The world of social media has made communication so easy it's sometimes frightening. The problem is that, at times, so much convenience puts our privacy at risk with messages we may have sent years ago. To bring back the saying "words are carried away by the wind," today we're going to explain how you can make Facebook Messenger messages automatically delete themselves.
Why destroy the messages?
Many people associate the practice of having messages automatically delete themselves from a conversation after a certain amount of time (such as with secret Telegram chats) with infidelity and other typical relationship issues. However, these chats are actually an essential tool that offers a wide range of applications when sharing confidential information with trusted individuals: a Netflix username and password, a photo of a personal document like an ID card, a bank account number, and so on. In other words, things that should be deleted after use, and we don't want the other person to decide when to do so.
Furthermore, these options are important when we don't want to leave a trace in chats where opinions matter and we don't want there to be a record of something we've said or written in the heat of an argument, if only to prevent someone with malicious intent from taking anything we might have done out of context. It's better to leave no trace in certain situations, and for that, nothing beats setting an expiration date for everything that appears in the conversation.
And you, are you going to risk that someone can use material beyond a chat in confidence?
How do you delete Messenger messages?
The first thing you should know is how to delete messages in Facebook Messenger . Depending on how many messages you want to delete or what type of device you're using, the steps may vary slightly.
Delete from the app
First of all, let us explain the procedure from the device that we use the most in our day to day to access Facebook: the mobile phone. The steps to follow in this device are as simple as:
- From the Facebook Messenger app, long press said message.
- In the drop-down select the option “More…”.
- Click on delete. If you choose "Delete for you" Well, as the action itself mentions, only you will stop seeing this message. However, if you select "Cancel shipment" both you and your interlocutor will stop seeing the message. Of course, that person will see the alert "You have deleted this message."
Another option is to delete the entire conversation with the user you were talking to. To do this, simply go to the app on your phone, swipe left from right to left on the chat you want to delete, and then select delete. That's it—conversation deleted.
Delete messages from computer
If you want to do this from the desktop version of Facebook Messenger , both processes are exactly the same, except that you'll have to click on the three-dot menu to access the option to "delete" messages or the entire conversation. Once you click it, as we mentioned before, you'll have two options to choose from:
- "Delete for you": here only you will stop seeing this message.
- "Void shipping for everyone": this, as the text that accompanies it indicates, will delete the messages for both users, that is, for you and your friend.
The interesting thing about this last option is that, after deleting the message, a message will appear saying "You have unsent this message ." If you don't like seeing these kinds of messages in the conversation, you can always tap the three-dot button again, tap "Delete" once more, and then you'll stop seeing this message. This way, you'll keep the conversation "clean" of messages sent by mistake.
These would be the basic steps you must follow to delete messages in Messenger. But of course, if you want to keep your privacy in all the chats, it can be quite tedious to delete each conversation you have. So, below, we explain how you can do all this automatically.
Automatically delete messages in Messenger
As we mentioned a few lines ago, this process can be done in two different ways:
- Temporary or "vanish" mode: using this option, the messages will be deleted as soon as we leave the conversation with our friend.
- Secret conversation: This alternative was already known for a long time in the web version. Here the messages will be deleted after the end of a timer that we will select.
The only drawback is that this process can only be done from the Messenger app on your phone. In other words, it's not compatible with the web version of the service, nor with the new desktop application the company has developed.
Activate temporary or vanish mode
To activate temporary mode in any Messenger conversation, simply swipe up within that conversation (we recommend starting a new conversation with that contact). A screen will automatically appear explaining what this mode entails. This screen will inform you about:
- Read messages will automatically disappear.
- If either party takes a screenshot, a message will appear within the conversation notifying you.
It's not necessary for both users to agree to start this temporary mode. If one person swipes up on the conversation to begin using it, the mode will activate for both of them. However, the other person will see a curious animation in which several emojis fall from their screen to notify them that Vanish mode has been activated.
Activate a secret conversation
On the other hand, to open a secret conversation with a friend on Facebook Messenger, we only need to:
- Click on the notebook icon in the upper right corner to start a new conversation.
- Here, we will have to click on the menu again "Secret" from said corner.
- Once in this new window, any conversation that we start will be in secret mode. We look for the person we want to talk to and click on her name.
Once inside this conversation, we need to select the appropriate timer for how long we want our messages to remain visible. To do this, simply tap the stopwatch button in the text bar at the bottom of the screen. Here, we can choose timers ranging from 5 seconds to 24 hours.
This type of timer will apply to any message you send from this point forward. Whether you send a photo, video, sticker, or anything else, it will disappear after the specified time. From now on, any message sent in this chat will have a countdown timer on the left, indicating how much time is left before it's automatically deleted. And remember, if you want to stop messages from disappearing with this timer, simply tap the previous icon again, set the timer to "No," and continue typing as normal. However, keep in mind that this won't actually delete your messages.
Delete an entire conversation
It's not an automatic action, but you might have to deal with it someday. If you ever want to delete an entire chat for whatever reason , Facebook Messenger offers a very quick way to do so. However, before taking the step, remember that you'll lose everything written and shared, whether it's photos, videos, links, or any other content that, who knows, might become relevant again years later.
To do so, you must follow the following steps from the official application on your mobile:
- Access Facebook Messenger, to the timeline of all conversations.
- Press the chat you want to delete and keep your finger on the screen.
- A pop-up window will appear with a preview of that conversation and, just below, a series of options.
- Now choose the one of Delete.
- Confirm the selection and that's it. That chat will have ceased to exist for ever.