Permanently Delete Facebook Messages

This article teaches you how to delete Facebook messages from both the Facebook Messenger app and the Facebook website.

Steps

Open Facebook Messenger. It's a white app with a blue message bubble and white lightning bolt inside.
- If you aren't signed into Messenger, type in your phone number, tap Continue, and enter your password.
Tap the Home tab. It's the house-shaped icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
- If Messenger opens to a conversation, tap the Back button in the top-left corner of the screen first.
Scroll to the conversation you wish to delete. If it's an old conversation, you may have to scroll down several times.
Swipe left over the conversation. Doing so will bring up a row of options on the right side of the conversation box.
Tap Delete. It's the red button on the far-right side of the screen.
Tap Delete Conversation. This option is at the top of the pop-up window that appears after tapping Delete. Doing so will permanently remove the conversation from your message history.

Open Facebook Messenger. It's a white app with a blue message bubble and white lightning bolt inside.
- If you aren't signed into Messenger, type in your phone number, tap Continue, and enter your password.
Tap the Home tab. It's the house-shaped icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
- If Messenger opens to a conversation, tap the Back button in the top-left corner of the screen first.
Scroll to the conversation you wish to delete.
Tap and hold the conversation. After a second or so, a window with the heading "Conversation" will pop up.
Tap Delete. It's the option at the top of the "Conversation" window.
Tap Delete Conversation when prompted. Doing so will remove the conversation from your Facebook messages history.

Open the Facebook website. If you're logged into Facebook, doing so will open your News Feed.
- If you aren't logged into Facebook, enter your email address (or phone number) into the top-right corner of the screen and click Log In.
Click the Messenger icon. It looks like a message bubble with a lightning bolt inside, in the row of options located in the top-right side of the Facebook page.
Click View All in Messenger. This link is at the bottom of the Messenger drop-down menu. Clicking it will open the Messenger utility.
Scroll to the conversation you wish to delete. Your conversations are stored on the left side of this page.
Hover your mouse cursor over the message. You should see a small gear icon appear in the bottom-right corner of the selected message.
Click the ⚙️ icon. Doing so will open a drop-down menu with several options.
Click Delete. It's near the middle of the drop-down menu.
Click Delete when prompted. You should see this option on the pop-up "Delete Conversation" window. Clicking it will permanently remove your selected conversation from your messages history.

Deleting a Facebook message will not remove it from your recipient's message history.

Make sure you absolutely want to delete a Facebook message before doing so--you won't be able to retrieve it once it's gone.