You can now completely delete WhatsApp messages on everyone’s screen–But does this feature come too late for you to fix your life?

For better or worse, it’s now possible to delete WhatsApp messages not just on your end of the conversation, but for everyone else in the chat!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Tap on the message you want to delete on the chat window.
2. Tap “Delete for Everyone.”
3. It’s deleted!

It’s that easy? No need to do some next-level hacking skills to make sure other people in the chat don’t see something embarrassing?

Yes, it’s actually that easy, but there are some conditions:

1. You only have seven (7) minutes from the time you sent the message to delete it.
2. You can only completely delete messages if everyone in the chat has the latest update from WhatsApp.
3. The chat log will still show that you’ve deleted a message.
4. If the person in the chatroom goes offline while you’re deleting, they’ll only get that the message was deleted when they’ve logged in again.

So it’s still not foolproof deletion that can erase all your shame.

https://twitter.com/hannahveiga/status/853079293957742592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fculture%2F2017%2Fapr%2F28%2Fi-sent-a-compromising-message-to-the-wrong-person-how-will-i-ever-recover

How we used to do it

Did you wish you could stop that from happening if you turned your phone off? Or how about immediately deleting WhatsApp?

If good old hope-for-the-best tech tricks don’t work, then you can always bribe the person you’re talking to…Right?

Until this update, all the chat magic we could do was make sure to read a message without being “seen.”

A few people who could have used this feature a while ago

But if you’ve been in any of the situations below, you’ll know how precious this feature is. Take a look at all the people this feature could have saved, but now have to live with their shame.

When someone told their Law School Dean that they loved them.

TODAY I BECAME A LEGEND IN LAW SCHOOL!

WROST X SENT OF MY LIFE!
(so uwaw I want to be a potato)

But huhu tnx Dean for understanding!

???? pic.twitter.com/DYVnhBIAw8

— Justin (@justingftw) July 13, 2017

This isn’t that bad a text, since she’s already resigning.

Source

We knew someone who sent an “I love you baby” text to her Dad, when it was meant for the boyfriend she should have!

When you make someone’s day much worse.

https://twitter.com/rachlcrns/status/742111145486647297

When a wrongly sent text outs you as a cheater.

Here’s what Singaporean netizens have to say about the new (and overdue) feature

This guy could have used this feature a long time ago.

But we doubt he’d make the 7-minute time window while drunk and sending 50 texts.

Others were keen to post clear warnings. Remember to update! Or to remind your friends to update.

Some Singaporeans complained about the time limit. Is it too short? Or would it matter at all?

Some were wise enough to foresee that more questions would come when there was a deleted message. Good on your, sir.

Be prepared for the fights, as they say.

Have you ever needed to delete a message before? How’d you do it before? Tell us about your stories in the comments and let’s think about the times we could have died of embarrassment.

Header image from Shutterstock.