WhatsApp may soon allow you to withdraw sent messages

Though the message will be removed, some data would still be retained, suggest reports

Have you faced a situation when you sent a message to someone by mistake on WhatsApp and then regretted? Instant messaging services can be tricky – while they allow you to express yourself freely and instantly, they can also lead to embarrassment. Well, you need not worry anymore. A new WhatsApp feature might now let you recall an uncomfortable message. The popular messaging app is rumoured to soon roll out the much-anticipated ‘delete for everyone’ feature, for both the Android and iOS platforms. 

According to tweets by WABetaInfo, a fan site that tests new WhatsApp features, the instant messaging service, which has over 1.2 billion monthly active users, is finally testing this feature and will remotely enable it soon.

Here are the tweets posted by WABetaInfo:

What is this feature all about?

Technically, the new 'Delete for Everyone' feature will let users ‘unsend’ messages. You will have five minutes from the time when you sent the message to delete it – only if the message is not opened.

At present, WhatsApp, available in 50 languages, including 10 Indian, shows a single tick when the message is sent successfully and a double tick when it is delivered. This might change soon with this new WhatsApp feature, reportedly under testing.

Salient features

The ‘delete for everyone’ feature will help revoke or ‘unsend’ messages sent incorrectly to an individual as well as group chat.

Just like Gmail’s ‘undo send’ feature, which gives you 10 seconds to recall a message, this feature will allow you to ‘unsend’ not only texts, but also images, videos, GIFs, documents, quoted messages, and even status replies, within a five-minute window.

Limitations of this feature

The messages that have already been sent more than five minutes earlier, cannot be recalled. Also, the five-minute window does not apply if the message has been read by the receiver during this period. Another issue is that though the message will be removed, some data will still be retained, reports suggest. The receiver of the message might still get a notification reading “This message was deleted.” 

According to a DailyMail report, this ‘delete for everyone’ feature, originally called 'Recall', was first seen in April in a Beta version of the app. The feature was included in the code for version 2.17.30 of the app, but WhatsApp has still to enable it.

WhatsApp is one of the largest messaging apps with. It is available in more than 50 different languages around the world and in 10 Indian languages.