Facebook is also about to allow users to delete messages sent to contacts.
In the release notes for the latest version of Messenger for iOS, the feature is already directly mentioned, with a launch expected “soon” and details on how it works, allowing texts to be deleted up to 10 minutes after the original send.
As with other similar apps, this applies even when the contact has already seen the message, but details on how it works are still scarce.
On WhatsApp, for example, deleted messages effectively disappear, but the speech bubble remains, indicating that there was a text that was deleted by the sender.
The idea is that the same dynamic will be applied to Messenger.
Currently, the feature to delete messages in the app only works for the user themselves, with no effect on what is received.
On the other hand, the possibility of expanding this feature and allowing users to have second thoughts has been considered since April, when Facebook itself admitted that the creator and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, and other key executives of the company had the feature enabled on their profiles.
Later, the functionality appeared working for some users in October. However, questions remain about what exactly is causing the company to take so long to release a feature that is already present in practically all messengers on the market.
The short time limits also draw attention, since on WhatsApp, which also belongs to Facebook, this maximum time is one hour.
Be that as it may, users can breathe a little easier knowing that, soon, they will have a second chance, even if short, to rethink what was said to contacts.
Although it only appeared in the release notes for the iOS version, the idea is that the new feature will also arrive on the Android operating system and desktop versions of Messenger.