Facebook Messenger to introduce new 'delete sent messages' feature

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By Sharmishta Sarkar
published

You’ll have only 10 minutes to do so

WhatsApp lets you do it – if you’ve sent a message by mistake, you’ve got a window of time within which you can delete it. Even Gmail gives users a few seconds to 'undo send'.

Facebook is finally following suit and adding the feature to its Messenger app. The announcement was discovered by Twitter user @MattNavarra as “coming soon” in the release notes of Messenger’s 191.0 version on iOS.

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While Facebook-owned WhatsApp gives you an hour to delete sent messages, Messenger isn’t going to be so magnanimous. You’ll only have 10 minutes to redact that silly photo or drunken confession you just sent to the wrong person. 

Facebook began floating the idea of allowing sent messages to be deleted in April after the company was caught red-handed retracting messages sent by CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other execs.

While the 10-minute window is rather unforgiving, the new feature will nonetheless be a welcome addition, although no specific time frame for the rollout has been announced.

[Via The Verge]

Sharmishta Sarkar
Sharmishta Sarkar
Managing Editor (APAC)

Sharmishta is TechRadar's APAC Managing Editor and loves all things photography, something she discovered while chasing monkeys in the wilds of India (she studied to be a primatologist but has since left monkey business behind). While she's happiest with a camera in her hand, she's also an avid reader and has become a passionate proponent of ereaders, having appeared on Singaporean radio to talk about the convenience of these underrated devices. When she's not testing camera kits or the latest in e-paper tablets, she's discovering the joys and foibles of smart home gizmos. She's also the Australian Managing Editor of Digital Camera World and, if that wasn't enough, she contributes to T3 and Tom's Guide, while also working on two of Future's photography print magazines Down Under.