Discord has become one of the most popular chatting platforms on the planet, and that’s in part due to their incredibly useful features.
Of course, sometimes when chatting, you may want to take back what you said. It could be that you simply weren’t done typing your message before you pressed enter, or you said something you didn’t mean to.
Either way, you may be wondering – if you delete a message on Discord, does it also delete it for the other person? Will the message be unsent, or will they still be able to read it?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know!
If You Delete A Message On Discord Does It Unsend?
Yes. If you delete a message on Discord, it removes it from all recipients. They will no longer be able to read it, and it will be completely unrecoverable.
This also means that you won’t be able to see it anymore either. Therefore, if you want a copy of the message, you should copy it to your clipboard before pressing the ‘Delete Message’ button.
Alternatively, you can edit the message instead of deleting it by clicking ‘Edit Message’ instead of ‘Delete Message.’ This will open up a copy of the message for you to modify or add onto.
Note that if someone sees that a message is deleted inside a public server, people may ask about it. Therefore, modifying or editing your message can help keep suspicion down.
Sadly, Your Message May Still Be Seen By Some People
Even though deleting your message will immediately remove it from view, it isn’t a perfect solution.
While it’s possible somebody saw it before it was deleted, it’s also possible that they received a notification to their containing a copy of the message. In these instances, the message will still be available even if it was deleted on Discord. This is true not only for private messages, but for messages posted within Discord servers as well.
In fact, even if the notification itself is deleted, it’s still possible to be viewed if somebody was using a notification saving application. This strategy has been used to see unsent messages on Facebook messenger, and can be applied to Discord as well.
Essentially, these apps save a copy of every single notification that comes in on your phone – or at least notifications for certain apps, if you set it up that way. Even if the notification is deleted seconds later, the app will still save a copy that can be reviewed.
So, even if you are quick to delete your message, it unfortunately doesn’t prevent somebody from seeing it if they use a notification grabber.
Of course, use of this kind of software is rare. So, you can be reasonably assured that the other person likely didn’t see it, if you deleted the message quickly.
Is There Anyway To Delete Other People’s Discord Messages
Discord makes it incredibly simple to delete your own messages, but is there a way to delete anybody else’s – even if it’s just on your side?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. You are not able to delete other people’s messages, even if you only wish to remove them from your own client. The only exception to this is if you’re in a Discord server, and have moderator capabilities that allow you to delete the messages of other people.
This is a shame, and it’s really something Discord should have added a long time ago. Even if you are only able to delete messages on your end while still keeping them there for everyone else to see, it would help people remove content they don’t want to see, or want to hide from prying eyes.
Of course, moderators are rightly able to delete messages within their servers, and this is important to ensure their server rules are not broken. However, even moderators are unable to delete messages sent to them privately by other people.
Alternative Chat Platforms With The Ability To Unsend Messages
Although Discord is extremely convenient and makes it simple to create engaging communities, there are other chatting apps available that are more secure.
Therefore, if you want to ensure your communications are completely private (and can be deleted on both sides as necessary), you may wish to explore an alternative app.
The most secure apps…
- Are fully encrypted end-to-end.
- Do not show the contents (or the sender) in notifications.
- Are open-source and have been audited by a third-party ensure that they’re secure to use.
And of course, have messages that can be revoked / unsent at request, or auto-expire.
Some example services that fit most (if not all) of these requirements include:
- Signal
- Wire
- Wickr
- Session
Again, part of what makes Discord great is the convenience, and the fact that it’s so heavily integrated into society. Chances are, most people you want to talk to already have it. If you need something a bit more secure however, the options above make a great choice.
Conclusion
Thankfully, if you delete a message on Discord it will also delete it for everyone else. It will be completely removed, and can’t be recovered by anybody that wishes to see it.
Of course, it won’t magically erase the memory from people’s minds.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any questions about Discord, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister