Everyone sent a message that they immediately regretted. It’s part of the digital age – the opportunity to respond to someone instantly makes anger worse.
You cannot “remove a message” after 10 minutes. However, you can delete messages from your message history. Even if the other side can see the information from their side, at least they can maintain their dignity.
How to remove Facebook messages from mobile
Facebook allows users to “unfollow” messages within 10 minutes of the original message being sent. This feature not only removes the message from your name, but also makes it look like you never sent the message in the first place.
- If you’ve sent a message you want to delete, tap the message for a few seconds, until you see the emoji option, then tap More…
- Click cancel.
- Click Send to all and cancel.
The sent message is replaced with an indication that no message has been sent. This message is visible to others, but you can submit it as a typo, or better yet, a random message.
Note that even if the message is deleted, if someone else reports a conversation about inappropriate behavior or threats, Facebook will still receive the original message you sent.
How to send Facebook messages in a browser
If you use Facebook Messenger to send a message from your web browser, you can still send the message the same way.
- Open a conversation with an offensive message, hover over it and select the three dots to the left of the text.
- Select Delete.
- Cancel Select Send All > Delete.
As on mobile devices, the message is replaced with “Your message has not been sent”. You can repeat the process of deleting the message yourself, but it will still appear on other screens.
This is useful for sending a conversation you’ve already had (such as a sudden declaration of love for someone you like) without intending to send it. And if you have a message for someone you’ve never spoken to before, they wonder what’s in the message you didn’t send.
How to remove Facebook messages from desktop applications
Desktop apps also make it easy to send messages.
- Open your desktop app, right-click on the message and select Delete for everyone.
- Select Delete.
Deleting the message within 10 minutes will remove it from all versions of Facebook Messenger.
How to delete Facebook chat on mobile
You can also remove the entire dialog from a view, but you cannot remove the dialog for both parts. This will at least hide it from the screen. This is useful if you have blocked someone and want to remove all previous conversations with that person from your chat history.
- Open Facebook Messenger.
- Left-click on the conversation you want to delete.
- Click again.
- Click Delete on the confirmation screen.
There is also an option to save messages, but the messages will not be deleted. This option just hides it. You can still search and get conversations. If you want to remove all your chat marks, use the built-in delete function.
How to delete Facebook chats in browser
Deleting Facebook conversations in your browser is just as easy as on your phone. Whether you send the wrong message, or you want to free up space in your Messenger chat, it’s just a few clicks away.
- Open Facebook Messenger.
- Go to the top of the dialog and select the icon with three dots.
- Select Delete Chat.
- Select Delete chat on the confirmation screen.
This will delete the conversation on Facebook Messenger completely.
How to delete Facebook conversation from desktop
You can also delete messages using the desktop app for Facebook Messenger.
- Open the Facebook Messenger app.
- Right-click the conversation you want to delete and select Delete Conversation.
- Select Delete.
Like the other methods, this option permanently deletes interactions from your account. Disappear from mobile devices, browser apps and desktop apps.
If you act too fast, you can cancel Facebook messages from both parties. If not, at least you can always end the conversation. Maybe it doesn’t work, but it goes unnoticed and you don’t like it?
