WhatsApp, after rolling out the feature to limited users last week, has now announced official rollout of the 'Delete for Everyone' feature. It will be now available to users of the latest WhatsApp versions for Android, iPhone, and Windows Phones. The Delete for Everyone, or revoke feature was a much demanded feature on the most popular instant messaging service, and essentially allows users to delete messages for everyone that have been sent to either a group or an individual chat. One of the biggest use cases of the Delete for Everyone feature can be when you send a message to the wrong chat or if the message sent contains a mistake.
The Facebook-owned service confirms messages that have been successfully deleted for everyone will be replaced with "This message was deleted" in your recipients' chats. Similarly, if you see "This message was deleted" in a chat, it means that the sender deleted their message for everyone.
WhatsApp clarifies that the feature will be applicable only if the user is quick enough. The company explains that users can only delete messages for everyone for up to seven minutes after sending. This means that once seven minutes have passed, there is no way to delete messages for everyone.
So, how does it work? WhatsApp users looking to delete messages for everyone will have to go to the chat containing the message they wish to delete. Tap and hold the message or optionally, tap more messages to delete multiple messages at once. Then, tap delete (the trash icon) at the top of the screen, and select Delete for Everyone.
For the Delete for Everyone feature to work, both the sender and recipient must be using the latest version of WhatsApp for Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone. If the sender or recipient are not using the latest version of WhatsApp for Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone, the feature will not be supported. In this case, recipients may see the message before it's deleted or if deletion was not successful.
Apart from 'Delete for Everyone', WhatsApp has renamed the regular delete option, calling it Delete for Me. This, as before, allows users to delete the message they've sent or received from the device. However, this will have no effect on the recipients' chats. This feature will not change anything on the recipients end and they can continue seeing the messages in their chat screen.
To delete messages for yourself, users can head to the chat containing the message they wish to delete and tap and hold the message to delete multiple messages at once. In this case, users will have to use tap Delete (the trash icon) at the top of the screen, and then select Delete for Me.
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