Quick Answer
When you delete a chat on WhatsApp, it does not delete the chat for the other person. The messages will remain visible on their device. Deleting a chat only removes it from your view of the conversation.
More Detailed Answer
WhatsApp gives users the ability to delete sent messages from both individual and group chats. This can be useful if you sent a message to the wrong person or group, or if you simply want to remove a message from the history.
However, deleting a message on WhatsApp only deletes it from your view of the chat. The message will still be visible to all the other participants in the chat.
So if you delete a message you sent to another WhatsApp user, they will still be able to see the message on their device. The message will show for them as “This message was deleted”. Deleting the message does not remove it from their chat history.
The same thing applies for group chats. If you delete a message you sent in a WhatsApp group, the other participants in the group will still see the message. It will appear as “This message was deleted” for them.
WhatsApp explains this behavior:
“Deleting messages for yourself removes the message from your device only. Other participants in the chat still have the message you deleted on their devices.”
The only way to fully delete a message for all participants is if the other person(s) in the chat also delete the message themselves. Even then, there could be chat history retained on WhatsApp’s servers that is not visible to users but still stored.
So in summary:
– Deleting a chat or message on WhatsApp only removes it from your view of the chat.
– The message remains visible for all other participants in the chat.
– To fully delete a message, every participant would need to delete it themselves as well.
– There may still be chat history retained by WhatsApp that is no longer visible.
Why Does WhatsApp Work This Way?
There are a few reasons why WhatsApp does not delete a message for all users when one person deletes it:
Technical Architecture
The way WhatsApp’s architecture works, each user has their own local copy of the chat history stored on their device. There is no single centralized “master” copy of a chat. So when you delete a message, you are only deleting it from your own device’s local copy of the chat.
Prevent Abuse
If anyone could delete a message from the chat history for all users, it could be abused. For example, someone could send an inappropriate message in a group chat and then delete it so nobody else sees it. Preventing message deletion across all users helps maintain the integrity of chat histories.
User Expectations
Many users reasonably expect that if they receive a message, it will remain in their chat history even if the sender deletes it. Removing messages from a user’s chat history without their consent would violate these expectations.
Legal Requirements
In some jurisdictions, there are data retention laws that require messaging apps like WhatsApp to store messages for a certain period of time. Allowing any user to permanently delete messages for all participants could conflict with these laws in some cases.
So for a combination of technical, security, legal and user experience factors, WhatsApp does not allow message deletion for all chat participants.
When Might a Message Disappear Entirely?
There are some limited cases where a message may disappear entirely from a chat:
– If you delete a message you sent very recently (within an hour or so), before the recipient goes online and their device receives the message, it will not be downloaded and stored locally on their device. So it would disappear entirely in this case.
– If you delete a message in a group chat very soon after sending, before other participants join the chat, they may never receive it.
– WhatsApp has an “unsend” feature that lets you delete a message for all recipients, but only within 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds of sending it. After that window, it can only be deleted from your device.
– If all participants in a chat delete a particular message, there will no longer be a local copy on any device, so it effectively disappears. However, server backups may still retain the message history.
So in limited circumstances, it is possible for a message to disappear entirely if deleted very quickly before others have received and stored it. But in most cases, deleted messages remain visible to other chat participants.
How to Delete Chats and Messages on WhatsApp
Even though deleting chats and messages on WhatsApp does not remove them from other people’s chats, you may still wish to delete conversations from your own device and chat history. Here is how to do it:
Delete an Individual Message
– Open the WhatsApp chat containing the message you want to delete.
– On an iPhone, tap and hold the message you want to delete. Tap “Delete” on the pop-up menu.
– On Android, tap and hold the message, then tap the trash icon.
– The message will be deleted from your device’s chat history, but remain visible to other chat participants.
Delete a Chat
To delete an entire chat from your WhatsApp history:
– On iPhone, swipe right on the chat you want to delete and tap “Delete”.
– On Android, tap and hold the chat, then tap the trash icon.
– Confirm you want to delete the chat when prompted.
– The entire chat history will be removed from your device. Other participants will still have the full chat history.
Delete WhatsApp Messages For Everyone
As mentioned above, WhatsApp has an “unsend” feature that lets you delete a message you sent for all recipients, but only within 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds of sending. To use it:
– Open the chat containing the message you want to unsend.
– On iPhone, tap and hold the message, then select “Unsend”.
– On Android, tap and hold the message, then select “Delete for everyone”.
– The message will be removed for all recipients if done fast enough.
So in summary, deleting WhatsApp messages and chats locally only removes them from your own device and chat history. For true deletion across all devices, every participant needs to manually delete the message themselves.
Conclusion
To conclude:
– Deleting a WhatsApp message only removes it from your local copy of the chat history, not for other participants.
– Other users in the chat will still see the message, labeled “This message was deleted”.
– The only way a message is deleted for everyone is if it is unsent within 1 hour of sending, or every participant manually deletes it.
– You can delete chats and messages from your own device’s history, but this does not affect what others see.
– WhatsApp designed it this way to maintain chat history integrity and meet user expectations.
So be aware that deleting WhatsApp messages and chats provides privacy for you, but does not delete the content for other users who received the messages already. Proceed with caution when sending sensitive messages that you may later wish to remove entirely.