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How to Stop a Snap from Sending on Snapchat

How to Stop a Snap from Sending on Snapchat

With its micro-messaging system, Snapchat became popular for providing quick exchanges between people, especially when using short videos. Limited to ten seconds, these videos also disappear once the recipient sees them. Thanks to this unique feature, Snapchat allows you to quickly film your reaction to something, and share it with a friend, safe in the knowledge that it’ll never be viewed by anyone else.

For example, you just saw a jacket of your dreams on sale! And you want to immediately share that incredible joy with your best friend. Thanks to Snapchat, that’s easier than ever, keeping a daily conversation much more personal. As if your friend was there with you.

Due to the ease in which you can send a Snapchat, you may inadvertently send a message to an unintended target. And that could potentially be awkward.

If this has happened to you, there are some options to retrieve your message before the recipient views it. In this article, we’ll review those options.

Stop the Chat Message from Sending

If you’ve accidentally sent a message to the wrong person, there are ways to stop it from actually reaching its destination. Of course, you’ll have to act fast.

Deleting the Message from History

First, we’ll try to delete the message before your recipient sees it. This will work immediately after hitting the ‘Send’ icon. All you need to do is long-press the chat message and hit ‘Delete.’

Now, tap Delete again. This will remove the message for you and your recipient.

Unfortunately, there are two drawbacks to this method.

First, the recipient will get a notification that deleted a chat. Second, this will not work with a Snap message. But that’s no cause for concern. We still have more options below.

Turning the Airplane Mode On

Because there’s no option to retract a Snap, there is a workaround for you to keep it from sending.

Disconnecting your device from the internet will prevent Snapchat from uploading the message and sending it to the wrong person. You can do that in several ways.

Snapchat

This is where Airplane Mode comes into play. That will break off any connections your phone has at that moment, preventing Snapchat from sending a message. If switching to the Airplane mode isn’t the most convenient thing to do on your phone, you can consider turning the connections off by yourself.

To quickly enable Airplane Mode on an Android device simply swipe down from the top of your screen and tap on the airplane icon. To do this from an iPhone, swipe down from the right side of the screen and tap on the airplane icon.

When you toggle Airplane mode on, it immediately disconnects from the network. If you’re lucky, you will catch the Snapchat message before it sends.

Disabling Internet on Your Phone

If you’re on a Wi-Fi network, first disable your Wi-Fi connection. Then, swiftly disable the mobile internet on your phone as well. Following the same instructions as above, you can simply toggle off the wifi icon (it looks like a piece of pie).

Also, if by any chance you’re sitting next to your Wi-Fi router, perhaps the fastest way to end the connection is to unplug the power cord. You can also press the router’s reset button, if accessible. Just remember, if your device is cellular capable, the message will still send with this method.

Hopefully, if you’ve reacted in time, Snapchat won’t send that awkward message.

Prevent Others from Seeing the Sent Chat Message in a Group

If you didn’t manage to stop the message from going out, there are ways you can prevent others from seeing it. Also, please keep in mind that Snapchat automatically deletes any messages that were read, either by a single person in a dedicated chat, or all people in a group chat.

Thanks to Snapchat’s recent feature, now you’re able to delete each message on its own. Of course, this applies only to the messages not read by other people. In one-on-one chats, you can delete a message only if that person hasn’t read it. In group chats, deleting a message is possible only until all people in the chat have read it.

stop snap sending

To delete a message, tap and hold on the message, until the context menu appears. Tap “Delete” at the bottom of the menu to delete it. Although nobody will be able to read your deleted message, be aware that Snapchat replaces it with a notification. This informs other people in the chat that you’ve deleted what you’ve sent.

Although the Delete option is a pretty useful addition, Snapchat may not be able to delete each and every message. This largely depends on the app version the other side uses. If they don’t have the version supporting this feature, Snapchat can’t delete your message. Also, if the other side isn’t online at the moment you’ve deleted the message, they’ll be able to see it until they get back online.

Also, it’s important to note that this feature doesn’t work for Snapchat videos.

Delete Snapchat Videos Before They’re Seen

As mentioned above, the “Delete” feature can’t help you with sent videos. But, there’s a workaround for that as well.

The moment you realize you’ve sent an awkward video, quickly block that person in your Snapchat app. That way, if they receive the video, they won’t be able to see it. Since the Snapchat messages are short-lived, you only have to wait for some 20-30 seconds before you proceed to unblock that contact.

Un-snapping Your Messages

With the ability to remove things you’ve sent over Snapchat, it’s certain to reduce the number of awkward situations caused by inappropriate messages. Whether you’ve sent a drunk message to your ex at two AM, or a video to your business partner showing you and your friends goofing around, now you’re able to redact all that in a few simple steps.

Do you find the “Delete” option useful? What’s the most awkward message you’ve sent? Please share your experiences in the comments section below.

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2 thoughts on “How to Stop a Snap from Sending on Snapchat”

rhea says:
thank you, this just saved my life
Rachel says:
I’ve just sent an awkward video to the wrong mate so I turned my internet off & the videos say ‘waiting to send’, though as soon as my internet goes back on they will send pleaaaase help ahahah how do i stop them from sending
liz says:
Hi Rachel, the same thing happened to me just now! How did you fix it?
katie says:
I deleted and reinstalled the app and that worked for me. When I logged back in after reinstalling the snap was gone as if it was never sending in the first place

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Dec 19, 2020

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