We have all been there before. You have a text that you have written, and you press send. However, the person you have sent it to is not your girlfriend; it’s your boss!
Suddenly, you realize that if your boss sees this message, it will be super awkward the next day at work.
Or maybe you are speaking to your girlfriend, and it’s a heated argument. You text something and then suddenly realize you have crossed the line. You think in your head desperately that you will give ANYTHING to delete this text. Luckily your girlfriend left her apartment to get the food delivery, so you have time. If only you knew how to delete this text!
Luckily there IS a solution for this. There are several ways you can “Unsend” messages on your iPhone. Many people wish they had a time machine to go back and change something about the past. If that thing is a message and you have an iPhone, you are in luck, my friend.
Use this easy guide to show you how you can easily hop into the iPhone time machine and unsend messages.
Block the Message Before It’s Sent using iMessage
If the message is quite large, there will be a lag while it takes time to send to the other person. So in case, it’s a message that you didn’t intend to send, don’t worry!
If the message is still loading, you can block the connection using Airplane Mode. In order to do this, use the following steps:
- Swipe down on your screen (top right-hand corner) until you see the Control Center menu.
- On the Control Center menu, you should see a little icon of an airplane; this is Airplane Mode.
- Tap the Airplane Mode button on the screen. This should immediately cut off your mobile connection, and you can interrupt the message from being sent.
- You will see a “Not Delivered” message on your iPhone, which will then confirm to you that the message has not been received by the receiver.
- Once you have an undelivered text message, click on the “More” button.
- When you see the list of options, click on Delete Message. This is important because if you do not do this last step, the message will send again once you get your connection back.
Remember, you only have a few seconds to do this, so time is of the essence. However, you can now breathe a long sigh of relief because that message you did not want to send is currently not sending.
Please note that this is the only option to 100% delete something using iMessage. If you do not use this method, even if you delete it from your phone, the receiver will still be able to see it.
Use a 3rd Party App to send Messages and Unsend
iPhone is tricky because, due to its encryption software, it is very difficult to unsend messages. However, many people worldwide use 3rd party apps to send messages to their friends, colleagues, and loved ones.
There are a variety of different apps available to send messages. Some of the most popular are WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook Messenger.
If you are the type of person who is constantly sending messages that you regret sending later, then these types of apps you should really focus on using. Here are some tips for these apps that you can download on your iPhone and use as messaging platforms.
WhatsApp is a popular messaging service used globally, particularly in Latin America. It offers an easy way to send messages and also delete messages. How to delete messages on WhatsApp once you have sent them? Follow these easy steps.
- Click on the WhatsApp icon if not open.
- If the WhatsApp app is open, go ahead and look at the text you want to delete. It is probably one of many that have been sent, but you only want to delete this.
- Press and hold on to the message until you see a dropdown menu.
- Select the “Delete” option from the dropdown menu.
- Make sure it’s the correct message, as WhatsApp will give you the option of deleting that message and many others.
- Select “Delete for Everyone.”
Now that you have done this, no one will be the wiser. You can sit back and relax because you know that the message you accidentally sent will never be seen by anyone. Probably including yourself if you forget you ever sent it!
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger is a common way people use to communicate across the globe. Particularly those of the “Baby Boomer” generation love to use Facebook Messenger to keep in touch with friends and family. However, if there is something that you told grandma that you shouldn’t have, use the following steps:
- Open up the Facebook Messenger application on your phone if not open already.
- Select the message that you want to unsend.
- Hold the message you want to unsend and tap either Unsend for You or Unsend for Everyone.
- Tap Unsend.
This method behaves similar to the way that you delete WhatsApp messages. It will allow you to make sure that any mistakes you might have made in sending messages will be undone.
Summary
And there you have it, how to unsend messages from both iMessage and popular messaging apps. If you are skilled in these methods, you really don’t have to panic when you realize you have missent a text message to someone.
Word of advice, the easiest way to avoid this is to double-check all messages before sending them. This preventative measure is by far the easiest way to never have to worry about sending uncouth messages to an innocent receiver.
