Facebook now lets you delete messages. But be careful: It won’t work for everyone yet

Facebook announced a new feature Tuesday that lets users delete messages they have sent to friends and groups on the social network, when using the Messenger app on iOS or Android.

But don’t get ahead of yourself: While the delete feature is set to start rolling out for all users on Tuesday, company spokesperson Lisa Stratton said in an email to McClatchy that “it may take a bit of time for it to be updated for everyone.”

That means users who don’t have the update might think they have deleted a message, but will actually only have deleted the message from their own chat window. The message’s receiver, on the other hand, will still be able to see it. In other words, users might not be able to take back their typos — or their regrettable messages to an ex — just yet.

Facebook said users who have the update will be able to tap the message they want to delete and choose “remove for everyone” within 10 minutes of sending the message. In the message’s place, recipients of the now-deleted text will see text saying a message was removed from the thread, according to Facebook.

For those whose Messenger platform hasn’t updated yet, tapping the message you want to delete will give still give you a “delete” option — but it appears to only work on the user’s own thread. Facebook said that removal option (deleting the message just for yourself, but not for others) will still be available going forward by selecting “remove for you” rather than “remove for everyone.”

So how can you get the update faster and start deleting? Just be patient as the update rolls out, the Facebook spokesperson told McClatchy.

“Also, make sure you have the latest version of Messenger,” Stratton advised, adding that for everyone the feature “should be updated soon!”

Facebook built the new feature after it was revealed last April that the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, had his own private delete button to remove messages he had sent, The Verge reports.

“After people found out that Zuckerberg (and, presumably, other executives) could delete messages but the average user couldn’t, they called out Facebook for providing preferential treatment to higher-ups,” Shannon Liao writes for The Verge. “On the same day, Facebook announced that it would build an ‘unsend’ feature for all users within the next few months and limit Zuckerberg’s ability to use it until everyone got the same power. (Those ‘few months’ turned out to be nine.)”

In November 2018, Facebook started rolling out the “unsend” feature that will soon be universal, TechCrunch reports. But at first it was only available in Bolivia, Poland, Colombia and Lithuania.

This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Facebook now lets you delete messages. But be careful: It won’t work for everyone yet."