How to delete WhatsApp messages before they are read

Most people likely have countless messages that they have sent in anger or while inebriated that they immediately regret (or regret the next day). If only there was a way to take them back... Unfortunately you can't take back iMessages, but if you are a fan of WhatsApp, the service now has a feature that lets you do exactly that. It doesn't guarantee the recipient won't see the message, and it won't help for the regret-the-next-day messages, but it does give the sender a seven minute window in which they can delete their sent message from the recipient's thread. Here's how to do it:

1. Open WhatsApp and go to the chat with the message that you want to delete and tap and hold the message until an option bar appears.

2. Use the right arrow to scroll over on the bar until you see the delete option. Tap it.

3. Now you can select more messages to delete by tapping on the circles to the left. When you have selected all the messages that you want to delete, tap the trash icon in the bottom left.

4. You now have a choice to "Delete for Everyone" or "Delete for me." The former will delete the message for everyone who is in the chat while the latter will only delete it from your chat. The message will now say that it has been deleted.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using this feature.

• It will only delete messages for recipients who have a version that supports the feature, so older versions won't delete your message.
• Deleting your message doesn't guarantee that recipients won't see it. If they are looking at the chat as it comes through they will see it before you have a chance to delete.
• You can't delete messages that are more than 7 minutes old.
• Even if you delete a message, recipients will still be aware that you did so because it will read "message deleted."