How to delete and clear WhatsApp chats

WhatsApp is a really useful messaging platform that makes it very easy to get in touch with people, but if you’ve been using it for a long time you’ve probably got a pretty hectic chat list full of old messages.

If you want to clear the app out, whether partly or in total, there are quite a few ways that you can clean up WhatsApp, chat by chat or in one go, so we’ve laid out what you need to know, below.

How to clear a chat on WhatsApp

If you want to clear up one thread to start with, whether it’s a group chat or an invidivual message thread, it’s simple to do so with the steps below. If you’re on an iPhone it works as follows.

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone
2. Open the chat you want to clear
3. Tap on the name at the top of the chat to open the information menu
4. Scroll down to the bottom and tap Clear Chat
5. Tap on Delete All Messages to confirm your decision

On Android the steps are nearly identical, but instead of tapping on the chat name to get to the information menu you’ll just hit the three dots icon to access the chat settings.

How to clear all chats on WhatsApp

If you like the sound of clearing out your messages but want to do everything in one go, instead of going chat-by-chat, then there is an option for just that.

On iPhone, follow these steps.

1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone
2. Tap the Settings button at the bottom-right
3. Tap on Chats
4. Tap on Clear All Chats near the bottom and confirm your decision by entering your phone number

If you’re on Android, the steps are as follows:

1. Open WhatsApp
2. On the Chats tab, tap on the three-dot icon and hit Settings
3. Go to Chats, then Chat history
4. Tap on Clear all chats
5. Choose whether to delete media and starred messages, then confirm your decision

Both these processes will leave you with a completely blank slate but will still keep your chat list, just without any content in them.

How to delete a chat in WhatsApp

If you’re looking for a more brutal approach than just deleting the messages within a chat, you might want to just get rid of the chat in question entirely – follow these steps to do that on iPhone.

1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone
2. Swipe left on a chat in your Chats tab
3. Tap on the More button
4. Tap on Delete Chat and confirm your decision (or Delete Group for a group chat)

If you’re on Android, the steps are a tiny bit different:

1. Open WhatsApp
2. Find the chat you want to delete in your list and long-press on it until options appear
3. Tap Delete (or Delete Group) and then confirm your decision

How to delete all chats in WhatsApp

The most nuclear option available to you in your clearance efforts is to delete all your chats entirely, rather than individually, which you can do as follows on iPhone.

1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone
2. Tap on the Settings icon at the bottom-right
3. Tap on Chats
4. Tap on Delete All Chats at the bottom of the list
5. Confirm your decision by entering your mobile number

For Android users, the steps are again subtly different, laid out below.

1. Open WhatsApp
2. In the Chats tab, tap More options then Settings
3. Tap on Chats, then Chat history
4. Tap on Delete all chats

Once you confirm your decision, you’ll be at tabula rasa and able to start again with a clean WhatsApp free from clutter.