South Africa’s had its fair share of WhatsApp blunders: look no further than Margaret from Schweizer’s recent mishap. All of us often text before we’ve properly thought through a message, but WhatsApp has now rolled out a feature which allows users to delete a message sent on the platform – provided that you do it within 7 minutes of sending the message. Here’s how it works:
First things first
If you want to take advantage of the new feature, you’ll need to download the latest version of WhatsApp. Also, the feature only works if the recipient has also downloaded the latest version of the app, so don’t feel too comfortable when using it.
WhatsApp calls this option “delete for everyone”. Hold your thumb down on the message you want to delete, and the trash can icon will appear, along with a message saying, “delete for everyone”. Instead of seeing the message, the recipient (if they’re running the latest version of WhatsApp) will get a notification saying that the message has been deleted.
WhatsApp is gradually rolling out the feature to users, so keep an eye out for the latest update to take advantage of it. For the time being, though, carefully consider what you send before you send it.