How to Delete Week Old WhatsApp Messages

If you send the wrong message to the wrong person on WhatsApp, don’t panic, you can quickly delete that message. The trick is you need to act fast. You have about one hour to request WhatsApp to permanently remove the problematic message for everyone. After 60 minutes, deleting that message for everyone is a bit more complicated but not impossible.

Steps to Delete WhatsApp Messages for Everyone After a Long Time

1. Go to the message you want to remove and write down the date and time you sent it.
   • That’s an essential piece of information because the rest of the steps depend on that date.
2. Then force quit WhatsApp.
3. Next, disable cellular data. If your phone is connected to a wireless network, enable Airplane Mode.
4. On your mobile device, go to Settings and tap Date and Time settings.
   • That’s why you noted down the date at Step 1.
5. Change your phone’s date and time settings and set up any date before the message time. Good, you just traveled back in time.
   • As you can see in the screenshot below, I changed the date back to February 2, 2021.
   • The idea is to trick WhatsApp into thinking you did not miss that one-hour window during which you can revoke the message for everyone.
6. Select the message you want to delete and tap Delete for everyone.
   • As you can see in the screenshot below, I deleted the message sent on February 15, 2021. Had I not changed the date, I would not have deleted the message for everyone.
7. Wait one minute, and then you can reset your date and time settings.

To sum up, if you want to delete old WhatsApp messages for everyone, you need to:

1. Force quit the WhatsApp app.
2. Enable Airplane Mode.
3. Change your phone’s date and time settings and choose a time before the moment you sent the message.
4. Select and delete the message for everyone.

Important Notes

• You cannot delete messages that are older than four months even if you change your device’s date and time settings. If you go too far back in time, WhatsApp will throw an error message informing you that your date and time settings are inaccurate.
• Sometimes, deleting a message for everyone may not work. But WhatsApp won’t notify you when the process fails.
• Both the sender and the recipients need to use the latest WhatsApp app version to be successfully deleted for everyone.
• iOS users may still have media files saved to their devices even after deleting the message for everyone.

Conclusion

If you need to delete WhatsApp messages for everyone a long time after you sent them, you need to change your phone’s date and time settings. Travel back in time to a time before you sent that message to enable the “Delete for everyone” option. Did this method work for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.