There’s Now an ‘Unsend’ Function on FB Messenger, But Here’s The Catch

We’ve all been there: horrific typos, love notes wrongfully sent to the work chat group (intended for the S.O.!), or late night texts to the ex that do not age well by sunrise. Well, what if we tell you, you can now unsend any such future messages (though heaven forbid we should let our judgment lapse so badly once again!) on Facebook Messenger?

Source: giphy

Yes, that’s right. The popular messaging app has finally added the function that most, if not all of us sorely needed. Previously, one could only delete messages, but that didn’t really make a difference as it would only delete it on our chat history with the recipient, and not vice versa.

Now, Facebook has come around and updated the app with ‘Remove for Everyone’, and it’s already started rolling out to both iOS and Android devices. *Checks phone immediately*. With this function, all you will need to do is tap and hold on a message, and be shown the options to either delete it for yourself or delete it also for the person/people receiving the message.

Source: messenger news

If this function’s mechanisms sound familiar, that’s because it’s already been in practice for some time on another messaging app we all know all too well.

Source: whatsapp

This should come as no surprise to even the most casual of Facebook observers, as they would know that Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, and there have since been overlaps in their functionalities, e.g. WhatsApp Status, which is similar to Facebook and Instagram Stories.

Oh, but wait – there’s a slight catch to this otherwise positive update. If you want to delete that embarrassing mistake, you’ll have to act fast, as 10 minutes from the time of sending is all you’ll have to delete it. We think that’s a considerable drawback, seeing as WhatsApp doesn’t have the same limitation. Perhaps they’ll look into removing the time limit altogether in future updates? 

Have you already updated your app and gotten the feature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, or better yet, tell us your funniest texting horror stories!

Also read: Beware: Browser Extensions You Download May Lead to Hacked Facebook Messages