Delete Message

Delete a message for everyone in a chat.

DELETE /chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/:instanceName

cURL (Individual Chat)

curl --request DELETE \
  --url https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance \
  --header 'apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF",
    "remoteJid": "[e-mail]",
    "fromMe": true
  }'

curl --request DELETE \
  --url https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance \
  --header 'apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF",
    "remoteJid": "[e-mail]",
    "fromMe": true,
    "participant": "[e-mail]"
  }'

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance',
  {
    method: 'DELETE',
    headers: {
      'apikey': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      id: '3EB0123456789ABCDEF',
      remoteJid: '[e-mail]',
      fromMe: true
    })
  }
);

const data = await response.json();

import requests

response = requests.delete(
    'https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance',
    headers={
        'apikey': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    json={
        'id': '3EB0123456789ABCDEF',
        'remoteJid': '[e-mail]',
        'fromMe': True
    }
)

data = response.json()

201 Success

{
  "deleted": true,
  "messageId": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF"
}

{
  "error": "Invalid request",
  "message": "Missing required field: id"
}

{
  "error": "Unauthorized",
  "message": "Invalid API key"
}

{
  "error": "Message not found",
  "message": "The specified message does not exist or cannot be deleted"
}

Overview

You can delete messages from a chat for all participants. This works similar to the “Delete for Everyone” feature in WhatsApp.

Deleted messages cannot be recovered. This action is permanent for all chat participants.

WhatsApp has a time limit for deleting messages (typically around 2 days). Messages older than this limit cannot be deleted for everyone.

Authentication

This endpoint requires authentication via the apikey header.

header.apikey · string · required

Your Evolution API key for authentication.

Path Parameters

path.instanceName · string · required

The name of your WhatsApp instance.

Request Body

id · string · required

The unique message ID to delete.

remoteJid · string · required

The WhatsApp JID of the chat containing the message.

fromMe · boolean · required

Whether the message was sent by you. Set to true for messages you sent, false for received messages.

participant · string

For group chats only: the JID of the participant who sent the message. Required when deleting group messages.

Response

deleted · boolean

Confirmation that the message was deleted.

messageId · string

The ID of the deleted message.

cURL (Individual Chat)

curl --request DELETE \
  --url https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance \
  --header 'apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF",
    "remoteJid": "[e-mail]",
    "fromMe": true
  }'

curl --request DELETE \
  --url https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance \
  --header 'apikey: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF",
    "remoteJid": "[e-mail]",
    "fromMe": true,
    "participant": "[e-mail]"
  }'

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance',
  {
    method: 'DELETE',
    headers: {
      'apikey': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      id: '3EB0123456789ABCDEF',
      remoteJid: '[e-mail]',
      fromMe: true
    })
  }
);

const data = await response.json();

import requests

response = requests.delete(
    'https://api.example.com/chat/deleteMessageForEveryone/my-instance',
    headers={
        'apikey': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
        'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    json={
        'id': '3EB0123456789ABCDEF',
        'remoteJid': '[e-mail]',
        'fromMe': True
    }
)

data = response.json()

201 Success

{
  "deleted": true,
  "messageId": "3EB0123456789ABCDEF"
}

{
  "error": "Invalid request",
  "message": "Missing required field: id"
}

{
  "error": "Unauthorized",
  "message": "Invalid API key"
}

{
  "error": "Message not found",
  "message": "The specified message does not exist or cannot be deleted"
}

Usage Notes

You can only delete messages that you sent (fromMe: true). Attempting to delete messages sent by others will fail.

For group messages, always include the participant field to specify who sent the message.

If the message is older than WhatsApp’s deletion time limit (approximately 2 days), the deletion will fail.