A few years ago, Facebook Messenger rolled out a controversial feature that has been beneficial for some but annoying for a lot of users — the ability to unsend messages.
There are millions of reasons why a Facebook message has been retracted and unsent, but you probably want to uncover what it really was anyway. For a long time, there’s almost no way to recover an unsent message on Messenger. There might be some, but we bet it requires a lot of work. Even the method we’ll show you on how to view unsent messages on Facebook comes with a few caveats, but it’s pretty easy.
Without further ado, let us show you how you can check retracted Messenger texts.
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Can I see unsent Facebook messages on my phone?
You will be able to see unsent messages on Facebook using a feature called Notification History that’s been on Android devices since Android 11. If you’re running on Android 12 or 13, you should have this feature too, unless your Android manufacturer disabled it.
To check if you have this feature, go to Settings > Notifications > Notification History. You can make the search faster by using the Search tab on the settings menu and typing “Notification History.”
Take note that notifications are only stored for 24 hours, so messages beyond that time frame will not be viewable.
Unfortunately, if you’re using an iPhone, there’s currently no easy way of viewing unsent messages.
How to see unsent Facebook messages using your smartphone
Step 1: First, you want to make sure that the Notification History feature is enabled. To do so, go to Settings and tap Notifications.
Step 2: Tap Notification History.
Step 3: Enable Notification History.
Step 4: Now, to see unsent messages, go to Settings > Notifications > Notification History.
Can I still see Notification History even if Do Not Disturb is enabled?
Based on our tests, yes. The Facebook Messenger notification, even when unsent, was still logged in the Notification History section.
Can I view unsent photos on Facebook Messenger?
No. In the Notification History method, you can only see that the sender sent a photo but not the image itself. The same goes for videos and other files.
Pretty easy, right? Did we miss anything? If you have any questions on how to read unsent messages on Facebook Messenger, share it with us in the comments section and we’ll try to help you out.