There are two kinds of people in this world; those who prefer talking over call, and those who prefer texting. While calling is indeed quicker, as people get busier and busier, it’s difficult for two people to find vacant time at once; thus, texting prevails. However, making mistakes while typing is also equally common. Suppose you’re in a rush, have slippery fingers, or text someone believing them to be someone else, and end up sending a text that you want to take back now.
How will that be done? It seems like WhatsApp has thought long and hard about that before launching the Delete for Everyone feature for the messages on the platform.
While this feature was rolled out back in 2018, its utility gained popularity in 2020 and has been the go-to tool for countless WhatsApp users ever since. In today’s blog, we’re going to talk about this feature and how the act of blocking impacts it. Stay with us till the end to learn more!
What happens when you block someone on WhatsApp?
We understand that the matter at hand here is of deleting messages after being blocked, but if you’ve recently been blocked, do you know everything there is to know about this action?
In order to enlighten you about the changes that are about to occur on WhatsApp for you, we’ve listed below five major changes that take place upon being blocked on the platform. Let’s get started!
#1: Their profile picture is hidden
You know how when someone removes their profile picture on WhatsApp? Do you remember how you see a blank screen with a white silhouette in place of their DP instead? Once someone blocks you, their profile picture will remain blank all the time, regardless of whether they put a picture up or not.
They won’t be able to see your profile picture, either.
#2: Their Last Seen disappears
The Last Seen is a feature on WhatsApp that tells you when a user was last active on the platform. Although many users disable their Last Seen visibility for their account, even if they haven’t, you won’t be able to check it once they’ve blocked you.
The same thing happens with the green dot; after being blocked, you won’t be able to see when they’re online or not.
#3: You cannot voice, or video call them
Blocking as an act is significant because it severs all ties between two users of the platform. Keeping that in mind, it’s only sensible that your voice or video calls wouldn’t go through to them.
Whenever you try calling them, you’ll get a Dialling sign, but it will never change to Ringing; besides blocking, this usually happens when someone’s device is not connected to the internet.
#4: Any message you send them remains undelivered
As a WhatsApp user, you must already be familiar with one tick, double-tick, and blue tick mean on the platform. The first one shows the message has been sent but not received by the second party; the second indicates that the message has been delivered, and the third shows that it has been read.
However, when someone has blocked you, all messages you send will always have a single tick on them. This will not change even if they choose to unblock later on.
#5: You cannot see their status updates
WhatsApp statuses are similar to the Stories on Snapchat or Instagram; visual content posted for a window of 24 hours. All users can choose who can view their status or who to hide it from. But in case of being blocked, any status the next person uploads will be invisible to you.
Does blocking affect group chats on WhatsApp?
Suppose the person who has blocked you on WhatsApp happens to be a member of the same WhatsApp group chat as you are. How will the act of blocking reflect on this group chat? In no way.
WhatsApp understands that blocking is a personal matter of users and should only stay between both parties involved and not be broadcasted elsewhere. Therefore, if you both belong to a group chat, you’ll be able to see each other’s messages and reply to them normally within the group. The other members of the group chat will know nothing about the blocking either.
Can You Delete Messages for Everyone on Whatsapp if Blocked?
If you’ve been blocked by someone on WhatsApp, 9 out of 10 times, the last conversation between you two is likely to be heated. Perhaps someone said something that they shouldn’t have, which ultimately led to the act of blocking.
And while it is not usual to realize these things in the heat of the moment, when it has passed, and you look back to reflect on it, it’s easier to see what went wrong and which words shouldn’t have been said. But is there a way to take those words back?
Just like it’s impossible to return an arrow back into the bow after it has been fired, there’s no way you can take these words back, either. And we’re not just speaking about the memory of the person on the received end, but also on WhatsApp.
Let us explain: How is a message taken back on WhatsApp? It can’t be taken back, but the second-best option is to delete the message for everyone. This makes it disappear from both inboxes, and is as close to taking your words back as you can get.
But will this option still be available for you after you’ve been blocked on WhatsApp? We’re sorry to say this, but along with other privileges, the act of blocking also takes with it the option of deleting a message for everyone.
In other words, once you’ve been blocked by someone, you can’t delete any of the messages from the previous conversations between you two for both parties. You only have the choice to delete them for yourself, using the Delete for me option.
Will the second party be able to delete messages for everyone?
Our answer above might make some users wonder if the Delete for Everyone option is only lost to the user who was blocked or for the user doing the blocking as well. Rest assured, because WhatsApp plays quite fair in these matters.
Once someone has blocked a user on WhatsApp, the option of deleting a message for everyone is taken away from both parties. This means that just as you cannot delete any of the older messages for both parties, so can’t they. We hope you find it a just action, because we certainly do.
The bottom line
As we come to the conclusion of today’s blog, let’s do a quick recap of all that we’ve learned here. We began by talking about blocking on WhatsApp, and the major consequences of it on the platform.
Having discussed the basic grounds, we moved to talk about the feature of deleting a message for everyone after being blocked; only to figure out such a thing is impossible. Blocking takes away your privilege of deleting anything for both parties.
Is there any other WhatsApp-related query you’d like us to solve for you? Tell in the comments, and we’ll be back with its fix soon!
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