No, clearing your chat history on WhatsApp only clears it on your device, it does not clear the chat history for other participants in the conversation. When you clear your chat history, the messages are only deleted from your device and your view of the conversation. Other people in the chat will still be able to see the full chat history on their devices.
How does clearing chat history work on WhatsApp?
On WhatsApp, all of your chats and messages are stored locally on your device. When you send or receive a message, it is saved in the app’s database on your phone or tablet. Clearing your chat history simply deletes the local copy of these messages from your device’s storage.
However, clearing your local history does not delete the messages from WhatsApp’s servers or remove them from other people’s devices. All of your chats are also stored on WhatsApp’s servers so they can be synced across your linked devices. As long as the other participants in the chat still have the app installed, their copy of the chat history will remain intact.
So in summary:
- Your chat history is stored locally on your device’s storage
- It is also synced and stored on WhatsApp’s servers
- Other participants have their own local copy of the chat history
- Clearing your chat only deletes the local copy from your device
- It does not affect the server copy or other people’s local history
When is the chat history actually deleted?
While clearing your WhatsApp chat history does not immediately delete the messages for all participants, the chat history will be deleted from WhatsApp’s servers after everyone clears their local copy of the messages.
So if you and the other participant in a one-on-one chat both clear your message history, the messages will be permanently deleted from WhatsApp’s servers within a few months. In a group chat, the messages will be erased once everyone in the group clears their local history for that chat.
Therefore, while clearing chat history does not provide instant privacy, it does eventually result in the messages being permanently deleted if all parties involved also clear their copy of the chats.
Does this include media files sent in WhatsApp?
Yes, clearing your WhatsApp chat history also deletes any media files sent or received in that chat, such as photos, videos and documents. These files are saved to your device’s internal storage as part of the chat history.
So when you clear a chat, any media sent in that conversation will be deleted from your device. However, as with text messages, this does not delete the media from WhatsApp’s servers or other people’s devices.
The media files will remain visible in the chat history for other participants. But they will be permanently deleted once everyone clears their local copy of the chat that contains the media files.
How to clear WhatsApp chat history
Here are the steps to clear your local WhatsApp chat history on an Android device:
- Open the WhatsApp app and go to the Chats tab
- Tap and hold the chat you want to delete history for
- Tap “Clear chat history” > “Clear”
- Confirm again by tapping “Clear” when prompted
And here are the steps for iPhone:
- Open WhatsApp and go to the Chats tab
- Swipe left on the chat you want to clear
- Tap “Clear” > “Clear Chat”
- Confirm again by tapping “Clear” when prompted
You can also clear the message history for all your WhatsApp chats at once by going to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Clear All Chats.
Does deleting a chat clear it for everyone?
No, deleting an entire chat thread in WhatsApp does not clear the messages for other participants either. It simply removes the entire chat from your device’s local database.
If you delete a chat, other people in that conversation can still access the full message history from their devices or WhatsApp’s server backup. The chat will continue to exist for them.
As with clearing chat history, the chat will only be deleted from WhatsApp’s servers once everyone deletes their local copy of that conversation. So this method does not immediately delete the chat or messages for all parties.
How to delete a WhatsApp chat
To delete a chat on Android:
- Long press the chat you want to delete
- Tap the dustbin icon at the top
- Confirm deletion by tapping “DELETE”
And on iPhone:
- Swipe left on the chat to delete
- Tap “Delete” to confirm
- Tap “Delete Chat” again to confirm
Does blocking someone delete your messages for them?
Blocking a contact on WhatsApp does not clear your existing chat history with them. It only prevents any new messages from being exchanged.
When you block someone, they can still access the full chat history and see any messages you previously sent or received. Blocking simply removes the chat from your view and stops you from receiving any new messages from the blocked contact.
So blocking a contact provides privacy by avoiding future communication, but does not delete your existing messages. Those remain visible for the blocked contact.
Can you recover cleared or deleted WhatsApp chats?
It is possible to recover cleared or deleted WhatsApp chats in some cases by restoring your chat history from a backup:
- Local backup: WhatsApp automatically backs up your chats to your phone’s internal storage daily. You can restore chats from the most recent backup.
- Google Drive backup: Your chat history is also backed up to Google Drive if you have it enabled. You can restore from this cloud backup.
- iCloud backup: On iPhone, your chat history is backed up to iCloud. You can use this to restore cleared chats.
However, any messages cleared or deleted after the last backup was created will be permanently erased and cannot be recovered.
Does WhatsApp notify others when you clear or delete messages?
No, WhatsApp does not directly notify your contacts when you clear or delete messages from a chat. However, they may still be able to tell indirectly in some cases:
- If you clear or delete messages that other people have already seen, they will notice the difference in your chat history compared to theirs.
- Deleting an entire chat makes it disappear from your contacts’ chat lists, so they can infer that you deleted it.
- Any messages sent after clearing/deleting will have a different timestamp order, indicating messages are missing.
But there is no message or indicator that directly alerts your contacts when you delete messages or chats. The app does not have this capability.
Does WhatsApp notify the sender when you delete their messages?
No, WhatsApp does not notify the sender if you specifically delete messages that they sent to you. There is no capability within WhatsApp to alert a user when their messages are deleted after being read.
So if someone sends you a message on WhatsApp and you delete it, they have no indication that you have removed the message from your chat. Their app will show it as delivered and read as normal.
Of course, as mentioned above, deleting messages can sometimes be inferred indirectly by the recipient if it leaves noticeable gaps in the chat history. But there is no notification sent to the sender when their messages are removed by the recipient.
Can you see when others clear or delete WhatsApp messages?
There is no direct way to detect if other users have cleared or deleted messages from your conversation in WhatsApp.
Some indirect signs include:
- Noticing missing messages that you previously saw in the chat
- Seeing a chat disappear entirely if it was deleted
- Observing sent and received timestamps out of order
But there is no message, notification or other definitive way to confirm if and when your WhatsApp contacts delete messages or chats. WhatsApp provides no capabilities for users to monitor this activity.
Should I avoid clearing chats if other person has chat backup?
There is limited benefit in avoiding clearing your WhatsApp chat history just because others may have a backup of the conversation. This is because:
- Your messages exist in multiple places – on your device, recipients’ devices, WhatsApp servers, and backups.
- Clearing chats only deletes them from your device, copies still exist elsewhere.
- Over time, the chat will be erased from WhatsApp servers after everyone clears their local history.
- Backups are not permanent and may be deleted by users at any time.
So you should feel comfortable clearing your chats for your own privacy, regardless of whether others may have backups. In due course, those backups are likely to be erased as well when users clear chat history or delete backups.
Should I avoid deleting chats if other person has chat backup?
Similar to clearing chat history, there is limited harm in deleting a WhatsApp chat even if others may have a backup of the conversation:
- When you delete a chat, you’re only removing your local copy, not others’ copies.
- Your messages still exist in other places – recipient devices, WhatsApp servers, backups.
- Over time, the chat will be deleted from the servers once everyone deletes their local copies.
- Backups are not permanent and users may delete them anytime.
Therefore, you should not be deterred from deleting a chat for your own reasons just because others may have backups. Eventually those backups are likely to be erased as users delete chats and backups.
What happens when you delete a message you already read?
When you delete a WhatsApp message that you have already read, here is what happens:
- The message is deleted from your local WhatsApp storage and no longer visible in your chat.
- On WhatsApp’s servers, it is marked as “deleted for you” but still exists for other recipients.
- Other recipients can still see the message in their chat window.
- Once all recipients delete the message, it is deleted from WhatsApp’s server.
So deleting a read message only removes your local copy. It remains available for other recipients until deleted by everyone.
What happens when you delete an unread message?
When you delete an unread WhatsApp message, here is what happens:
- The message is removed from your local storage without being marked as read.
- On WhatsApp’s server, the message is deleted and not stored as “unread” for you.
- You will never see that particular message in the chat.
- Other recipients can still see the message on their devices.
So deleting an unread message prevents you from reading it, but does not remove it from servers or other recipients’ chat histories.
Can WhatsApp implement notifications when messages are deleted?
While WhatsApp currently does not notify users when messages they send are deleted, it is technically possible for them to implement such a feature:
- WhatsApp’s servers could track when a message is deleted by the recipient.
- The app could then send a notification back to the sender about the deletion.
- This requires storing delete receipts on servers and syncing them back to user devices.
- May have privacy and performance implications to consider.
Overall, message deletion notifications are feasible but WhatsApp has prioritized other features. It is unclear if they plan to implement this capability in the future.
Should WhatsApp add message deletion notifications?
There are arguments for and against WhatsApp adding notifications when your messages are deleted by recipients:
Potential benefits:
- Increased transparency – you know if your messages were removed.
- Could improve feeling of control for sender.
- Lets you know if certain messages should not be sent again.
Potential downsides:
- Privacy issues – recipient’s deletions exposed without consent.
- Could be used to harass recipients who delete messages.
- System complexity to store deletion receipts on server.
- More notifications and disruption for users.
Overall there are reasonable arguments on both sides, so WhatsApp would need to carefully weigh these considerations before implementing delete notifications.
Conclusion
Clearing or deleting WhatsApp chats only removes them from your local device storage. The messages still exist on WhatsApp’s servers and in your contacts’ chat history until they also clear or delete them.
There is currently no way to instantly or permanently delete a WhatsApp message or chat for all participants. But the content is eventually erased from WhatsApp’s servers when everyone involved clears their local copy.
While other users may retain backups of your WhatsApp chats, these also get deleted over time as people clear message history and remove backups. So you should feel comfortable managing your own chat history as needed for privacy or storage reasons.