Manage messages
Every message action says what it changes and for whom before you confirm, and most can be undone.
Message actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| React | Adds an emoji reaction |
| Reply / Thread | Quotes a message, or opens a thread on it |
| Edit | Changes your own message, in encrypted chats too |
| Forward | Sends a copy to another chat. In an encrypted chat it's encrypted again for the chat it goes to |
| Pin | Pins a message to the top of the chat |
| Copy link | A link to that one message, which opens only for people in the chat |
Delete and Trash
- Delete for me removes a message only for you.
- Delete for everyone applies to your own messages and moves the message to that chat's Trash.
- Anyone in the chat can restore a message from the chat's Trash, or delete it permanently.
- Trash keeps things for a set number of days, 30 by default, then deletes them permanently. Never longer than the chat's own history, or a message's own disappearing timer.
In an end-to-end encrypted chat, a message deleted for everyone also leaves the copy each device saved for offline reading and search, the next time that device loads the chat. It can still be restored from Trash. Once it's permanently deleted, the saved copy goes too, and it doesn't return when you link a device or restore your history.
A deleted chat also waits in Trash, so you can bring it back.
Clear messages
- Clear for me hides every message in a chat from you only. Everyone else keeps them, and new messages still arrive. Right after you clear, Undo brings the messages back. It works once, for a limited time; if it's no longer available, nothing changes and the chat stays cleared for you.
- Clear for everyone moves every message to the chat's Trash as one batch, Cleared messages, which anyone in the chat can restore with Restore all. In a group, only the owner and admins can do this.
Copies that people already saved, forwarded or screenshotted stay with them.
Disappearing messages
A per-chat setting: Off, 1 minute, 1 hour or 1 day. It applies to new messages from everyone in the chat; messages already sent keep their own timer. A line in the chat says when someone changes it, and each message shows a countdown.
Anyone in the chat can still copy, save or screenshot a message before it disappears.
View once
Turn on View once for your next message. It's covered until opened, opens for a few seconds with a countdown, then is gone from that device. You see whether it was opened. It can still be copied or screenshotted while it's open. If it doesn't open because of a connection problem, it isn't used up: the cover stays and you can try again for a short while.
Polls
Send a poll and people vote in the chat. A poll shows how many people chose each option, not who, and each person can choose one option. The person who sent it can close it: no one can vote after that, the results stay and the leading option is marked. A closed poll can be opened again.
Archive and private archive
- Archive hides a chat from your list without deleting it. Nothing changes for anyone else.
- Archive a message or a reply from its menu. Your own message is hidden for everyone until you unarchive it; someone else's is hidden for you only. Archiving a main message takes its thread with it. If other people replied to your message, their replies stay under "Message archived", and the thread takes no new replies until you unarchive it.
- Select several messages, replies or chats (from a menu, or a long-press on a phone), then archive or unarchive them together. The bar says who stops seeing them before you press "Archive".
- Each level has its own view: Archived chats in your list, Archived messages from a chat's menu or Chat info, and Archived replies from a thread. Nothing there expires on its own, and only you can unarchive what you archived. A message with its own disappearing timer still leaves when that ends.
- Private archive (anonymous rooms, with an account): from then on only your account can open the room, even with its link or password, and it becomes read-only. You can't do this to a room someone else keeps.
Save a copy
Save a copy of a chat as a web page (.html) or Markdown (.md). The file includes the messages you can read on that device now, and anyone who gets the file can read it.
Star a message
Star marks a message on this device only; nothing is sent. A starred message shows a star, and Search this chat can show starred messages only.
Report a message
Report sends someone else's message to AChat moderators with a reason. Its author isn't told who reported it. In an end-to-end encrypted chat AChat's server can't read messages, so the words your device shows go with the report, and the dialog says so first.
Search this chat
Search this chat (Ctrl or ⌘ + F, or the chat's More menu) finds words in the messages this device has loaded, including end-to-end encrypted ones, since the search runs on your device. Search earlier messages loads more. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Save a copy from a chat
Save a copy (Ctrl or ⌘ + E, or the chat's More menu) saves the chat as a file on your device.