Being the most widely used messaging application, WhatsApp keeps all kinds of conversations, the personal ones that we have with our friends and family, and the professionals that have to do with work or school. One of the practical functions offered by the platform is the possibility of deleting messages after they have been sent. However, there is a drawback, if it has been more than an hour since you have left your cell phone, it no longer gives you the option to delete it for everyone.
We give you a trick to be able to change that and be able to delete the messages whenever you want.
First, we are going to explain a little how the option to delete messages works. Once it has been sent, you can press and hold on to it to display a menu with a trash can at the top.
If you click on it, depending on the delivery time, three options will appear: delete for me, delete for everyone, or cancel. If you choose to delete for yourself, you will stop seeing the content, but not the recipient. If you choose to delete for everyone then the message will no longer be available and only the legend will remain that warns that something was deleted.
The problem is that WhatsApp only gives the opportunity to delete a message for everyone before about an hour passes. After that, if you click on the message you will only see the Delete option for me.
So what can be done if, in the end, you don't want the message to be read or left in the conversation? Here we give you the step by step to achieve it.
Users described a little trick on Android that you can apply to delete WhatsApp messages for everyone after hours, and even days, and best of all, without having to download any new application that could endanger your security.
The first thing you have to do is put your cell phone in airplane mode so that it is not connected to any network. For that, just go to settings or, from the top of your screen, slide your finger down to see the shortcuts for some functions, including airplane mode.
The intention of this is that wireless connections will be disabled, that is, Wi-Fi networks and mobile data so that WhatsApp cannot be updated.
It will also be necessary to close WhatsApp from the system. To do this, go to settings, open the list of apps, select WhatsApp and click Force stop.
The next step is to change the device time. To do this, go to Settings, then click on System and select Date and time, then you must deactivate the option that says Use network time.
Now change the time on your cell phone. We recommend that before starting all this process you write down the time you sent the message so that you can be sure that you will choose the appropriate time. Although it may be the one you prefer, to keep it simple, you can put only one minute before the moment you sent the message. For example, if you sent the message at 7:30 p.m., the new time on your cell phone should be 7:29 p.m. If more than one day has passed, don't forget to change the date as well.
Finally, go back to WhatsApp, click on the message you want to delete and the Delete option for all will appear again, click and then you can deactivate airplane mode. Go back to WhatsApp and wait until you verify that the content is no longer visible.
By the way, to deactivate airplane mode you just have to slide down the notification panel to see the settings menu and click on the airplane icon. After that just check that your device is updated with the correct date and time.
What is necessary to mention is that you will have to follow all these steps every time you want to delete a message that is more than an hour after it was sent. And that, since it is a considerable time, it is likely that the recipient has already seen it, although, with this, it will no longer be in the conversation.