Facebook – How to delete old Facebook chats from both end

Update

Since February 2019, New Messenger Feature Gives You Ability to Remove Messages for Everyone.

Simply tap on the message you want to remove and select the option to “Remove for Everyone”. The removed message will be replaced by text alerting everyone in the conversation the message was removed. You will have up to 10 minutes to remove a message after it is sent.

Past answer

No, sent messages can't be unsent or removed from the recipient's inbox. Depending on the persons's notification settings, they may also receive your message as an email notification.

^{Source: Facebook Help Centre}

Using "delete" in the messenger deletes the message in your version of the thread but not the recipient's. So deleting a message or conversation from your inbox won't delete it from your friend's inbox. It isn't possible to delete sent or received messages from a friend's inbox.

However there is some workaround is to mark the message as Spam or Abuse (in Actions), then delete it from your messages, and disable/deactivate your account (and re-activate it after few hours), so both people won't see it.

See also:

• Can I unsend a message once it has been sent? at Facebook Help Centre
• Need to delete a message I sent so the other person doesn't receive it at Facebook Help Centre
• Can u delete a message you have sent to someone by accident? at Facebook Help Centre
• How do I delete a message sent to the wrong person? at Facebook Help Centre

Firstly, all the messages won't be visible to you any more cos you deleted your facebook account. :)

Secondly, you friends (ex-friends, cos you deleted them), will all have copies of your facebook chats in their history/cache depending on what software/browser they used.

Thirdly, if you really need to get hold of a copy of the past chats yourself, just remember that facebook sells everything you ever did online, and all the info it can get about you too, so you could probably just email any company that's got a facebook advert or page. :D