The new feature was unceremoniously announced by Head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart on Twitter, so if you’re not using this particular social app and don’t read tech outlets, you would probably never find out about it.
According to Cathcart, the new feature has been added “for those times when you mean to delete for everyone but accidentally deleted for just yourself.” However, the option also comes in handy if you have a change of heart and decide to leave the message in the conversation window rather than delete it.
The undo option is not available for “Delete for everyone” messages too because it appears that its role wasn’t to offer users the chance to change their mind when it comes to deleting messages. If you delete a message for everyone, nothing will bring it back (hopefully).
Although it doesn’t really add new functionality to WhatsApp, the new option should be useful in limited scenarios. What people would love to see added to the app is for WhatsApp to drop the “You deleted this message” note displayed in the chat window after you delete a message.
All in all, any new addition to the app that further improves user experience is more than welcome. Even if it’s not what you want to see, it’s important for WhatsApp to continue to add more functionality to the app to remain competitive in a fierce market.
That said, if you’re a WhatsApp user, you should now be able to use the undo feature, as this seems to be rolled out widely as we speak.
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