There can be dozens and even hundreds of messages that we send daily through messaging applications. Therefore, it will be rare that we are not mistaken. And since not all of these apps allow you to edit messages, there is no other option than delete already sent messages. Now, not in all these apps it is possible to do it indefinitely, since they establish a time limit.
So, in this post we review all the time limits set by the main apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Signal to delete messages that have already been sent. In this way, you can know how much time you have to repent and remove the trace of your message.
WhatsApp leaves you just over an hour to delete messages
In recent times, WhatsApp is considering the possibility of completely deleting messages in a few seconds. And by completely we mean that the message “This message has been deleted” would not even appear in the chat. However, for official purposes, WhatsApp allows you to delete messages, but leaving a trace.
And how long does it leave? 4,096 seconds since it was sent. That is, 1 hour, 8 minutes and 16 seconds. During that time we can undo a message already sent that, although it leaves a trace, cannot be seen in the chat by the other person (or others, in the case of groups). It seems like a more than reasonable period of time to regret having sent a message, although the application is considering extending it to two days.
Telegram beats WhatsApp at this point
The eternal comparison between WhatsApp and Telegram ends with a point in favor of the latter when it comes to undoing sent messages. And it is for three reasons, the first is that leaves no trace that the message was deletedso if the other person didn’t see it, they won’t know it arrived.
The other reason and the one that most concerns us here is that has no time limit, being able to delete any message even if it was sent years ago. Before this limit was 2 years, but not even that anymore. And to complete this won battle of Telegram, say that allows you to even delete entire conversations both for you and for the other person.
Instagram direct messages can also be deleted
Although this social network has many other well-known functions, there is no doubt that its direct messages are an essential part of it. And, as you probably already know, it is possible to delete messages already sent on Instagram. And, as in the previous ones, It won’t matter if it’s already been read.
As it happens with Telegram, Instagram does not put a time limit on this function so you can delete all the messages you want at any time, although you will have to go one by one. Also notable is the fact that leave no tracebeing comparable to Telegram also in this sense.
Facebook Messenger, unlimited, but with trace
Yet another Meta app, just like WhatsApp, but that considerably improves the time limit for deleting messages that have already been sent. And it is that there is no time limit to undo sends in Facebook Messenger chats.
Now, we must say that the app she’s especially sneaky about it. And it is that, not satisfied with showing in the chat “Your name has canceled this message”, the app also sends a notification to the mobile to warn of this. And it will not matter if the message is from years ago, since the app will report it. Therefore, it will be difficult for the other person not to find out .
Signal, very similar to WhatsApp in this section
The private messaging application Signal closes this post as a good middle ground with respect to what was seen in the previous ones. Its negative point is that leave a trace in the chat when a message is deleted and it adds an undo time limit, but it’s not particularly short.
However, Signal improves on the well-known WhatsApp, extending its limit to delete messages to 120 minutes. In other words, during the 2 hours after sending a message, we can completely remove it from the chat even if it has been read. Although, as we said, a notice will appear informing you that we have deleted a message.