What happens if you delete a message in WhatsApp that has not been delivered - briefly?
If you delete an undelivered message on WhatsApp, the recipient will not receive it. The message is permanently removed from both your and their chat history.
What happens if you delete a message in WhatsApp that has not been delivered - in detail?
When you delete a message in WhatsApp that has not been delivered, several things happen behind the scenes. Firstly, it's important to understand that undelivered messages are stored on your device until they can be sent or until you manually delete them.
Once you decide to delete an undelivered message, here’s what happens:
-
Local Deletion: The message is immediately removed from your local WhatsApp database on the device where you initiated the deletion. This means that you will no longer see the message in your chat history.
-
Server-Side Impact: If the recipient's phone was offline or had poor connectivity when you sent the message, WhatsApp servers would have temporarily stored it. When you delete an undelivered message, this action is also communicated to WhatsApp’s servers. The server then marks that particular message as deleted and prevents its delivery to the intended recipient.
-
Recipient Experience: Since the message was never delivered, the recipient will not receive any notification about the deletion or even be aware of the existence of such a message. They simply won't see it in their chat history because it was never successfully transmitted to their device.
-
Group Chats: In group chats, if you delete an undelivered message, other members of the group will not receive it either. The deletion action on your end ensures that the message is completely removed from WhatsApp's ecosystem and does not reach any participants.
-
Device-Specific Action: It’s crucial to note that deleting an undelivered message only affects the device from which you deleted it. If you have WhatsApp installed on multiple devices, the undelivered message will still be present on those other devices until you manually delete it there as well.
-
Backup and Restore: Deleting an undelivered message also affects any backups you might have set up for WhatsApp. If you restore your chat history from a backup created before the deletion, the undelivered message will reappear in your chat history. Conversely, if the backup is made after deleting the undelivered message, it won’t be included in the restored data.
In summary, deleting an undelivered WhatsApp message ensures that it is permanently removed from both your local device and WhatsApp's servers, preventing any future delivery to the intended recipient. This action is final and cannot be undone, reflecting WhatsApp’s commitment to user control over their messaging history.