Can you Delete Facebook inbox messages?

Facebook Messenger allows you to send private messages to your Facebook friends and connections. Over time, your message inbox may fill up with old conversations that you want to delete to clear up space.

Deleting messages on Facebook Messenger can be done in a few different ways depending on your preference. Here are the options for deleting Facebook messages and clearing your inbox.

Delete Individual Facebook Messages

If you just want to delete specific messages in a Facebook thread, you can delete them individually.

To delete individual Facebook messages on desktop:

1. Open the conversation thread that contains the message you want to delete.
2. Hover over the message and click the “X” icon that appears in the top right corner.
3. Click “Remove” to confirm you want to delete the message.

On mobile:

1. Open the conversation thread and tap and hold the message you want to delete.
2. Tap “Remove” to delete the message.

The message will be deleted from the thread for you, but will still appear in the inbox of the person you messaged.

Delete an Entire Conversation

If you want to delete a whole conversation thread in Facebook Messenger, you can do that too.

On desktop:

1. Click on the conversation thread you want to delete in your message inbox.
2. In the upper right, click the down arrow next to the video call button.
3. Select “Delete conversation.”
4. Click “Delete” to confirm.

On mobile:

1. Tap and hold the conversation you want to delete.
2. Tap “Delete conversation.”
3. Tap “Delete” again to confirm.

This will delete the entire conversation thread for you, but the messages will still appear in the inbox of the people you conversed with.

Clear Your Facebook Message Inbox

If you want to wipe your Facebook message inbox completely clean, you can bulk delete conversations.

On desktop:

1. Click the checkbox at the top left corner of your message inbox to select all conversations.
2. Click the downward arrow at the top right.
3. Choose “Delete conversations.”
4. Click “Delete” to confirm you want to delete everything.

On mobile:

1. Tap the 3 horizontal lines menu icon in the top right corner.
2. Tap “Edit.”
3. Tap the circles next to each conversation to select them.
4. Tap “Delete conversations” at the bottom.
5. Tap “Delete” to confirm.

This will completely wipe your message inbox. The messages will remain visible in the inboxes of the people you conversed with.

Delete Facebook Messages From Your Account

The options above only delete messages from your inbox. The messages still exist in the inboxes of anyone you conversed with.

To permanently delete Facebook messages from your account:

1. Go to your Facebook Settings
2. Click “Your Facebook Information” in the left sidebar
3. Click “Download Your Information”
4. Deselect all categories except “Messages”
5. Click “Create File”

This will create a download containing your Facebook message history. You can then permanently delete this file to remove the messages from your account.

However, this still won’t delete the messages for other participants in the conversations. Their message inboxes will remain unchanged.

Why You Can’t Permanently Delete Facebook Messages

There is no built-in Facebook option to permanently delete a message for all conversation participants. So why doesn’t Facebook let you do this?

There are a few reasons Facebook doesn’t allow you to permanently erase messages:

• Message data is used by Facebook’s algorithms to personalize the platform and target ads.
• Messages need to remain available in case of legal investigations.
• Removing messages for all parties would be complex to implement across Facebook’s systems.
• Users may not want past messages randomly disappearing from their inboxes.

Due to these factors, the only way to fully remove messages is if all participants in the conversation delete the thread individually.

Third-Party Apps to Delete Facebook Messages

While you can’t natively delete Facebook messages from another user’s inbox, some third-party apps claim to offer this functionality:

App	Details
Social Book Post Manager	Browser extension that provides message deletion options
Thread Delete for Facebook	Android app for deleting messages
DeleteFB	iOS app for erasing messages

However, be cautious when using third-party apps. They may violate Facebook’s policies and put your account at risk.

Are These Message Deletion Apps Safe?

Third-party Facebook apps that offer to delete messages should generally be avoided. Here are some risks:

• They may require your Facebook login details, exposing your account
• Facebook bans apps that delete messages without permission
• They could delete conversations without your consent
• You have no recourse if they misuse your data

For these reasons, it’s safest to avoid “delete message” apps and stick to Facebook’s native options.

Follow Facebook’s Usage Policies

When managing your Facebook messages, be sure to follow Facebook’s policies:

• Don’t delete messages to conceal illegal, abusive, or rule violating conversations.
• Don’t use third-party apps that claim to permanently erase messages.
• Only delete messages you have permission to delete.
• Understand messages may still exist in other inboxes after deletion.

Following Facebook’s guidelines will keep your account safe when deleting messages.

Conclusion

While Facebook doesn’t have a built-in feature to permanently erase messages from all inboxes, you do have options to delete:

• Individual messages from your inbox
• Entire conversation threads from your account
• All inbox messages from your account

However, exercise caution with third-party apps claiming to delete Facebook messages, as they can put your account at risk. Following Facebook’s community standards is advised when removing any messages.