You now have more than two days to delete that embarrassing WhatsApp message

Ever sent an WhatsApp message and wished that you still have a longer time to “unsend” it? Well WhatsApp just announced a new feature where you now have a little over two days to delete a “sent” message instead of just one hour. We were already expecting this new feature as we reported in February 2022 that the company was working on this change in time limit.

The Meta-owned company tweeted about the new feature on its Twitter page, saying users now “have a little over 2 days to delete messages from your chats after you hit send.”

Specifically, you have 2 days and 12 hours to delete a message after sending it. Previously, this limit was only 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds.

To start using this new feature , open up the WhatsApp group or individual chat where you sent the message(s). Make sure to tap and hold the content you want to get rid of, click “Delete,” and then select either “Delete for everyone” or “Delete for me.”

Please note that all users must have downloaded the latest version of WhatsApp for this new feature to work. Unfortunately you will not get a notification if the message didn’t delete.

WhatsApp has been increasing this time limit since it introduced it some years ago. In 2017, the time limit to delete was within seven minutes.

Interestingly while WhatsApp is increasing the time limit to delete, Apple iMeessage is moving in the opposite direction. In the first beta versions of iOS 16, users have 15 minutes to unsend a message. Apple latest betas show that this limit has been reduced to only two minutes.

As much as this is a good development for WhatsApp users, this new feature can be used for malicious intentions. Some users can feign temporary amnesia as to the content of the message that was sent a couple of days ago.