iPhone Text Deletion: Guide for Both Participants

Uh oh, you accidentally sent that embarrassing text to the wrong person and now you need it gone – like, vanished so no one sees it ever again. We’ve all been there! Thankfully, deleting an iMessage on your iPhone doesn’t just remove it from your end, but also the recipient. Phew! Crisis averted.

Quick Answer

To delete a text message on an iPhone for both the sender and recipient, open the Messages app and find the conversation with the message you want to delete. Tap and hold the blue message bubble, then tap ‘More’. This will reveal options – tap ‘Undo Send’ and confirm to erase the text. Both you and the recipient will now see ‘This message has been deleted’ instead of the content.

Why Delete Messages On iPhone From Both Sides?

Studies show 77% of people have regretted a text message they’ve sent. And embarrassing or inappropriate texts have led to workplace issues for 56% of professionals. Given the prevalence of texting in both our personal and professional lives, and being able to completely wipe a text clean offers invaluable peace of mind. With texting only growing as a communication method, it’s critical to be able to fully erase regrettable messages.

How To Delete Messages On iPhone From Both Sides

Americans send over 2.1 trillion texts annually. But sometimes you send a text you wish you could take back. Good for you, because on an iPhone you can fully delete a message from both your phone and the recipient’s with just a few taps.

Here is how to wipe a text message clean from both ends of the conversation:

Open the Messages app and locate the conversation containing the message you want to delete.
Tap and hold the blue message bubble you want to erase. This will highlight the text.
A menu will pop up – tap ‘More’.
Tap on the ‘Undo Send’ option.
Tap on it to permanently delete the text message.

That’s it! The text will now show as ‘You unsent a message’ on your screen and ‘This message has been deleted’ on the recipient’s iPhones. Gone for good.

How To Remove Recently Deleted Messages on iPhone

If you’re thinking of organizing text messages on your iPhone by freeing up storage space then simply open the Messages app, tap the Recently Deleted folder, swipe left on any message thread, and tap ‘Delete’ to instantly remove it. Doing this forces the permanent deletion of messages that would otherwise sit in the folder for up to a month before being auto-deleted by your iPhone.

FAQs

Yes, when you delete an iMessage it also deletes from the recipient’s phone. This is a key difference from regular SMS texting. Thanks to iMessage syncing across Apple devices, you can delete messages from iPad and iPhone at the same time. Your recipient will see “This message has been deleted” in place of any text you choose to wipe.

No, deleting a text only erases the message, not the other person’s contact. Your contacts and their phone numbers will remain in your contacts list even after deleting a text conversation with them.

It will be removed from both your phone and the recipient’s. The text is erased from the conversation history on both ends, unlike with regular SMS. So deleting a regretful iMessage you’ve sent effectively makes it disappear for good. No more cringing when you re-read texts!

Yes, you can delete text messages from both sides of an iMessage conversation. Just make sure that you’re all caught up with the latest iOS update so that you can delete multiple messages on iPhone. With an outdated iOS update, you can only unsend one text in 24 hours.

Conclusion

One thing that you should keep in mind is that you can only ‘undo send’ a text once in 24 hours – if your phone is not updated. So the next time auto-correct betrays you or you message the wrong person, use this easy iPhone trick to wipe the slate clean once and for all.

James Wilson

James Wilson is a seasoned tech enthusiast with a passion for all things Apple. With years of experience troubleshooting and fixing iPhone issues, he brings a wealth of knowledge to “My Tech Simply.” James’s dedication to helping iPhone users find simple and effective solutions shines through in his articles.