How to Edit or Delete a Sent Message on Telegram (and Delete for Everyone)

To edit a Telegram message, press and hold it (or right-click on a computer), choose Edit, change the text and save; the message then carries an "edited" label. To delete it, choose Delete and tick the option to delete it for the other person as well, which in a private chat removes it from both sides. Editing only works for a limited time after sending in most chats, while deleting your own messages in a private chat has no time limit.

This guide covers both actions on every platform, the rules in private chats, groups, channels and secret chats, and the things neither edit nor delete can undo.

Before you start: what editing and deleting actually change

Telegram is a cloud messenger. Your messages live on Telegram's servers and every device you and the other person use downloads them from there. That design is what makes "delete for everyone" possible: when you delete a message for both sides, Telegram tells every device in that chat to remove it.

The same design explains the limits:

• Copies outside the chat are not touched. A screenshot, a forwarded copy in another chat or a file someone saved to their phone is outside the chat, so deleting the original does not reach it.
• Notifications may already have shown the text. If the other person's phone displayed a preview before you deleted the message, they may have read it already.
• Editing replaces the text, but people can still notice the label. Recipients see that a message was edited, though not the old version.

Keep these in mind and you will know what each action can and cannot fix.

How to edit a sent message

Editing on Android

1. Open the chat and tap the message you want to change. On some versions you need to press and hold it.
2. In the menu that appears, tap Edit.
3. The message text moves into the typing field. Change it.
4. Tap the tick or check mark to save.

To cancel without changes, tap the cross next to the "Edit message" bar above the typing field.

Editing on iPhone

1. Press and hold the message until the menu appears.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Change the text in the typing field.
4. Tap the check mark button to save.

Editing on Telegram Desktop

1. Right-click the message and choose Edit.
2. Change the text and press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel.

A useful shortcut on Desktop: with the typing field empty, pressing the Up arrow key opens your most recent message for editing. It is the fastest way to fix a typo you notice the moment you hit send.

Editing on Telegram Web

1. Right-click the message, or hover over it and open its menu.
2. Choose Edit.
3. Change the text and press Enter or click the save button.

The exact appearance differs between the two web versions, but both offer Edit in the message menu. Our guide to Telegram Desktop and Web explains the differences between them.

What you can and cannot edit

Things you can change

• Text messages. Any wording, formatting, links or mentions.
• Captions. The text under a photo, video, file or album.
• The media itself. When editing a photo, video or file message, the apps let you replace the attachment with a different one. Look for the attachment or replace option while the edit bar is open.
• Formatting. Bold, italics, spoilers and other styles can be added or removed while editing. Our text formatting guide lists them.

Things you cannot change

• Stickers, GIFs sent as stickers, and voice or video messages. These have no editable text, so there is nothing to edit. Delete and resend instead.
• Messages from other people. You can only edit what you sent. In groups, even admins cannot edit members' messages; they can only delete them.
• Forwarded messages. A forwarded message belongs to its original author, so you cannot edit it as yours.
• Polls. Once a poll is sent, its question and options are fixed. You can stop the poll or delete it. See polls and quizzes for what poll creators can do.
• Old messages in private chats and groups. Editing is only allowed for a limited time after sending. Telegram sets this window on its servers, and at the time of writing it is about two days. After that, the Edit option no longer appears.

Where the time limit does not apply

Channel posts can be edited at any time by admins who have permission to edit, which is why channel owners can fix an old post months later. Messages in your own Saved Messages can also generally be edited without a time limit, since nobody else sees them.

What the other person sees after an edit

When you save an edit:

• The message shows the new text and a small "edited" label near the time.
• The recipient does not get a new notification for the edit.
• Nobody can open a history of earlier versions in the regular apps.
• If the recipient already read the old version, nothing tells them what changed. If the change matters, say so in a new message.

Edits and replies

If someone replied to your message before you edited it, their reply still points to your message, now showing the new text. If their reply quoted a specific part of your original text, the quote they sent is their own message and stays as it was. This is worth remembering if you edit a message to say something quite different: a reply might no longer make sense next to it.

Edits and forwards

A forward is a copy. If someone forwarded your message before you edited it, the forwarded copy keeps the version they forwarded. Editing only changes the message in its original chat.

How to delete a message

Deleting on Android

1. Tap or press and hold the message. To select several, press and hold one and then tap the others.
2. Tap the Delete option (often a bin icon at the top).
3. A confirmation appears. In a private chat it includes a checkbox along the lines of "Also delete for" the other person's name.
4. Tick it if you want the message gone for them too.
5. Tap Delete.

Deleting on iPhone

1. Press and hold the message and choose Delete, or choose Select to pick several.
2. Telegram asks how to delete. In a private chat, choose the option to delete for both you and the other person, or for yourself only.
3. Confirm.

Deleting on Telegram Desktop

1. Right-click the message and choose Delete. To select several, click the first and then the others, or drag across them.
2. In the dialog, tick the box to also delete for the other person if you want it removed for both sides.
3. Click Delete.

Deleting on Telegram Web

1. Right-click the message or open its menu and choose Delete. You can also enter selection mode to pick several.
2. Choose whether to delete for everyone where the option is offered.
3. Confirm.

Undoing a delete

On mobile, Telegram often shows a short "Undo" bar at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds after you delete something. Tap it quickly if you deleted by mistake. Once that bar disappears, the deletion is final. Deleted messages do not go to a recycle bin, and Telegram cannot restore them for you.

Delete for everyone: the rules in each type of chat

Private chats

In a one-to-one chat you can delete your own messages for both sides at any time, however old they are. Telegram also lets either person delete messages the other person sent, for both sides. This is a deliberate privacy design: either participant can clean up the conversation.

Choosing "delete for me only" removes the message from your devices but leaves it with the other person.

Groups

In groups, the delete-for-everyone choice works differently:

• Your own messages: you can delete them, and they disappear for all members.
• Other people's messages: only admins with the right to delete messages can remove them, and when they do, it removes them for everyone.
• Ordinary members cannot remove someone else's message for anyone. They can report it or ask an admin.

In some older small groups, the dialog may still ask whether to delete for everyone. In larger groups, deleting is always for everyone. Our guide to moderating a large group covers admin deletion tools such as removing all messages from a spammer at once.

Channels

Only admins with the delete permission can delete channel posts, and deleting a post removes it for every subscriber. Subscribers cannot delete anything; they can only leave or mute the channel. If you run a channel, remember that subscribers may already have forwarded a post you delete.

Secret chats

In a secret chat, messages exist only on the two devices involved. Deleting a message there removes it from both devices. You can also set a self-destruct timer so messages disappear automatically after being read. See secret chats explained for how those timers work.

Saved Messages

Saved Messages is your private chat with yourself. Deleting there only affects you, and nobody else ever had a copy.

Deleting many messages at once

Selecting several messages

On every platform you can enter selection mode and pick multiple messages, then delete them together. The same "also delete for" choice applies to the whole selection in a private chat.

Clearing a whole chat

1. Open the chat's menu (the three dots or the chat's profile).
2. Choose the option to clear history or delete the chat.
3. In a private chat, tick the option to also delete it for the other person if you want the conversation gone on both sides.
4. Confirm.

Clearing history keeps the chat in your list but empty. Deleting the chat removes it from your list. With the "also delete" option ticked, both remove the messages for the other person too.

Deleting by date

In private chats, the mobile apps let you pick a date range from the chat's calendar and delete everything in that range. Open the chat, open the calendar view (often by tapping a date bubble while scrolling), select the days and choose to clear them. This is handy when you want to remove one evening's conversation but keep the rest.

Letting Telegram delete automatically

If you find yourself deleting regularly, consider auto-delete. You can set a timer on a chat, or a default for all new chats, so messages disappear after a chosen period. Our guide to auto-delete messages explains the options and their limits.

What deleting cannot undo

Deleting is powerful in Telegram, but it is not a time machine. Be clear about these limits before you rely on it.

Someone already read it

If the message showed two ticks, the other person opened the chat with it on screen. Deleting it removes the text but not their memory of it.

A notification preview

The other person's phone may have shown the message in a notification before you deleted it. The Telegram app tries to clear notifications for deleted messages, but it cannot guarantee that a preview was not seen, or that a smartwatch or lock screen did not show it.

Screenshots and saved copies

A screenshot is an image on their device. Deleting the message does not touch it. Files or photos they saved to their phone's gallery are also outside Telegram's reach. If content is sensitive, the protection has to come before sending, for example with a secret chat or by not sending it at all.

Forwards to other chats

If the recipient forwarded your message elsewhere, the forwarded copy is a new message in that other chat. Deleting your original does not delete it. In a channel or group with protected content, members cannot forward or save posts in the first place; see restricting saving content.

Exports and backups

If the other person exported the chat history before you deleted the message, their export file contains it. Exports are explained in our guide to exporting chat history.

Special cases worth knowing

Most messages behave as described above, but a few kinds of message have their own quirks.

Scheduled messages

A scheduled message has not been sent yet, so it is fully yours to change. Open the scheduled messages list in the chat (usually through the calendar icon next to the typing field), then edit, reschedule, send now or delete. Nobody else has seen it, so there is no "edited" label and nothing to delete for anyone else. Our guide to scheduling messages covers the full list of options.

Albums of photos or videos

An album sent as one message is really several items grouped together. You can delete a single photo from an album or the whole set: select just the item you want to remove, or select all of them. The caption of an album is attached to one of its items, so if you delete that item, the caption goes with it. If you want to keep the caption, edit it into a remaining item first or resend it as text.

Pinned messages

Deleting a pinned message also removes the pin, because there is nothing left to point to. Editing a pinned message keeps it pinned and the pinned bar at the top of the chat shows the new text. In groups and channels this is a handy way to keep rules or announcements current without re-pinning.

Messages with reactions or replies

Editing keeps the reactions that people added, even if they reacted to the old wording. That can make a reaction look odd next to a changed message, so think twice before reversing what a message says after people have reacted.

When you delete a message that others replied to, their replies remain. The quoted part of each reply now shows that the original message was deleted. In a busy group this can leave a thread of answers to a question that no longer exists, so a short note explaining the deletion can help.

Comments under channel posts

Comments under a channel post live in the channel's linked discussion group. You can edit or delete your own comments the same way as in any group, within the same edit window. The channel's admins can delete any comment. If you run a channel, our guide to the linked discussion group explains how those comments are moderated.

Messages with protected content

If a group or channel restricts saving content, members cannot forward or copy posts from it. That does not affect your ability to edit or delete your own messages there, but it does mean deleting is more effective in practice, because fewer copies can have been made in the first place.

Choosing between "for me" and "for everyone"

In a private chat you get a choice every time you delete. A quick way to decide:

1. Did you send something to the wrong person or by mistake? Delete for everyone. Leaving it on their side helps nobody.
2. Is it something you said and regret? Delete for everyone if you want it gone, but also consider apologising, since it may already have been read.
3. Are you just tidying your own screen? Delete for yourself. The other person keeps their copy, which is fair if it is something they may want to refer back to, such as an address or arrangement.
4. Is it something the other person sent that you want gone? In private chats you can remove their message for both sides. Use this carefully: removing someone's words from their own history without telling them can feel like erasing the conversation. If the message was harmful, it may be better to keep it and report it, because deleted evidence cannot be reported later.
5. Is it something you may need as proof later? Do not delete it at all. Export or note what you need first.

If messages disappear from your side

Because either person can delete for both sides in private chats, you may one day notice messages vanishing from a conversation. That is usually the other person deleting them, or an auto-delete timer that one of you set. It is not a sign that your account was hacked. If whole chats are missing rather than individual messages, see our guide to Telegram messages that disappeared for the other causes.

Tips for channel and group admins

Editing and deleting carry more weight when hundreds or thousands of people read what you post. A few habits avoid confusion.

Edit small mistakes, repost big ones

A typo, a broken link or a missing word is best fixed with an edit. The post keeps its views, reactions and comments, and the people who already read it lose nothing important.

A wrong date, a wrong price or a wrong instruction is different. Subscribers who read the post already acted on it, and an edit will not notify them. Post a short correction as a new message, and edit the original too so that later readers see the right information. If the original is badly wrong, delete it and post a fresh version with a note explaining the change.

Deleting a post does not reach copies

Subscribers may have forwarded the post to friends, or another channel may have reposted it. Those copies stay. If you delete something because it was wrong, a correction post is the only way to reach people who saw the copies.

Deleting a post resets nothing else

Deleting a post removes its views and reactions with it, but it does not undo the notification subscribers received when it went out. If you post by mistake, delete quickly; the sooner it is gone, the fewer people open it. To avoid the problem, write long posts as a scheduled message or in Saved Messages first, check them there, and only then send or forward them to the channel.

Bulk cleanup in groups

When a spammer floods a group, admins can usually delete all of that member's recent messages in one action from the delete dialog, often alongside banning and reporting them. Doing it one message at a time is slow and leaves spam visible longer. Our guide to stopping spam bots in groups explains the settings that prevent the flood in the first place.

Worked examples

Example: a typo in a work message

You send "The meeting is at 3pn" to a colleague. Press and hold, choose Edit, fix it to "3pm", save. The message now shows "edited". No need to send a correction, because the change is obvious and harmless.

Example: you changed the meeting time

You sent "Meeting at 3pm" yesterday and the time has now moved. Editing the old message is a poor fix: the colleague already read it, gets no notification of the edit, and may never look back. Send a new message saying the time changed. If you want, also edit the old message so nobody scrolling up is misled.

Example: a message sent to the wrong chat

You meant to send a private note to your partner and sent it to your sister. Select it, choose Delete, tick "Also delete for" your sister and confirm. If the message already shows two ticks, she has seen it; a short, honest follow-up is usually better than pretending nothing happened.

Example: a group post with a mistake

You posted the wrong link in a group. Edit the message to correct the link if you are still within the edit window. If you are not, delete it and post the correct one. Members who already clicked the wrong link will not be told, so a short "corrected link above" message helps.

Example: a channel admin fixing an old post

A channel post from last year has a broken link. Open the post, choose Edit and replace the link. Channel posts have no edit time limit, and subscribers are not notified of the change.

Troubleshooting: when edit or delete is missing

The Edit option is not there

Check these in order:

1. Is it your message? You can only edit what you sent.
2. Is it too old? In private chats and groups, the edit window has passed. Delete and resend if needed.
3. Is it a sticker, voice message, video message or poll? These cannot be edited.
4. Is it a forwarded message? Forwards cannot be edited.
5. Are you an admin without edit rights? In channels, the owner decides which admins can edit posts.

"Delete for everyone" is not offered

1. In groups, deleting your own message is already for everyone, so there may be no separate checkbox.
2. Deleting someone else's message in a group requires admin rights.
3. If you have just installed Telegram on a new device, some options may be briefly limited while the account syncs. Wait, then try again from a device you have used for longer.

The message reappeared

If you deleted a message only for yourself, it still exists for the other person and may appear again if you re-export or view the chat on a device that has not synced. Check whether you ticked the "also delete" option. If you are offline, a deletion waits until you reconnect; open Telegram with a working connection and let it sync.

Common mistakes

• Editing instead of sending a correction. Edits do not notify anyone. Important changes deserve a new message.
• Forgetting the checkbox. In private chats, deleting without ticking "also delete" leaves the message on the other side.
• Thinking deletion reaches forwards. Copies in other chats stay.
• Assuming unread means unseen. One tick means the chat was not opened, but a notification preview may still have shown the text.
• Deleting your whole chat in anger. With "also delete" ticked, the history is gone for both of you and cannot be recovered. If there is anything you might need later, export it first.
• Expecting Telegram support to restore messages. Deleted cloud messages cannot be recovered by anyone.

FAQ

Is there a time limit for deleting a message for everyone?

Not in private chats: you can delete your own messages for both sides however old they are. In groups you can delete your own messages at any time too, and admins can delete anyone's.

Can the other person see that I deleted a message?

Telegram does not post a "message deleted" notice in private chats. The message simply disappears. They may still notice a gap if they remember it, or if they saw a notification.

Does Telegram notify people when I edit a message?

No new notification is sent. The message shows an "edited" label, and the new text replaces the old.

Can I see the original version of an edited message?

Not in the regular apps. Telegram does not show an edit history to anyone.

Can I recover a message I deleted?

Only if you tap the short Undo bar immediately after deleting on mobile. After that, deleted messages are gone. The other person may still have a copy if you deleted it only for yourself.

Can I delete messages the other person sent me?

In private chats, yes, and for both sides if you choose. In groups, only admins can delete other members' messages.

Summary

Editing on Telegram is a press and hold (or right-click) followed by Edit, and it works for a limited time in private chats and groups and without a time limit in channels. Deleting works the same way, and in private chats the "also delete" option removes a message from both sides however old it is. Neither action reaches screenshots, forwards, exports or someone's memory of a message they already read. For a typo, edit; for a change of meaning, send a new message; for something that should never have been sent, delete it for everyone quickly and, if it was already read, say so honestly.