Google Messages finally gets proper unsend functionality with ‘Delete for everyone’
|
By
Tushar Mehta Published May 8, 2025 |
Over the years, Google Messages has picked up features that elevate its status to a deserving Apple Messages substitute. The latest addition, allowing you to fully unsend messages, is now reaching a breadth of Android users, saving them the pain of awkwardness of wrongly sent texts.
After previewing the “Delete for everyone” feature in its Messages app, Google is releasing it to people beyond the beta testing tribe. As expected, the functionality allows senders of the message to delete it for all parties in a peer-to-peer or a group chat and replaces older functionality where deleted messages would still appear for others.
The Delete for everyone functionality was spotted by a Redditor with a username seeareeff (via 9to5Google), but they did not specify which version of Google Messages you need to get it working. We could not activate it at our end despite updating the app to the latest version, suggesting this might be a server-side switch.
Notably, these changes will only apply to messages and chats over RCS — a relatively modern internet-based messaging protocol that Google hopes, but has trouble budging Apple, to replace traditional SMS. That means everyone in the chat must have RCS enabled, which is anyway necessary if you want to enjoy features like message reactions or typing indicators, to enjoy the functionality. You must also update Google Messages to the latest version, else deleted messages may still appear for some folks.
Besides chats with others who use Google Messages, the cross-platform nature of RCS means that it should, in theory, also work seamlessly with Apple Messages. This is because Apple recently adopted RCS along with its own iMessage protocol for the Messages app. One requisite, however, is the other people must have updated their iPhone or iPad to iOS 18. It’s still not fool-proof, though, since RCS may require setting up for some people (from Google Messages’ settings) and may not be supported by every telecom carrier.
With Google Messages now adopted as the de-facto messaging app for Android, we can expect Google to push for aggressive standardization.
Related Posts
Google Photos introduces a fun new way to turn yourself into a meme
According to a recent post on Google's support forums, Me Meme is a generative AI feature that lets you star in trending memes using a template and a photo of yourself. It's rolling out in Google Photos for Android in the US, and you can try it out by tapping the "Create" button and selecting the new "Me meme" option.
Your iPhone 18 Pro could get a much smaller Dynamic Island
That’s a meaningful design shift because it’s one of the few pieces of front hardware you notice dozens of times a day. Another rumor comparison post in your screenshots points in the same direction and frames it as a fresh look versus the iPhone 17 Pro.
A phone with a pop-up robot camera is launching soon
That date comes from the company’s media invite, which places the announcement inside its "AI Device Ecosystem Era" showcase. Beyond the timing, Honor is keeping the rest locked down, including core specs, pricing, and which markets will get it first.