Delete Facebook Messages Fast
Sometimes you don't want those Facebook messages to stay around forever. You can quickly delete private messages that you have sent or received on your Facebook account. This will only delete your copy of messages; the other participants will still be able to see the original messages.
Contents
Steps
Using the Facebook Website
- Open the Facebook website on your computer. You can view your Facebook messages through the Facebook website on your laptop or desktop computer. If you're using a mobile device, you won't be able to view your messages on the Facebook mobile website or mobile app, and will need to use the Messenger app instead.
- Open your message inbox. Click the Messages button at the top of the Facebook page, and then click "See All" at the bottom of the list. This will let you browse all of the Facebook messages you have sent and received.
- Find the messages you want to delete. Browse through the inbox to find the conversation containing the messages you want to delete. You can use the search box at the top of the message list to quickly find what you're looking for.
- Click the Gear button at the top of the conversation. This will open a small menu with several options.
- Select "Delete Messages" from the menu. Checkboxes will appear next to each message in the conversation.
- Check the boxes for each message you want to delete. You can select any message that you've sent or received.
- Click the "Delete" button at the bottom of the conversation after selecting messages. This will delete all of the messages that you've selected. This will only delete your copy of the messages; the other participants will still be able to see the messages on their account.
- Delete an entire conversation. If you want to remove an entire conversation, you can do it much like you would delete individual messages. Just like when deleting messages, this will only delete your copy of the conversation:
- Find and open the conversation you want to delete.
- Click the Gear button at the top of the conversation.
- Select "Delete Conversation" from the menu.
- Confirm that you want to delete the entire conversation and all of the messages it contains.
Using the Messenger App
- Open the Facebook Messenger app on your mobile device. If you're using a mobile device like an iPhone or an Android, the only way to delete your Facebook messages is by using the Facebook Messenger app. You'll be prompted to install or open this app if you select the Messages section of the Facebook app or mobile website.
- Find the conversation that contains messages you want to delete. You can delete your copy of any message you've sent or received. Open the conversation that contains the messages you want to remove. You can find a list of your conversations in the Home tab of the Messenger app.
- Press and hold on the message you want to delete. You can only delete one message at a time using the Messenger app. Press and hold the message you want to remove until a new menu appears.
- If you want to delete multiple messages at once, use the previous method on the Facebook desktop website.
- Select "Delete" from the menu that appears. After confirming, the message will be removed from the conversation. This will only affect your copy of the message. Any other conversation participants will still be able to see the original message.
- Delete an entire conversation. You can use Messenger to delete all of the messages in a conversation. This will only delete your copy of the conversation, and will not affect the other participants:
- Find the conversation you want to delete in the Home tab of the Messenger app.
- Press and hold (Android) or swipe from right to left (iOS) on the conversation you want to delete.
- Tap "Delete" and then confirm that you want to delete the conversation.
Warnings
- Deleting a message does not remove it from the other person’s Facebook account. They have to manually delete it as well from their own page.
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