How to delete a single message in Hangouts

Sometimes you wish you hadn’t pressed “send” on that last message, whether it was an embarrassing spelling mistake, words said in anger, or a message sent to the wrong person. Unfortunately, Google Hangouts (soon to become Google Chat) is not as easy to use as we expected.

While it’s not possible to delete an inpidual message, there are a few things you can do to delete messages and select your chats in Google Hangouts. This article will teach you everything you need to know about how to delete messages in Google Hangouts.

You get what you paid for

While many chat apps and services allow you to delete a message, Google Hangouts does not. This is unless you have the paid ‘business’ version known as Hangouts Chat, which is part of the G Suite service offered by Google to businesses and schools.

Even though this is a requested feature since Hangouts launched in 2016, Google has refused to allow people to delete inpidual messages.

The only solution for people using the free version is to delete the entire Hangout, which is not ideal. If you delete the Hangout from your side, the person you were talking to will still be able to see all the messages sent so far.

How to delete a single message in Hangouts Chat (G Suite users only)

1. Open your web browser.
2. Guy https://chat.google.com in the browser bar and press Enter, or click this link to open Hangouts Chat.
3. Choose the contact you sent the message to and open the chat.
4. Click on the message.
5. Click Delete.

As mentioned above, this is only available in the paid version of G Suite, called Hangouts chat. If you’re not sure if this is the one you’re using, chances are it isn’t.

How to delete a Hangout Chat on a computer

1. Open the web browser on your computer (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera).
2. Guy https://hangouts.google.com in the browser bar and press enter. This will take you to Google Hangouts.
3. Click on the message you want to delete on the left side.

Then you can use one of the following two methods:

Method 1

1. Select the chat you want to delete by clicking on it in the list on the left of your screen. This will open the conversation on the right side of the screen.
2. Click the gear-shaped settings button at the top right of the chat window. This will open the options for the chat.
3. Click Delete Conversation. A confirmation screen will replace the conversation.
4. Click Delete at the bottom right of the window to delete the entire chat.
   

Method 2

1. Hover over the chat you want to delete.
2. Click the three-dot ⁝ button to the right of the chat name.
3. Click Delete.
4. A new window will appear with a confirmation dialog. Click the red Delete button at the bottom right of this window to delete the chat.

Both methods will only work to delete the history of a private conversation between you and a single contact. You cannot delete group chats; You can only leave the group. Again, this will not delete the conversation from your contact’s side of the chat.

How to delete a Hangout Chat on a mobile device

1. Tap the Google Hangouts icon, which looks like a green chat bubble with white speech marks.
2. Tap the chat you want to delete.
3. Tap the ⁝ three dots or ≡ three lines button at the top right of the screen to access the settings menu.
4. Tap Options if it’s there; otherwise, proceed to the next stage.
5. Tap Delete Conversation at the bottom of the list.
6. When the confirmation dialog appears, tap to complete deleting the conversation.

Chat history will now be deleted from all your devices connected to Google Hangouts.

Frequent questions

Here are the answers to more questions about Google Hangouts.

Can I delete a single message in Google Chat?

As you know, Google Hangouts is becoming Google Chats. Although the interface is similar, there are slight differences.

Unfortunately, Google Chat also does not have the option to delete a single message. Like Google Hangouts, you can delete the entire conversation at once and turn off your message history.

you are history

As frustrating as it may seem, unfortunately it is not possible to delete a single message from a normal Hangout chat. The best thing you can do is throw the baby out with the bathwater, although if for any reason you want the message to disappear from the person you sent it to as well, you will have to ask them to delete it on their behalf.

Have you ever sent a Hangouts message that you regret? Do you prefer messaging platforms where deleting is an option? Let us know in the comments below.