There comes a time when you may not want the messages you’ve sent on Instagram to be available anymore.
It could be because you’re already planning on deleting your account, and you want all data to be delivered. Or, you’ve said something that you absolutely don’t want the other person to see, and you’re willing to delete your entire account to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Either way, you may find yourself wondering – if you delete your Instagram account, will it delete the direct messages that you’ve sent to others?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know!
Does Deleting Your Instagram Delete DMs You’ve Sent?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Even if you delete your Instagram account entirely, the direct messages that you’ve sent will still be visible to others.
However, your profile picture will be removed from the conversation, and the message sender will be shown as ‘Instagrammer’ rather than your name. This is true for both direct messages, as well as group chats.
This is a bit frustrating, as anyone who remembers the conversation you’ve had will still know who it was that sent the message. Additionally, the entire conversation will remain visible, so it isn’t that difficult to figure out who the conversation was actually with.
While it’s unknown why Instagram refuses to delete direct messages even when the sender’s account is deleted, this is the same strategy that Facebook uses as well.
On Facebook, messages also remain even if the account is deleted or deactivated. It operates similarly to if you’ve been blocked – the messages will still be fully readable, but the profile picture will be removed along with the sender’s name.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to also delete all of your direct messages during the account deletion process – it is something you have to do individually.
Is There Any Way To Unsend An Instagram Message?
Thankfully, you can! So if you’re planning on deleting your Instagram account, it may be a good idea to unsend any messages you don’t want sticking around forever.
Unsending a message on Instagram is easy, and only takes a few seconds.
All you’ve got to do is locate the messages that you want to unsend, and tap on it and hold down for a moment. A number of options will come up including ‘Copy’, ‘Unsend’, and ‘Save.’
Simply click on ‘Unsend’, and the message will be immediately removed from both sides of the conversation. They will no longer be viewable by the other person, and can not be recovered or saved any longer.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any way to unsend messages in bulk. However, each message only takes a couple of seconds to unsend, so it is possible to unsend your entire conversation fairly quickly if you are focused about it.
Does Deleting Your Instagram Delete Group Messages You’ve Sent?
No. Just like messages you’ve sent one-on-one to other users, group messages operate in the same way.
If you delete your account, the messages you’ve shared in a group chat will still remain. However just like regular DMs, your profile picture will be removed and your name will be changed to ‘Instagrammer’ instead.
Therefore, deleting your account doesn’t really mask much. If even one group member remembers who you are, they’re likely to share that information with the rest of the group.
If you want to permanently delete your messages from Instagram, you must unsend each one individually prior to closing your account.
Other Apps with ‘Unsend’ Functionality
Although Instagram has the ability to unsend messages, it is not the only app with this functionality built-in.
In fact, there are other apps that are much more privacy-friendly if you want to have conversations that you can delete later. Some of these even include auto-expiring messages, similar to Vanish Mode on Instagram.
Some example applications include:
- Wickr
- Wire
- Session
- Signal
Each allows you to fully delete everything that you send much more easily than Instagram, making them a great alternative for the privacy and security-focused chatter.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, the direct messages you’ve sent will remain visible even if you delete your Instagram account.
However, you can manually go through and unsend any messages that you don’t want to remain before deleting your account, which will permanently remove them from other people’s DMs.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about Instagram, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister
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