How to hide Facebook messages [September 2020]

There are a few reasons why someone might want to hide their Facebook messages from prying eyes. The main issue could be privacy concerns. What is said between you and a Facebook friend is your business and yours alone. It’s incredibly important to keep your chat messages private, especially when discussing something confidential.

Facebook allows you to hide any specific chat messages from selected friends of your choice. It’s a fairly simple process and you can easily display them at a later time if you wish. However, if you are too worried about hiding your messages as what is being discussed is too private to disclose, the best way to go is to delete them completely. Even if it’s not currently a risk, it’s best to completely clean up your messages from time to time.

The same can be said for the Facebook Messenger app on your mobile device. They are no less private than those on the real Facebook platform, since they are the same messages. But if you only have access to Messenger from a mobile device, I’d like to explain how to hide them there as well.

Privatize your Facebook chat messages

To hide your Facebook chat messages from view, you will need to follow a few different procedures. I will explain how to hide them in the browser version of Facebook, the Facebook Messenger app and even how to remove them efficiently.

Let’s start with Facebook on desktop.

Hide, show and delete your Facebook chat messages from the site

For those of you who prefer to visit the actual Facebook site to hide your messages:

Open Facebook Messenger

Go to facebook.com/messages and log in with your credentials. Alternatively, you can log in normally and, in the list on the left side, click Messages (either Delivery courier if you have it configured).

You can also click on the Messages at the top right of the screen to open the drop-down menu. At the bottom you will see See everything. ClickSee everything. If Messenger has been set up, it will be displayed as See everything in Messenger.

Hover over the three horizontal dots and tap

Select the conversation from the list on the left side of the screen. This will open the entire chat history for you to view.

Click ‘Hide’

From the list, click Hide. This will move all messages currently in your chat history to a hidden folder that only you can access.

However, once that person contacts you again, the archived messages will appear in your inbox and you will have to redo all the previous steps.

To access hidden messages again, click the Cogwheel icon above the contacts on the left side. Click Hidden chats and all the conversations you have archived will appear here.

The only way for them to appear in your normal inbox again is to receive a new message from the contact.

Messages or entire conversations can be deleted directly from the home page. Please understand that deleting a message or conversation on your part will not do the same for the recipient. To delete a message or conversation permanently by yourself:

1. Click on the Messages icon at the top right of the screen and select a conversation.
   • This will open the conversation at the bottom of the screen.
2. To delete a message, hover over the message you want to delete and click the … to open a menu.
3. From the options, select Eliminate.
4. To delete an entire conversation, click the Cogwheel icon in the upper right corner of the message window.
5. From that menu, select Delete the conversation.

Hide your Facebook chat messages on mobile

Chances are good that after you set up Messenger on your mobile device, you’ve set it to not require a password to log in. This is a pretty standard rate for most people. I mean, you have your phone with you at all times, right?

Android and iPhone devices can easily be misplaced, lost, or stolen. If this happens, it is likely that all your personal affairs are now in the hands of a stranger. It pays to plan ahead for such a disaster. So, in addition to being smarter about handling your phone, you can also be smarter about hiding your messages.

You can start protecting your Facebook Messenger privacy by making sure your Facebook app and/or Facebook Messenger is always up to date with the latest version. This helps protect your privacy from hackers a little better as it contains the latest security protocols and patches.

To hide Facebook Messenger messages for Android users:

Open the Messenger app and long press the chat you want to hide.

Press and hold your finger on the conversation to display some options.

Play the Aarchive option to move your unprotected chat to a hidden folder in the Facebook archive.

To hide Facebook Messenger messages for iPhone or iPad users:

Launch the Facebook Messenger app. You can also touch the Lightning Facebook icon to see your messages. Locate the conversation that needs to be hidden.

Swipe left to display a list of options for the conversation.

Tap on Further of the options provided.

In the menu that appears, tap ‘Hide’ to send chat messages to a hidden folder.

By archiving your messages, you will no longer be able to access them through your mobile device. You will need to access your account using the browser option on a PC or Mac. This may seem a little annoying, but consider it an extra layer of security. Anyone else who has access to your phone will now not be able to see the hidden conversation.

You can also choose to use your mobile device’s browser to access Facebook directly. If you prefer not to use Facebook Messenger, open the browser on your mobile device:

1. Go to facebook.com and log in with your credentials.
2. Play the Messages which appears as two speech bubbles.
3. Find the conversation you want to hide and swipe it to the left. This will give you some options to choose from.
4. Tap Archive to hide messages.
   • You may also need to touch Apply if requested.

Hopefully, these tips will help you protect your messages in case you want to keep your communications private. Keep in mind that even if you delete a message or conversation on your end, the other person still has it. If it is that important to you, the best way to get rid of it is to contact them and ask them to remove it. Also note that all conversations are saved by Facebook itself and you can request access to a folder with everything you’ve done on the social media platform.

Your privacy is in your hands, and by following some of the tips in this article, you can take steps to prevent the information you want to hide from being leaked.