WhatsApp's 'Delete for Everyone' now live in the UAE, but...

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WhatsApps Delete for Everyone now live in the UAE, but...

Dubai - And keep in mind: you only have up to seven minutes after hitting the send button

By Alvin R. Cabral

Published: Wed 1 Nov 2017, 11:36 AM

Trigger-fingers, listen up: we've got good news for you - though this still doesn't give you the right to be irresponsible when sending WhatsApp messages.
The Facebook-owned online messaging service of over one billion users went live in the UAE (finally, after testing it out for practically the whole of 2017) with its Delete for Everyone feature, allowing users to take back what they've sent (for whatever reason).
And keep in mind: you only have up to seven minutes after hitting the send button to reverse what could be irreversible damage.
And it's just simple to do so: go to the message you've sent, tap and hold it, then

(a) select 'Delete for Everyone' if you're an iOS user, or
(b) hit the rubbish bin icon to pull back your message(s).

You can also select multiple messages to zip them off at one go.
On the end of the receiver/s, a 'This message was deleted' text balloon will appear. This obviously means that the receiver is aware that you've taken back something. If you see the rather iconic two blue ticks on the message you've sent, that means the obvious: the receiver has seen it, and you just have to pray that he or she gets some short-term memory loss if you've sent something below the belt.More so, if he or she hasn't seen it, deleting a message will still most probably stir curiosity to that person why you've revoked that particular message; good luck explaining.
And by the way, the feature doesn't give you a notification if your deleting spree was successful or not.
Of course, it goes without saying that you have to update to the app's latest version to use the feature. And speaking of versions, also be reminded that this will only work if both the sender and receiver have upgraded to the version that installs the feature.
However, it won't be a feast for WhatsApp users - not just yet. The Independent, quoting WABetaInfo, a website that tests new WhatsApp features early, the roll-out of the Delete for Everyone feature is 'very slow'.
"If Delete for Everyone isn't available yet for you, it's all ok," it tweeted over the weekend.
Which also means that for those of us here in the UAE who apparently don't have it yet, well, you're not alone (even I don't have it yet).
To cut things short, just be careful with what you're sending out. To paraphrase a popular thought, prevention is better than getting into whole heaps of trouble.
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com