How to Unsend a text message on Android [5 Effective Methods]

Suppose you just encountered one of your biggest mistakes in your life. You sent an unexpected SMS/ text message to someone by mistake, and now you are praying to god, crossing your figures, it doesn’t reach the person. Then let me tell you, my dear friend, you are out of luck in this case. Once you press the Send button of your SMS, you won’t be able to un-send it. 

But there are some options you can adopt; maybe they helped you recover your bad luck. Consequently, we will help you by suggesting to you some methods on how to unsend a text message on android. Exciting things you are going to learn here, let’s start.

Why would you want to unsend text messages on Android?

There can be several reasons behind unsent or recalling text messages.  If you have sent a message to someone by mistake, you will obviously wish that you could remove or unsent the message. You can easily remove sent messages on many social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But to unsend text messages from an Android is not that much easy.

Android users and many iPhone users have had this embarrassing experience. So, we have researched and explored smartphones to see if there is any option to unsend text messages to stay safe from this embarrassing situation. Thankfully, we have discovered some tricks to save you from this terrible plight.

Can you delete a text message you sent? or Can you unsend a text?

It is disappointing, but you can’t unsend a message once you send it. Only Google has introduced the unsend feature to Gmail. But SMS/MMS, text messaging in Android or iPhone doesn’t have this feature. These devices have only a one-way messaging service, once you send the message, it will be delivered, and another person can read it. So, you have to be careful before sending your message. 

Luckily, right after an SMS-by-mistake incident happens, there are certain not-so-perfect approaches to this problem that you should opt for. 

Why would you want to unsend text messages on Android?

There can be several reasons behind unsent or recalled text messages.  If you have sent a message to someone by mistake, you will obviously wish that you could remove or unsent the message. You can easily remove sent messages on many social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. But to unsend text messages from an Android is not that much easy.

Android users and many iPhone users have had this embarrassing experience. So, we have researched and explored smartphones to see if there is any option to unsend text messages to stay safe from this embarrassing situation. Thankfully, we have discovered some tricks to save you from this terrible plight.

How to unsend a text message on Android?

As we have already mentioned, you will not be able to un-send it directly after sending a message. But there are some tricks that we will share with you in this article. First, you can simply recall the message by canceling it when you send a message to someone using Android’s native messaging app.

In this article, we have discussed 5 effective ways to unsend a text message on Android. Check these out below–

Method 1: Remove the phone’s Battery or Switch off your Android

In this method, you have to remove your phone’s battery or quickly switch off by pressing the power button as soon as possible. If you can do any of this quickly, you may stop the message from sending. Now, turn on your phone, check if the method worked or not, review your account balance or the last message, and even call details.


But this process requires very fast actions before the message is delivered to another person. After you tap on the Send button, you’ll get approximately 5 seconds to react; otherwise, it won’t work.

Method 2: Use third-party Software instead of Android’s native messaging app

You can also use a third-party software named TigerText Secure Messenger instead of your Android’s built-in SMS or MMS messenger. The best feature offered by TigerText messenger is to unsend a text message; your recipients don’t need to use the same app. 

Now follow the below-mentioned process to unsend a text message using TigerText. 

Step 1. First, you have to download and install the TigerText app on your Android device.

Step 2. Now using the application, type your text message.

Step 3: Next, Tap on Send to deliver the message and hold it.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 4: Then, to delete the text message, you have to click on Recall from the recipient’s phone. This feature can perform only if the receiver has not yet opened the message.

Step 5: Finally, to be sure if the Recall feature worked successfully, you have to observe the green icon. It is placed next to the message you have sent. If this icon appears as Green, then the message sends successfully; otherwise, it’ll be normal if the Recall function acted correctly. 

how to unsend a text message on android

You can’t get any easier process than this. To use this app, you can change your default SMS/MMS app and choose TigerText as your default SMS option. 

Method 3: Cancel the message while sending.

Follow the instructions below to recall or unsend messages on your Android phone. But before executing the steps below, test whether your Android phone’s native messaging app supports message canceling features or not.

Step 1: Tap on the default messaging app on your Android to launch it.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 2: Open any conversation you want among the list.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 3: After opening the message thread, type a message in the text message box.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 4: Now, tap on the “Send” button

how to unsend a text message on android

After pressing the “Send” button, ensure that there is an indication message showing that your phone is still sending the message.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 5: Now, tap and hold the specific message which is still in the sending stage.

Then, there will appear a menu asking you to choose which action you would like to take.

Step 6: Now, choose the “Cancel,” “Unsend,” or “Delete for everyone” option to unsend the text message.

Then, a confirmation message will appear if the message is successfully unsend. In case of  your Android device doesn’t allow you to unsend or recall messages, then the next method may help you.

Method 4: Enable Airplane mode on your Android to unsend a text message.

Nowadays, there are many online messenger applications for Android, but we still have to depend on the traditional text messaging apps on Android. Therefore, sometimes we fall into such a situation that we need to unsend text messages.

You can unsend or stop sending messages by enabling the Airplane mode on your Android. Follow the instructions below to turn on Airplane mode to your device.

Step 1: Like method 3, send a message to someone by pressing the “Send” button.

Step 2: When sending the message, pull down from the top and tap on the Airplane icon from the Quick settings to turn on Airplane mode.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 3: Once you have enabled the Airplane mode on your device, the cellular network will not be available. There will be an indication message  showing you “Waiting for connection.”

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 4: Whenyour phone is on “Airplane Mode,” tap and hold the particular sent message and select the “Delete” option.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 5:  Again, pull down from the top of your Android phone, and now you can disable the “Airplane Mode” back.

Method 5: Use an Alternative Text messaging app on Android.

Today Android’s built-in text messaging app is not only an option to communicate with each other. There are many text messaging apps that you can use to send text messages to someone. In addition, many text messaging apps support unsend messages.

“Facebook Messenger” is one of those text messaging apps that have a message unsending feature.So you just have to ensure the person you send the message to is using the same application.

Now follow the instructions carefully below–

Step 1: Install the “Facebook Messenger” app from the Google Play Store and open it.

Step 2: Now, tap on any conversation thread you want to open.

Step 3:  Tap on the text message field and type a message on it.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 4: Then, tap on the “Send” button.

Step 5: Now, long press on the particular message that you want to remove or unsend.

how to unsend a text message on android

Step 6: Then, tap on the “Remove” button.

Step 7:  A pop-up window will be opened; choose “Unsend” from the option.

how to unsend a text message on android

FAQs:

How to delete messages from another phone?

You can delete the message from another phone by following the given steps:

Step 1: First, you have to click on the Message+ button. If you aren’t able to find it, then navigate to Apps, then click on Message+.

Step 2: Then choose a conversation

Step 3: Next, tap one of the messages and hold it.

Step 4: After that, click on the Delete message. You can select more messages if you want to.

Step 5: To select a message, click on the check box.

Step 6: Finally, tap the Delete button on the top right corner, and your selected message will be deleted.

How to recover text messages?

Answer: Recover text messages are straightforward. You only need to follow the mentioned process:

Step 1: Firstly, you have to download and install an app named Enigma Recovery. 

Step 2: Then, open the app and choose your desired recovery method. 

Step 3: Next, you have to sign in to iCloud securely.

Step 4: Following on selecting the messages and tap on scan for data

Step 5: After you complete your scan, tap on view data

Step 6: Lastly, export the recovered messages and save them on your phone.

How do I erase deleted text messages?

Once you delete a text message, it won’t appear on your device but stored in the cloud. Now, if you want to erase the message permanently, you have to follow certain steps: 

Step 1: First, you have to go to Settings on your device and click on the General option.

Step 2: Then, click on “Storage and iCloud Usage” and followed by “Manage Storage” under the section of iCloud.

Step 3: Next, choose the device you wish to delete under the option “Backups.”

Step 4: Now, scroll down to the bottom and press Delete Backup

Step 5: Lastly, click on Turn Off and Delete to erase all the backups.

If you delete a message does it unsend?

No, if you normally delete a message from your message thread, it will be only deleted for you, not for the person you have sent the message.

Can I recall a text message?

Yes, if your device’s default messaging app supports recalling messages, you can recall a text message.

Follow the instructions below to check whether your phone support message recalling or not.

Step 1: Tap on the default messaging app on your Android to launch it.

Step 2: Open any conversation you want among the list.

Step 3: After opening the message thread, type a message in the text message box.

Step 4: Now, tap on the “Send” button
After pressing the “Send” button, ensure that there is an indication message showing that your phone is still sending the message.

Step 5: Now, tap and hold the specific message which is still in the sending stage.
Then, a menu will appear asking you to choose which action you would like to take.

Step 6: Now, choose the “Cancel,” “Unsend,” or “Delete for everyone” option to recall the text message.

Final Thoughts:

Although safety measures on mobile devices and applications are greater than ever before, there are still more options to work on. Recalling or unsend text messages is one of the options you should be careful about. 

That’s why we tried to unleash everything related to how to unsend a text message on android. You can use these steps, but more importantly, you should be cautious before sending a message. Hope you find the necessary information regarding this topic. Let us know if anything more you want to know in the comment section. 

By Rakib Ahmed

Hello, I am Rakib Ahmed, a former army commando of UNICEF. I left My Job And start blogging. Blogging has become my passion nowadays. I love technology. In today's life, I found several problems related to technology but can't get good solutions at all. That's Why Fixwill Journey Started. Stay Connected And Get Great Solution About Android,IOS,Windows Linux And Many more tech Solution. Thank You dear!

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