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 change your mind about something you’ve said or sent an incorrect message by mistake. However, this raises the question – when you delete a WhatsApp message, does it disappear for good or can the recipient still see it?
Does Deleting a WhatsApp Message Remove it Completely?
The short answer is no. When you delete a message on WhatsApp, although it disappears from your chat window, your recipient can still see the deleted message if they are quick enough.
Here is a quick rundown of what happens when you delete a WhatsApp message:
- You can delete a message for everyone or just for yourself.
- If you delete a message just for yourself, it will disappear from your chat window but remains visible on the recipient’s phone.
- If you delete a message for everyone, it will disappear from both your and your recipient’s chat window.
- However, with both options, if the recipient is viewing the conversation at the time you delete the message, they will still be able to read the deleted message.
So in summary, deleting a WhatsApp message does not completely erase it. The recipient has a short window to still view messages you’ve deleted, either just for yourself or for everyone.
Why Doesn’t Deleting Remove the Message Fully?
There are a couple of reasons why deleted WhatsApp messages can still be seen:
Message Notifications
When you send a WhatsApp message, the recipient’s phone receives a notification containing a preview of the message. Even if you delete the message immediately, the notification remains on their phone with the message text preview intact. So if the recipient opens the notification before the delete goes through, they will see the message preview and be able to read the now “deleted” message.
Latency Issues
WhatsApp messages are synced between devices via WhatsApp’s servers. When you delete a message, the instruction to delete is sent to their servers which then syncs the delete to the recipient’s device. However, there is a slight latency where the message deletion is not instant. During this short time lag, the recipient may still have access to the message you want deleted.
How Long Does the Recipient Have to View a Deleted Message?
There is no set timeframe for how long the deleted message is accessible on the recipient’s phone. However, based on user reports, it seems to be available for a window of just a few seconds up to about a minute in most cases.
The timing would depend on factors like:
- How quickly the recipient accesses the notification and opens the message.
- Network latency issues causing a delay in the message deletion syncing.
In some cases where latency is very high, the window could extend up to a few minutes before the message disappears fully from the recipient’s phone.
Does the Sender Get a Notification if Recipient Views Deleted Message?
No, WhatsApp does not notify the sender if the recipient views a message that was deleted.
Your chat will show the message as deleted on your end, but you have no way to know if the recipient managed to view the message before it disappeared on their phone.
The notification settings and read receipts remain unchanged. So if you had read receipts enabled, those will apply to messages not deleted. But once deleted, there is no notification sent to the sender.
Can Recipients Retrieve Deleted Messages?
While recipients have a brief window to view deleted messages, there is no way for them to retrieve or recover deleted messages beyond that timeframe.
Some key points:
- On Android, deleted messages do not remain in the notifications after being opened.
- On iOS devices, a preview of deleted messages may remain briefly in the notification center but then disappears.
- There is no WhatsApp setting or third-party app that lets recipients recover deleted messages once fully removed from their chat screen.
- Deleted messages are permanently deleted from WhatsApp’s servers so cannot be retrieved.
So if the recipient misses the narrow window to view a deleted message, it is gone for good.
Tips to Prevent Deleted WhatsApp Messages Being Seen
Since deletions don’t completely erase messages immediately, here are some tips to reduce the chances of your deleted WhatsApp messages being seen:
- Delete for everyone – This removes the message entirely rather than just your copy.
- Delete quickly – Delete the message as soon as you’ve sent it to minimize visibility.
- Follow up with another message – Send another message immediately so the notification overrides the deleted one.
- Turn off read receipts – Prevents the sender knowing if you’ve read their deleted message.
- Delete full conversation – For really sensitive stuff, deleting the whole chat is safest.
However, despite these precautions, there is always still a risk of the message being briefly visible. The only 100% safe approach is to not send the message at all.
WhatsApp’s Delete Message Feature vs Other Apps
Some key differences in how WhatsApp handles delete compared to other major messaging apps:
| App | Deleted Message Visibility |
|---|---|
| Recipient can briefly still view deleted message | |
| Facebook Messenger | Recipient can’t see deleted message |
| iMessage | Recipient can see deleted message if enabled in settings |
| Signal | Message disappears completely instantly |
| Telegram | Sender can delete message for all, but recipients may have already viewed it |
As we can see, WhatsApp has one of the less secure deletions compared to some other messaging apps. Platforms like Signal offer more control and instant removal.
Conclusion
To summarize the key points:
- Deleting a WhatsApp message does not completely remove it.
- Recipients have a short window where they can still view a deleted message.
- Once the deletion syncs, there is no way to retrieve deleted WhatsApp messages.
- Senders have no notification if the recipient read a deleted message.
- More caution is required when deleting sensitive WhatsApp messages.
So think carefully before hitting that delete icon – the message may not be erased as fully as you expect!