How to completely delete WhatsApp correspondence - briefly?
To completely delete your WhatsApp correspondence, you can use the "Delete for Everyone" feature within 7 minutes of sending a message or delete the conversation from your chat list to remove it from both your phone and WhatsApp servers.
How to completely delete WhatsApp correspondence - in detail?
To completely delete WhatsApp correspondence, you need to follow a series of steps that ensure all data is permanently removed from your device and the servers. Here's a detailed guide on how to achieve this:
- Backup Your Data: Before deleting any messages, it’s crucial to back up your chats. This step ensures you don’t lose important information inadvertently. To do this, go to WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Chat Backup and follow the on-screen instructions.
- Delete Individual Messages or Conversations: If you want to delete specific messages or entire conversations, open WhatsApp and navigate to the chat you wish to delete. For individual messages, long press on the message until a menu appears, then select "Delete". To delete an entire conversation, tap on the three dots in the top right corner of the chat, select "More", and then tap "Delete Chat".
- Clear WhatsApp Cache: Clearing the cache can help free up storage space on your device. However, this does not permanently delete your messages; it only removes temporary files. To clear the cache, go to your phone’s Settings > Apps > WhatsApp > Storage & Cache > Clear Cache.
- Delete Media Files: WhatsApp stores media files (photos, videos, documents) in a separate folder on your device. To delete these files, navigate to your file manager, locate the WhatsApp folder (usually found in Internal Storage), and manually delete the contents of the "Media" subfolder.
- Delete WhatsApp Backups: If you have backed up your chats to Google Drive or iCloud, you need to delete these backups as well. For Android users, go to Google Drive, tap on the three lines in the top left corner, select "Backup", find WhatsApp under the list of apps, and tap "Delete". For iOS users, go to Settings > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage > WhatsApp, and then delete the backup.
- Uninstall WhatsApp: After completing the previous steps, uninstall WhatsApp from your device. This removes the app and all associated data from your phone.
- Permanently Delete Messages from Servers: To ensure that your messages are permanently deleted from WhatsApp’s servers, you can request a deletion of your account. Go to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Delete My Account, enter your phone number, and follow the instructions. This action will delete your WhatsApp account and all associated data from their servers.
- Reinstall WhatsApp (Optional): If you decide to use WhatsApp again, you can reinstall the app from the Google Play Store or App Store. Upon reinstallation, you can restore your chats from the backup created in Step 1.
By following these detailed steps, you can ensure that all traces of your WhatsApp correspondence are completely deleted from both your device and WhatsApp’s servers.