WhatsApp has become one of the most widely used online chat medium. Earlier the facility that was available only on the “elite” BlackBerry phones, WhatsApp brought it to the masses. No surprise that it did not take much time for WhatsApp to leave BBM and Facebook Messenger far behind (so much so that Facebook had to buy WhatsApp for $19 billion). Now users are “apping” all the time in hundreds of languages through their mobile phones and WhatsApp on computer. They use WhatsApp for every small or big thing, for sharing everything with their friends —be it a text message, video, audio or photos. But sometimes in excitement and excessive use, we send a message that we did not really want to send. Or a message gets shot off to someone who was not the intended recipient of it. Such situations can cause a lot of troubles and embarrassment.
The question is, can you stop a WhatsApp message after you’ve sent it. Is there a way to delete and recall a WhatsApp message?
The answer is both yes and no!
Many of my readers also ask, is it possible to delete a WhatsApp message with one tick showing in bubble?
The answer is no! Let’s find out the reasons behind it.
Last week, I explained how a message travels from your mobile to the receiver and how WhatsApp notify this through tick marks (check marks). As I said in that article, a clock icon on your message bubble indicates that the message is waiting and has not yet left your mobile phone.
Stopping a WhatsApp message is possible but very difficult!
So, if your message is still showing a clock icon in the bottom-right corner, and you realize that you did not want to send that message –you’re in luck! You should immediately turn off mobile Internet connection on your smartphone. This will block the channel and message will remain in your mobile. Then delete the message from WhatsApp before connecting to the Internet again.
Important Read: WhatsApp allows you to hide the fact that you’ve read the message. You can also hide your Last Seen status.
But this method is mostly useless! You’ll have long enough time frame to turn off Internet only if your Internet connection is slow. So, if you’re from a place where Internet speed is sluggish, you may have a few seconds to decide and switch off network.
In most cases, however, WhatsApp message travels at a very fast speed. It will not give you enough time to realize and react. As soon as the message leaves your mobile and reaches WhatsApp server, the clock icon will change into single tick sign. And once the clock icon is gone, there is no way to hold your message back. It will reach the recipient as and when her mobile device will connect to the Internet.
SEE ALSO: Learn cool WhatsApp Tricks
UPDATE: A few of my readers have suggested a way to stop a WhatsApp message before it gets delivered. I have not tested this method but it sound pretty logical. If you block the recipient contact before you get double tick icon, it may be possible that the WhatsApp Server will not deliver the message. WhatsApp server keeps undelivered messages on its server for about 30 days. Therefore, if you unblock the person before 30 days, the stopped message may go ahead and get delivered. So, do not unblock before 30 days!
As I said, I have not tested the above mentioned trick. If you use it, please let me know the results. We would love to hear from you!
I hope this answers your question. Better be of safer side and decide before you send anything on WhatsApp (or any online channel for that matter).
ChrisCurious says
I sent a message to the wrong person. Used the new option from whatsapp to delete the message. is there any way that the person can retrieve the message??
Hina Noor says
I have sent the dirty picture to wrong person by mistake and after it get one grey tick I have deleted that message and my WhatsApp contact immediately..
I just want to know that the picture which I have sent to wrong person has been delivered to recipient or not??
Lalit Kumar says
In all probability, the photograph will be delivered to that person.
Jagesh Jain says
Hi All,
The one tick & blocking thing doesn’t work. I sent message to wrong person and while it was still one grey tick, I blocked the contact as mentioned by some people here.
Guess what, in sometime itself I saw 2 blue ticks indicating that the message was read by that person. It doesn’t work. Hope it helps
Franklin says
Thank you, i love your tutorial, i recently sent a message to a wrong person, but i have block the person contact, i will give you feedback when the message didn’t deliver, thank you
Genevieve Aina says
Nice tutorial; I am still waiting for WhatsApp recent announcement though about an update that will implement this feature
hatim says
i have a question
for example if i send a video to …say 20 persons
if i have to delete the video i sent i should go to each pesron page and delete the video i sent
wouldnt whatsapp have a way … an option …
( delete last sent items to all you sent )
please let me know if there is any better way
Lalit Kumar says
Once your message or video is delivered to the recipient(s) you can not delete it. You may delete the message in your own phone, but the message will not be deleted from the recipient’s mobile.
Habeeb says
I sent a msg to a wrong person & my net was realy quick. The msg got delivered instantly proven by 2 ticks..is there a way i can prevent this msg from being viewed by the contact i sent to? he hasnt read it yet.
Monna says
I have sent a WhatsApp message to wrong person but it was with only one grey mark and then i deleted that message immediately form my WhatsApp to prevent it from delivering to recipient. how to stop this? Please tell me :(
Lalit Kumar says
One grey tick means your message has been received by WhatsApp server and the message will be delivered when the recipient will come online.
Jason says
On internet there are may forums which say that if we block a contact when we see single tick or before we get double ticks on the message sent, it will not deliver. Keep the contact blocked until we do not see change in time in- Last seen on…..
I tried it but it did not work. I saw double ticks in blue even I did not unblock the contact.
WhatsApp needs to add this feature in the app.
Web user says
Actually the problem may be with your network. After the message has been seen by the receiver you have blocked the contact I hope, since your network was slow to recognise whether it is seen or not, the symbol changed to double click after you blocked it. I have experience in that method, If you block a contact before it is delivered it won’t deliver at al.
cuj says
what if the person is not on your contact list ab initio and you also is offline but the message I have sent , I have also deleted for me and them. when they come back online will they see anything since they don’t even have my number to begin with
Russ says
Hi there
If you send a whatsapp message when you have no internet connection or mobile data. And then decide to delete it whilst you still continue to have no internet connection. Did the message deliver?
However I cannot recall whether I saw a clock or a tick…sadly I cannot remember!
I guess I need to understand…….. can WhatsApp message sent – turn to tick symbol when with ZERO internet connection? Any help would be great
Lalit Kumar says
If you’re not connected with Internet, WhatsApp messages will not go through. If you send and then delete messages while the net connection is off, the messages will not deliver.
Holly says
I wanted to prevent a message to go out when its status is one grey click. Blocked that contact name for a couple of days and unblocked. To my surprise the contact was online at the same time I unblocked….does this mean that message I tried to prevent from delivery was sent? :(
sanarvi says
Hi,
As far as I understand that there are three steps for communication, SEND-> DELIVERED-> READ
So I am more keen on getting the blue double ticks. Message could have been delivered but not read yet. So a Sender should have an option to delete it from recipient’s device. As its not READ yet and Whatsapp server should be able to delete it. That’s a common flaw about these messaging apps as they are robotic and do not understand Human Psychology completely.
Charlie says
Hi,
I sent a really long whataspp message 2 days ago (it has one tick), and despite this person actively using their phone & the internet (although not logging into Whatsapp), the message hasn’t delivered to their phone. Can messages get lost in transmission?
I’m not really bothered about the message going through now so I’ve blocked the person to avoid the message being delivered to their phone. Anyone found this method to work?
Aplonia says
Even if we are offline and had send some message which is in clock icon stage to the wrong person and if we deleted that..then all of you are in some wrong info. truth is that ,even if u have deleted that msg in clock icon stage when u r offine….message will get delivered!!… i had tried and tested!!
Anny says
guys ! even if we are offline and had send some message which is in clock icon stage to the wrong person and if we deleted that..then all of you are in some wrong info. truth is that ,even if u have deleted that msg in clock icon stage when u r offine….message will get delivered!!… i had tried and tested!!
Strider says
This does not work. I have switched off my data AND activated plane mode. I have gone ahead to send a whatsapp message to 3 diffferent people. I deleted the messages and waited 1 hour before deactivating plane mode and switching my data on. Guess what, soon as I turned data on, I received replies to the messages which should never have reached the server.
Whatsapp should fix this.
Ade says
How do you stop message delivered to a group from being read by the group members who haven’t read it yet?
Lalit Kumar says
You can not stop a message posted in a WhatsApp group. It will reach all the members as and when they will come online.
Mike says
How do you block a person in whatsapp?
Devadas says
Dear Lalit, I wrongly posted one video in another group and I made apology for the same. But some of the group members wish to go legally against me, Is it valid? I am very afraid. Please advise.
Lalit Kumar says
Well, it depends on the nature and content of the video you posted. If you realized your mistake and apologized then I don’t think there is any case against you. Posting an inappropriate video is not a grave mistake. Such an inadvertent mistake could be committed by anyone. The important thing is to realize it, take corrective action and apologize. Problem arises when you do not realize your mistake and you keep on repeating it.
Xaglez says
Hey… I can confirm with certainty that blocking a person before the text is delivered and unblocking them after they come online will result in them not receiving the text indefinitely
Chuanita says
Was the recipient’s phone an android phone? I tried this method with 2 iphones and it did not work.
ID says
hello guys,
well I had a similar experience sending a wrong picture to a WhatsApp group. Immediately after it happened, I noticed the message was still rolling and had not yet shown a clock icon or the “one tick” icon so I quickly deleted it. I immediately took out my sim afterwards and battery.
Finding out from colleagues on the group, I was told nothing dropped and that got me very relieved. Really don’t know if removing my sim interrupted the message delivery in anyway though. My fear now is that I have not been able to bring myself to the point of inserting my sim back in my phone. Don’t know if changing my sim and registering WhatsApp with the new sim will alter the process forever and prevent it from delivering forever. This is the 7th day since the incident and my sim has been outta my phone. Please I need your advice.
Lalit Kumar says
Hi there, There is no harm in inserting your SIM card back in phone. The wrong picture will not be delivered as you deleted it before it could leave your phone. However, if you still are worried, you can keep your mobile Internet connection off. Inserting SIM and using your phone will not in anyway make a difference.
Anirudh parihar says
you can inseret the sim in your mobile . no needed to afraid as you have deleted it before it was send . so there was no need to remove the sim. the message was stopped as you deleted it before getting the tick
Anil Pillai says
Hi! Thanks for all efforts for better knowledge. I am using a dual SIM phone, can I use Whatsapp for both numbers?
Lalit Kumar says
There is not official method to run two WhatsApp accounts on one mobile phone. However, there are some apps out there that makes it possible. But I will not recommend them.
Pawan singh says
Hi, I sent an audio to wrong person but immediately I turned off the Internet. There was still the clock icon and I delete the audio. Will this message be delivered?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Pawan, as you deleted the message while it was still showing the clock icon, it will not be delivered to the recipient.
Abhishek says
I mistakenly send my pics to a wrong person my internet connection was fast and image got one tick on it and then I deleted it will the person receive the image?
Lalit Kumar says
Yes, in all probability, the photos will be received by the WhatsApp recipient.
kegan says
hi
i typed a msg and clicked send while my net connection was turned off. i then realized that it was the wrong msg so i deleted it while it still had a clock icon as my net was off. will the msg still go to the recipient once i turn on my net connection or is it deleted forever.
pls answer
Lalit Kumar says
You can turn your Internet connection on. Now the message will not deliver.
Rene says
Hi. I desperately need help, I’m being accused of sending a message that I did not send. The message appears in the other persons whatsapp as sent from me but I never sent it and the message is not on my whatsapp. Is there any way to prove that I did not send this message? Please help.
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Rene, if you haven’t sent that message then you do not need to worry at all. There are free apps available that can create fake WhatsApp messages and conversation. It’s a very lame trick that anybody can play. If you haven’t sent the messages, just go to the police and file a complaint that that person is harassing you.
Kittu says
Hi Lalit, I need your help
I sent a harsh message to our landlady while I was offline. So there was a clock icon on it. After sometime I thought I shouldn’t send it so I uninstalled my WhatsApp but realized it later that whenever I will reinstall it will get delivered. Is there any way to stop it from sending. Need urgent response please as WhatsApp is my daily need.
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Kittu, you should reinslall WhatsApp and switch off Internet connection as soon as the installation is done. Then open WhatsApp and delete the message if it still appears in your conversation with the landlady. After deleting the message, you can turn on the Internet connection.
Matthias says
I guess leaving a group before it’s read does not solve the Issue either…. but I guess that’s a reason more to do that…
Mark says
I sent a message but didn’t know how positive I was of definitely sending it so sent it in airplane mode, so it’s currently iconed with the clock.
My question is, if I delete it whilst the clock icon is still there, the message definitely won’t go through?
Lalit Kumar says
WhatsApp messages with clock icon have not left your phone. So, if you delete them in this state, they will not reach the recipient.
Ashley says
Hey ! I just sent an unwanted message to my boyfriend telling him some hard stuff but I didn’t want to have it sent but then something just got into me and I clicked the ‘send button’ after like 15 secs with one grey tick still on I deleted the message and he is still offline… Wat do I do? please can anybody save my relationship ????
Lalit Kumar says
I am sorry for the situation, Ahsley. But as the message has left your phone and is waiting on the WhatsApp server for delivery, there is nothing you can do. Better tell your boyfriend that you sent such a message but you did not mean what’s written in there.
Anirudh says
Thanks Lalit. You are giving a wonderful service. I fully appreciate your contribution.
Lalit Kumar says
Thank you Anirudh! I hope you find many more useful articles on TechWelkin. Stay tuned!
Screwed says
Hi,
I was going through the comments regarding the wrongly sent messages on whatsapp.
I want to know what if somebody has mistakenly sent a messages to Group chat.
Is there a way to stop these messages?
Lalit Kumar says
I am afraid, messages sent to WhatsApp group chats are even harder (read impossible) to stop. If these messages leave your phone (i.e. you get single tick) thereafter there is no turning back.
Adrian says
I can tell you all with absolute certainty that blocking the person, waiting for them to come online and then unblocking them again does not work!!!!
Lalit Kumar says
Thank you for sharing your experience, Adrian! It is certainly an important information for a lot of readers.
Dina says
I wrote a message to wrong person, luckily he was offline, it shows only one tick, Then I have blocked him before it turns to double tick, shall i wait for 1 month or just 24hrs?
Other question, I have deleted the message with one tick, how may i know if it reached him or not after unblocking?
Lalit Kumar says
Well Dina, I don’t think this blocking and unblocking stuff helps in any way. Now that your message had shown single tick, it means that WhatsApp server has received it. There is no confirmed information as to for how long WhatsApp server waits before discarding a message as “undeliverable”. If the receiver comes online before this period, the message will get delivered.
sarah says
Hi, today I sent an image to the wrong contact on WhatsApp by accident. The clock symbol was in the corner because thankfully my data was off and I had no wifi. I’m also pretty sure the image said “retry” written over it because it had failed to send. Anyway I panicked and deleted the whole chat, the contact, blocked the contact and deleted the number off my phone (I don’t need to have contact with this person anymore anyway). If I install WhatsApp again will it send? Its an embarrassing photo so I really need help!
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Sarah, you should install WhatsApp and turn-off data / wifi connection as soon as the install is done. Then you can open WhatsApp safely and make it sure again that the image is not there in that person’s chat with you. Don’t worry, I don’t think that the picture will get delivered. Cheer up!
Shiela says
HI
I have accidently sent a WhatsApp to a differnet person than I meant to. I really need it deleted. It has 1 grey tick and I deleted the text and blocked the user. I appreciate that you have had lots of other comments regarding this but what is the most up to date response. The recipient of my WhatsApp was on a plane at the time, not that this would make any difference I suppose.
Lalit Kumar says
Well Shiela, there are no conclusive results known to me so far. But, as you could see, many readers have suggested blocking the contact while WhatsApp is showing just one tick may stop the message from getting delivered. Now that you have already done that, I guess you can not do anything more. I am sorry for your anxious situation.
Funland says
If I have sent a message and there is only one tick and the person hasn’t been on WhatsApp for two and a half months —will he still get my message? I really don’t want that to happen. Can I do anything?
Lalit Kumar says
Most probably this message will not get delivered because you’ve got just one tick and quite a long time has passed. So, most probably WhatsApp server will discard the message.
emanuel says
Hi. I also mistakenly sent a very wrong text to someone who shouldn’t receive,luckily she is offline and the message is showing one tick. I have blocked her and I am waiting a few hours for her to go online before I unblock her. Hopefully this will work.
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Emanuel, please let us know what happened.
Sarah says
I forwarded a message to a group by accident instead of a single contact. luckily my data and wifi were disconnected and there was a clock sign in the bottom corner.
I was unaware of the delete function. however, I removed my sim cards and uninstalled WhatsApp, all while being offline.
what happens when i turn my phone back online?
I have read the uninstall reinstall info from WhatsApp where it says that all recent chat history, not already previously backed up, will be lost when i reinstall.
does this apply to my message with the clock symbol?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Sarah, your message to the WhatsApp group will not get delivered. You can switch on your phone, download WhatsApp and install it. Then immediately turn your internet connection off. Then open WhatsApp and see if it shows your message history. If the unwanted message is still lingering in the message history, you can delete it. After deletion you can turn on internet connection.
rupesh patil says
Please help me.
I was written message on WhatsApp which was unsaved and unsend. Unfortunately it disappeared. Please help me. How to get this message? it’s urgent because it was a article for newspaper?
Lalit Kumar says
I don’t think it can be retrieved as WhatsApp does not auto-save messages that are being typed. You should choose a better tools for writing long articles.
Sharmi says
Hi, please tel me whether the shared messages, photos, videos with my friend in WhatsApp can be retrieved even after I deleted my WhatsApp account and WhatsApp from my file explorer? Is there any possibilities to hack or view all my messages which are shared with my friend even after deleting my WhatsApp account?
Lalit Kumar says
Why don’t you simply format your phone and SD memory card? Problem will be solved. However, if you really really want to be 100% sure, I would suggest do not give your phone or SD card to anyone. Formatting deletes everything and a normal user can not retrieve any information after formatting but with special tools it is possible to get some of the deleted data back. So, if it is a life and death kind of situation, just destroy the memory card!
Anand says
What about WhatsApp groups? I can’t block people from a group, can I?
Lalit Kumar says
If you’re not the admin of that group, you can not block people in a WhatsApp group.
Rana says
Hello! I keep receiving voice messages and I wish to discontinue this feature. Can I do so? Will then sender be notified that his voice message was not delivered by showing the read exclamation mark?
Thank you so much!
Lalit Kumar says
Hell Rana, there is no such option for disabling the receipt of voice messages in WhatsApp. However, if your concern is the wastage of mobile data pack, then you can stop automatic download of WhatsApp voice messages. Go to Settings > Chats and calls > Media auto-download. Here you can select when and how your image and video data will be auto-downloaded.
You’ll still get voice messages, but they will not get automatically downloaded. Hope this will help you!
wmir says
Hello,
as far as I know, that does not work: That you can stop voice messages from auto download. They will always be auto downloaded.
I wonder, whether there is a possibility anyway to stop them from downloading.
When you have a really bad network connection or when your disk space is really low, those messages won’t be downloaded. So is there a script, an app or whatever that can simulate for your WhatsApp, that your disk space or your network is bad?
Lalit Kumar says
I remember seeing an option in WhatsApp that allows auto download only if an Wi Fi network is available.
Zk says
Hi I want to delete all the messages from all the WhatsApp contacts. Both read and unread messages sent by me. Can something be done?
Lalit Kumar says
No, it is not possible to delete WhatsApp messages that have already been sent by you and received by the recipient.
Sarah says
I sent an unwanted and sexual photo to wtong number and he can use it against me what can I do very important plz guys
Lalit Kumar says
I am sorry for the troubled situation you’re in. But now that the picture has been delivered on the phone of the receiver, you can not get it back unless the person deletes it himself. I would recommend to contact this person and ask him to delete the photo. A gentleman will delete it! But if he is not a gentleman, you should take advice from the police depending upon your risk assessment.
Pradeepa says
How can I delete the message send to group by myself
Lalit Kumar says
You can not delete WhatsApp messages sent in a group. Even if you delete messages from group chat in your phone, the messages will still remain in the phones of other group members who have already received the messages. Be careful about what you post on WhatsApp.
Lora says
Dear Lalit,
In the case Pradeepa, will it help in this situation that administrator of the group delete my phone from these group? In this case, my wrong photo will be visible to others anyway?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Lora, as soon as a photo is sent to a WhatsApp group, it gets downloaded in the individual phones of the group members. So, even if the group administrator removes you from the group, it would, unfortunately, not remove your photo from the phones of members. I am sorry about your situation.
Rani says
Hi Lalit, I have a query regarding retrieving delivered messages. Actually I want to restore all the messages which were deleted and then the contact was blocked. Now when I uninstall the app and then re installed I didn’t get the deleted messages before blocking the contact. How to restore those deleted messages from the blocked contact please help me.
Lalit Kumar says
Rani, I researched a bit about it but could not locate a reliable method. Probably, those messages are permanently gone. However, a hit and trial could be done. You could try to connect your SD card to a PC and then run a file recovery software to recover deleted files. If the old messages were deleted in a file, the file will be recovered and you will be able to read this file in WhatsApp.
gita says
I wrongly sent a WhastApp voice message. I quickly deleted the message when the clock symbol was on. I did not turn off my net connection. The message doesn’t show in the chat page. Does it mean I stopped the message from getting delivered.
Lalit Kumar says
Yes Gita, you’ve stopped the WhatsApp message from getting delivered. Well done for being quick and deleting the unintentional message while it was still in the “clock icon” stage.
Lizzie says
Hi- i can confirm that if you block a contact when there is only one grey tick it will not be delivered. I have experimented with a friend, blocked her on one grey tick and unblocked/messaged 24 hours later and the unwanted message never got to her and still has one grey tick. It never showed on her phone.
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Lizzie! Thanks a lot for sharing your experiment’s results! I am sure your feedback will help a lot of TechWelkin readers. Stay tuned!
Shanker Gupta says
No it doesn’t work. It seems to you that the message has not delivered due to one single gray tick appeared on your WhatsApp contact. Actually it has been delivered. We can’t stop message once it sent i.e it mark from clock to single/double tick.
Final conclusion It is impossible to stop the single gray tick message at our end.
WhatsApp customers support team maybe help in this situation
I have practically check this method on my own two different mobile nos on WhatsApp
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Shanker, thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Charles says
Oh Lizzie, u sure are a darling! Some few hrs ago, I accidentally sent a message to the wrong person. I was frustrated! Thankfully, it had only one grey tick. I have just followed your advice. Now I feel so much relieved. God bless u.
Abdul Rasheed Khan says
Hi Lizzie,
I won’t agree for your experiment as its fake and not usable. There is no way to stop the message once sent and has a single grey tick. May be in future WhatsApp programmers find a trick to stop the sent message.
Thanks
Shanker Gupta says
The meaning of Blocking a contact in WhatsApp is to stop that person to send the messages to you till that time you unblock him.
It will not stop those massages that have already been sent by you and marked with single tick/double tick.
Utelene Nugent says
How will I know, if a contact of mine has removed the app, but has not deleted the account?
Lalit Kumar says
There is no sure shot way to know this. But if you’re not seeing WhatsApp display picture, status and Last Seen time of that contact, it is highly likely that s/he has removed WhatsApp from mobile phone.
Utelene Nugent says
Christie, have you tried this trick of blocking a contact, to prevent a message with one tick from being delivered?
Utelene says
What would cause a person’s Whatsapp to be down for three weeks. I sent message only single tick appears.
I sent a message in ERROR this same contact, three weeks after the single tick appeared on the previous message. I saw where I can block the contact and the message will not be delivered.
Can you verify this, Please?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Utelene, there could be several reasons why a WhatsApp message does not get delivered. The recipient may not have Internet access, his/her phone might be switched off etc. As for blocking the contact to stop a WhatsApp message from getting delivered, I can not confirm whether this trick works or not because I have never tried it myself. But a few of my readers have said that this trick does not work. Even if you block a WhatsApp contact, the message will still be delivered. Please share with us if your experience has been different.
Shanker Gupta says
This trick doesn’t work. The single gray tick message will definitely delivered when the receiptant go online
Lalit Kumar says
Thanks for the feedback, Shankar!
lisa says
I accidentally sent a voice message to a person it sent whilst I was on the phone. It has one tick the other person is away outside Europe for two weeks will they still receive the message even I have blocked them an deleted the message with only one tick . Please help .
Lalit Kumar says
Lisa, there is no guarantee. But I would suggest that you block the recipient. WhatsApp keeps on changing their program. They may stop stop your message if you block the person. However, we have no evidence for it. Also, if the recipient does not switch on the phone for 30 days —WhatsApp is likely to considered your voice message as undeliverable and it will delete it.
Saloni Verma says
I sent a message to one friend who I think has removed the app (but not deleted the account). My message was sent -single tick but 2 days later when I checked it, it shows undelivered. How come that happened?
Lalit Kumar says
Hello Saloni, because your friend has remove WhatsApp from his/her phone, the message can not be delivered. That is why it will keep on showing single tick (meaning undelivered) against that message.
Tarique says
Hello pramod
I’ve mistakenly sent a message to a wrong person and deleted it immediately after 4-5 seconds while the clock symbol was still there. But i did not switch off my net connection. Then i blocked the person for about 5 hours. Does my message get sent?
Lalit Kumar says
If you deleted the WhatsApp message before the single tick appeared, you can be sure that your message will not be delivered to the recipient.
Tarique says
Hewww
*Sigh of relief*
Thank you :)
Lalit Kumar says
You’re welcome! Stay in touch with TechWelkin!
siri says
hi there
i am the admin of the group qnd one of my group member sent an unwanted pic may i delete it from the entire group as an admin
Lalit Kumar says
Hello Siri,
If you delete a message or picture from a WhatsApp group, it will be deleted only from your mobile device. Other group members will still receive the message.
areeb says
Does deleting WhatsApp account deletes the single tick messages from WhatsApp server?
Lalit Kumar says
Areeb, there is no evidence available with me to answer this question. May be some other reader will be able to shed some light on it.
ayantika says
Hi,
on whatsapp I wrote ‘okk…’ to someone but it showed up on his side as ‘you are dead’. he sent me the screen shot. is it possible any how?
Lalit Kumar says
No, WhatsApp does not provide any facility to change messages like this. But there are apps available which can edit the sent and received messages. The person you sent the message, must have used one of these apps to play a prank on you. Do not trust such screenshots.
ayantika says
thank you so much!
lisa says
If I sent out a voice message thru whatsaap and once I check and see it shows two gray checks and says that contact was online day before. Can I delete the voice message I sent out by blocking that contact? & by going off line & deleting messages sent?
Lalit Kumar says
No, I am afraid, the message has either been delivered or will get delivered to the recipient. Once you get two gray ticks or two blue ticks, you lose the control on message.
ahmed says
urgently, please i need to know, how to delete messages already sent to a person of my contacts, in other words, want to delete a conversation from his android mobile on whatsapp !!!!i need ur help….
Lalit Kumar says
You can not delete anything from the mobile phone of someone else!
Prithvi says
After sending a video successfully, should my Internet connection continue to be be ON
for the recipient to download it.
Lalit Kumar says
No, once you have got single tick mark on your message, picture or video, you don't need to keep your Internet connection on. Single tick means the message has gone to WhatsApp server. Once that happens, your Internet connection doesn't do anything.
anurag says
If have sent an unwanted msg to a watsapp group then how can i delet it…. is the single tick is works on group also?
Lalit Kumar says
If it is showing single tick, you can not stop the message from getting delivered. In case WhatsApp groups, single tick becomes double when the message is delivered to all the members. Therefore, the single tick means that the message might have already been delivered to some of the members and as soon as it will reach all the members, the single tick will become double. Sorry, Anurag!
Pramod Kumar says
Hi friends
By mistake i sent a message to a person. but at the time i send mesage my internet was not working. I deleted that message. can i on my internet now ?
will it be safe.
Pramod
Lalit Kumar says
In all probability, your message will not be delivered as your Internet connection was not working and you deleted the message. Now you can switch on your mobile Internet connection.
Mullka says
Hi there
I've sent a stupid message to a wrong person.it only ticked once.i then blocked him.believe me the message delivered as soon as he was connected to the Internet
ras says
I sent a whatsapp message to a contact and afterwards deleted the contact's number from my phone whilst the message still had just one tick. Will the person still receive the message?
Lalit Kumar says
Yes, in all probability, the recipient will receive the WhatsApp message.
Deepa Shrivastava says
How we can know that he has read our message.when there are showing single tick.can we know that we are blocked or unblocked?
Lalit Kumar says
If you get double blue ticks in WhatsApp, that means the message has been read. If you’re getting only a single grey tick, that could mean that you're blocked or the recipient has switched off his/her mobile phone.
Gowtham kumar says
hi frds,i have send the wrong photos to another person and i have applied the above mentioned trick but it is not working and the photos were delivered.
Lalit Kumar says
Thank you for your feedback, Gowtham!
sanjana says
Hai I m sending msg in wats app for a person. But it not blocked from both the sides. That person is getting msgs from other persons. But my msg is showing single check Mark. Plz tel me any setting is Der to stop msg delivering dat person without blocking him in wats app.
Lalit Kumar says
Sanjana, once the single tips appears, you lose control on your WhatsApp message. I am afraid your message will get delivered to the recipient; unless, of course, the recipient does not connect his/her mobile phone to Internet for a long enough time period. In such case, WhatsApp server will discard the message as undeliverable.
Maria says
What if I sent a message to a person and a single tick is shown, and I later block that person before it shows double tick. Will that person still get the message when they get connected to the internet and open WhatsApp even if I haven’t unblocked them?
Lalit Kumar says
Hello Maria, as I have written in my reply on another comment, I have not tried this method of blocking the person before double tick shows up in WhatsApp. But it sounds logical and it may stop the WhatsApp message from delivering to the recipient’s phone. As for unblocking, I guess the WhatsApp server keeps the undelivered messages for up to 30 days. So, you should unblock the person after one month to ensure that the messages doesn’t get delivered. Please share your experience and let us know if you could stop the message delivery by blocking the contact.
vinay says
Hi sir, i have sent a message to a person and meesage showned with single tick and next the second i have been uninstalled the whatsapp. Is that message will be seen by him or it is discarded.
Lalit Kumar says
Message will be delivered to the person if he will be connected to Internet.
rajan says
A picture is becoming viral about a girl I know.. I want it to be deleted from everywhere.. A friend of mine send it to me.. How do I delete it from all over the internet
Lalit Kumar says
Such unfortunate events do happen Rajan. It is almost impossible to truly remove all traces of picture from Internet. But you can inform the police. They can do the best clean-up (although, as I said, completely removing any content from Internet is almost impossible). So, people should be careful about what they post. You may be interested in reading article on women’s safety online.
Jonathan says
hey, as advice above does blocking the person work for both the message as well as pics and videos? or only the message? is there different ways for files unlike messages?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Jonathan, if this method works, it should work both for text messages as well as video, audio and photos. However, as I said, I have not been able to test this method. Give it a try and let us know the results! We look forward to hear your experience on TechWelkin.
NATLY says
Does it work?blocking ?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Natly, well, I have never tried it. So, I can’t confirm whether it will work. Give it a try and please let us know the result!
Dara says
Hi Lalit, I have tried the blocking – unblocking method after one grey tick appeared. It seems to be working, the message has never been delivered to the recipient. I just thought I would let you know. Thanks for your help here in the forum. D.
Lalit Kumar says
Dara, thanks for sharing your experience with us!
harsha says
I tried doing it with my friend’s WhatsApp number. Seems blocking doesn’t really work. Even after doing all the steps… the recipient number did receive the message. Time interval taken to block and unblock is like 10 seconds.
Christie says
If you block the other person when there is only one tick, wait for the person to go online. There will still only be one tick. Unblock, still one tick. The person never receives the message
Lalit Kumar says
Yes Christie, this trick will logically work. It depends on how WhatsApp system is designed. But I guess your trick should work. Thanks for sharing! Hope to hear more from you!
divya says
Wat if I have sent the msg n it’s single tick..n I uninstall it..will the recipient get it
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Divya, yes, in all probability the WhatsApp message will get delivered if you’ve got single tick. Nothing will change even if you uninstall WhatsApp from your mobile phone. Single tick shows that the message has reached on WhatsApp server and as soon as the recipient phone will get connected with Internet, the message will get delivered.
Raja says
I sent one picture to my friend and he received. After one month i deleted that picture.
When check my friend conversation i shocked becuase new picture showing instead of old (deleted) picture.
How it happened?
Lalit Kumar says
Hi Raja, I am sorry but I could not fully understand your question.