A timely way to unsend message

YOU CAN trick WhatsApp into letting you bypass its strict time limit for Delete for Everyone. The long-awaited new feature lets you ‘unsend’ embarrassing messages, but only if they were sent less than seven minutes ago.

However, there are ways to get around this restriction. One way is changing the time on your phone’s clock which will enable you to recall much older messages. The method is fiddly, but it could be worth the hassle if it allows you to unsend something particularly embarrassing.

After noting the time of the message you want to Delete for Everyone, enable Aeroplane mode, close WhatsApp, and change both the time and date in your phone’s Settings menu, to within seven minutes of the message being sent.

Next, open the chat, tap and hold the message, hit the Delete symbol and select Delete for Everyone. Once that’s done, you can close the app again, switch off Aeroplane mode and change your phone’s data and time back to normal.

However, WhatsApp blocked attempts to unsend significantly older messages from approximately one month ago, with a warning popping up on-screen, reading: “WhatsApp error. Your phone date is inaccurate! Adjust your clock and try again.”

According to XDA-Developers, it works for messages that are “up to a week old”.

Older messages are, of course, likely to have already been read by the person you’ve sent them to, but this could still prove useful for people who simply want to hide certain things from view.

There is also another Delete for Everyone workaround that lets you unsend messages that you sent more than seven minutes ago. It’s far less practical though, requiring some advanced planning.

If you bring up the Delete for Everyone option – by tapping and holding a message and hitting the Delete symbol – within seven minutes of sending a message but keep it open, you can still unsend that message after your seven minutes have elapsed. – The Independent