How to Delete Instagram Messages Permanently: An Analyst‘s Guide
Brief Background
Launched in October 2010 by creators Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Instagram began as a photo-sharing app and has since exploded into one of the world‘s leading social media platforms. As of January 2023, Instagram boasts over 2 billion monthly active users who interact through photos, videos, messaging, and more.
While much engagement focuses on public posts, Instagram‘s private Direct Messaging feature enables over 100 billion messages sent each month.
However, users sometimes wish to delete messages after sending. This guide will examine methods to delete Instagram messages permanently.
Overview
There are two primary ways to remove messages on Instagram:
- Delete Conversation – Deletes the conversation thread from your inbox, but does NOT delete messages themselves or remove from other users‘ inboxes
- Unsend Message – Deletes that specific message from your inbox as well as inboxes of all other users in the conversation
We will explore both options in detail below…
Key Difference: Conversations vs. Messages
| Feature | Deletes Conversation Thread | Deletes Specific Message | Permanent Deletion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delete Conversation | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Unsend Message | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Based on 2022 experiments analyzing Instagram‘s API and stored data, while deleting a conversation removes your view of message metadata (names, timestamps), the messages themselves persist on Instagram‘s servers for up to 90 days.
However, tapping "Unsend" for a specific message deletes related metadata from their systems entirely within 24 hours. So unsending is required for fully permanent deletion in all locations.
Now let‘s dive into step-by-step instructions on both conversation deletion and message unsending…
Delete Conversation Instructions
You may wish to simply delete a conversation thread from view in your messages list. While this does not remove the messages from your account or other users‘ inboxes, it‘s useful for de-cluttering your messaging overview.
Here is how to delete conversations on Instagram:
-
Open the Instagram app and tap the paper airplane icon at the top right corner to access your messages:
-
In your messages list, long press on the conversation thread you wish to delete. On Android tap and hold, on iPhone swipe left on the conversation.
-
A menu will appear – tap "Delete" to confirm deleting this conversation.
And now that conversation will be removed your messages list and inbox!
But remember, this does NOT delete the messages themselves or remove them from other users who were part of the conversation. For true deletion, you need to unsend messages…
Unsend Message Instructions
While deleting conversations simply removes the thread from message list view, unsending a message will permanently delete that message from all devices and inboxes across Instagram.
Here are the steps to unsend an Instagram message:
-
Open the conversation containing the message you want to permanently delete.
-
Long press your finger specifically on the message itself (not just anywhere in the chat). For iPhone users, hard press or long press on iPhone 6 or lower models.
-
A menu will appear alongside the message. Tap "Unsend" in this menu to permanently delete that message from all devices.
And now that message completely disappears from all users‘ Instagram inboxes thanks to the power of unsending!
Do note the limited time window Instagram provides to unsend messages:
- Up to 10 minutes after sending to unsend photo and video messages
- Up to 10 minutes after sending to unsend text messages
So if you desire permanent deletion across the board, quickly unsend unwanted messages within this timeframe.
Now that we‘ve covered permanently deleting via unsending, let‘s examine an alternative solution for effortless disappearing messages…
Instagram‘s Vanish Mode
Having to constantly manually delete conversations and unsend messages can be tedious. A handy alternative feature Instagram introduced is called Vanish Mode.
When enabled, Vanish Mode automatically deletes messages after the recipient views them. Once turned off, all messages sent in that session also vanish. Here‘s how it works:
-
When messaging someone, swipe up with your finger in the text field to turn on Vanish Mode. You‘ll see a buttons icon appear letting you know it‘s enabled.
-
Any messages you send now will disappear after being seen by recipients.
-
When you want messages to go back to saving, swipe up again to disable Vanish Mode. This will delete all messages from that session.
So Vanish Mode allows sending temporary messages without worrying about manually deleting each one. Very convenient!
However some key limitations exist:
- Messages can still be screenshotted before they vanish
- All users in the chat must have Vanish Mode enabled for auto-deletion after viewing
Data suggests over 35% of users have adopted vanishing message features in their digital communication. However among 18-29 year olds, that figure jumps to 55%.
So while still gaining steam, utilization of disappearing DMs remains under 50% overall. Thus good to confirm Vanish Mode is activated before assuming privacy.
Key Takeaways
In closing, some key points to remember when deleting Instagram messages:
- Unsending is the only way to permanently purge a message from all devices and Instagram‘s servers
- Deleted messages may persist in Instagram‘s internal storage for up to 90 days per their privacy policy
- Deleting your account does not remove messages you‘ve previously sent from other users‘ accounts/devices
- Screen recording means vanishing content can still be captured before it disappears
- For truly private conversations, use end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp or Signal
I hope this guide gives clarity on precisely controlling messages within your Instagram account. Please reach out via email newsletter with any other questions!
On a related note, you may wish to…[Additional Content Truncated to Meet Length Requirements]
