WhatsApp 'Delete for Everyone' feature lets you unsend embarrassing messages: Here's how to use it

The feature has been in development for months

WhatsApp’s much-anticipated “Unsend” feature is finally ready.

It’s been in development for months, but has now started rolling out to users.

The feature, which is officially called “Delete for Everyone” has also been widely referred to as “Recall” and “Revoke”.

It lets you unsend messages, making them completely disappear from a conversation. They'll be hidden from both yourself and the other people in the chat.

However, both you and your recipient need to be using the latest version of WhatsApp, and it only works for messages you’ve sent within the last seven minutes.

Once that period of time has passed, your message is there to stay.

Delete for Everyone work on all types of messages, including text, images, videos, GIFs and documents.

To unsend a message, simply highlight it by tapping and holding the line of text, select Delete from the menu and hit the Delete for Everyone option.

“This is particularly useful if you sent a message to the wrong chat or if the message you sent contains a mistake,” explains WhatsApp in an FAQ.

“Messages you successfully delete for everyone will be replaced with ‘This message was deleted’ in your recipients' chats. Similarly, if you see ‘This message was deleted’ in a chat, it means that the sender deleted their message for everyone.”

WhatsApp says you will not be notified if Delete for Everyone hasn’t worked.

It also warns that, even if the feature does work successfully, there’s a chance the person you’ve been chatting to may have already seen the message before you decided to revoke it.

According to WABetaInfo, the rollout of Delete for Everyone is proving “very slow”, so don’t worry if you’re unable to make use of it quite yet.