How to Delete an Instagram Message Sent by Accident
A few weeks ago, I was at a music festival with some friends. At one point, I flipped through Instagram stories and then put my phone in my pocket. When I took it out a little later, I realized that I had apparently sent a few of my friends a DM with a picture of another friend’s plate of oysters.
As you can imagine, this caused a bit of confusion among recipients who were unaware that my friend Rihanna had posted the image. And while the oysters she enjoyed in Seattle were lovely, they didn’t quite justify the occasional share.
The good news is that if you do something like this, you can delete the random message, ideally before the unintended recipient sees it.
To delete a message, simply press and hold the message you want to delete. A small pop-up window will appear asking if you want to “copy” the message or “undo sending it.” Tap Cancel Submit.
Another pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that you want to cancel sending the message. From here, you can either take the “Undo Submit” action or completely undo the actions.
Deleting a message will delete it from everyone on the conversation screen, not just one person. The message will also be replaced with a note informing everyone that you deleted the message, so while the exact details of your failed message may not be known, the recipient will know that the message once existed.
It also won’t help you if your friend has already seen your message fail, except perhaps to allow you to remove the evidence and prevent future embarrassment.