How To Delete Messages On Instagram, Can You Delete Individual Messages On Instagram?
by Subhashree M | Updated Feb 17, 2023
Instagram Wiki
Instagram is a photo and video-sharing platform owned by Meta Platforms, a US-based company. The app allows users to upload media, which can be edited with filters, organized with hashtags, and tagged by location. Posts can be shared with a wider audience or with pre-approved followers. Users can explore content from other users by searching for specific tags or locations, viewing popular posts, like photos, and following other users to see their content in their personal feed.Initially, Instagram had a unique feature where all content was required to be in a square format with a 640-pixel display width, matching the screen size of the iPhone at the time. This restriction was lifted in 2015 when the display width increased to 1080 pixels. Instagram also introduced messaging and the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post. The platform also added a Stories feature, similar to Snapchat, where users can post content in a sequential feed, with each post only available for 24 hours. As of January 2019, 500 million people use Stories daily.
Instagram was launched in October 2010 for iOS and quickly gained popularity. Within two months, it had one million registered users, 10 million in a year, and one billion by June 2018. In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. An Android version was released in April 2012, followed by a desktop version in November 2012, an app for Fire OS in June 2014, and an app for Windows 10 in October 2016. By October 2015, over 40 billion photos had been uploaded to the platform. Although Instagram has been praised for its success and influence, it has also faced criticism for its negative impact on teens' mental health, changes to its policies and interface, alleged censorship, and illegal and inappropriate content uploaded by users.
How To Delete Messages On Instagram?
To delete received messages on Instagram:
- Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
- Go to the Direct Message section by tapping the paper airplane icon in the top right corner of the home screen.
- Find the conversation containing the received message you want to delete and open it.
- Locate the message you want to delete and press and hold it until a menu appears.
- Select "Delete" from the menu.
- Confirm the deletion by selecting "Delete" again.
Note that when you delete a received message on Instagram, it will be removed from the conversation for both you and the sender. If you want to keep the message but just remove it from your inbox, you can also choose to "Unsend" the message instead of deleting it.
How To Delete All Messages on Instagram?
On Instagram, the Direct Messages (DMs) feature allows users to exchange messages, images, videos, and documents with both their friends and followers. Over time, these conversations can accumulate and make the DMs appear cluttered and filled with messages. Additionally, there's the issue of unsolicited messages from online marketers and social media scammers, which can become quite overwhelming.
Manually deleting Instagram messages can be a tedious and time-consuming task. In order to erase all messages at once, you are required to convert your personal account to a professional one.
Switch Personal Account to Professional
- Launch Instagram.
- Click on your profile.
- Tap the three horizontal lines at the top right corner of the screen.
- Choose Settings on the pop-up menu that appears.
- Click on Account.
- Scroll down the menu and select Switch to a professional account.
- Repeatedly tap Continue until you get to What best describes your page.
- Choose a category and tap Done. If the confirmation window appears, tap OK.
- Choose between Creator or Business account. Press Next.
- Tap X to finish setting up your professional account.
Delete All the Messages on Instagram
Follow these steps to delete all messages on Instagram.
- On the Instagram home page, tap on the direct messages icon.
- Select the icon with three horizontal lines and three vertical dots.
- Click on the circle on the left of the first conversation to select it. Repeat the same on all chats for selecting all of them.
- Press Delete on the bottom right corner.
- Tap Delete again.
You may keep the professional account or switch back to the personal one. If you want to, follow the steps below.
- Click on your Instagram profile.
- Tap the three lines at the top right corner of your Instagram home screen.
- Click on Settings.
- Select Account.
- Scroll down the menu and tap Switch account type.
- Select Switch to a personal account.
- Tap Switch to personal account again.
Wrapping Up
On a personal Instagram account, it is not possible to delete all messages simultaneously. Nevertheless, with a professional account, it is feasible to choose and erase multiple conversations at once. If you intend to eliminate all messages on your personal account, you can change it to a professional account. After deleting the messages, you can switch back to a personal account if desired.
Can You Delete Individual Messages On Instagram?
To delete an individual message on Instagram:
- Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
- Go to the Direct Message section by tapping the paper airplane icon in the top right corner of the home screen.
- Find the conversation containing the message you want to delete and open it.
- Locate the message you want to delete and press and hold it until a menu appears.
- Select "Delete" from the menu.
- Confirm the deletion by selecting "Delete" again.
The message will be deleted from the conversation, but it will still be visible to the other person if they have already seen it. If you want to delete the message for both you and the other person, you can unsend the message by following the same steps and selecting "Unsend" instead of "Delete".
How To Delete Messages On Instagram - FAQs
Yes, you can delete a message on Instagram that the other person has not yet seen. If you delete a message before the other person has a chance to view it, they will not receive a notification and the message will be removed from the conversation.
If you delete a message on Instagram, it will be removed from the conversation for both you and the other person. However, if the other person has already seen the message before you deleted it, they will still know that you sent a message even though they can no longer see its contents.
Once you delete a message on Instagram, it cannot be recovered. It is permanently deleted from the conversation and cannot be retrieved, so be sure to consider your decision before deleting any messages.