlikely to pose major concerns.

When using WhatsApp, it is best to exercise caution with sensitive communications right from the start, rather than deleting messages after sending. Utilize features like Delete for Everyone wisely. With due precautions, WhatsApp message deletion can still offer a useful degree of privacy.