WhatsApp lets people delete messages that are up to two days old
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WhatsApp will now let people delete a message days after it has been sent.
The time limit to remove a regrettable message has now been increased to two days after it has been sent, the company announced.
“Rethinking your message? Now you’ll have a little over 2 days to delete your messages from your chats after you hit send,” it said in a tweet.
In fact, the time limit is two days and 12 hours, or 60 hours in total.
Previously, the limit was set to 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds. When it was first introduced, in 2017, users could only remove messages for seven minutes, but it has been gradually increased.
Just as when the feature was first introduced, deleting a message will leave a note saying that something has been deleted, but users will have no way to see what it was.
The amount of time that users have to delete a message varies widely on various apps. Apple, for instance, is introducing a delete feature this autumn but the limit has been reduced from four minutes to two through development; Telegram by contrast has no time limit at all.
WhatsApp still does not allow users to edit messages – only to delete or remove them. A rival app, Telegram, has mocked the fact that some apps are adding such features in 2022, though WhatsApp does not appear to be planning to allow edits to a message at all.
The additional deletion time on WhatsApp should arrive with users automatically, though it might not show until the app has been updated.
The announcement of WhatsApp’s extra time to delete messages came at the same time as a range of new security features, which allow users more control over what they share with other people.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments