Telegram is a popular messaging app that offers robust privacy and security features, including end-to-end encrypted Secret Chats. However, you may sometimes want to delete a Secret Chat for privacy or storage reasons. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to delete a Secret Chat in Telegram on Android, iOS, desktop, and web.
Table of Contents
What Are Telegram Secret Chats?
Unlike regular Telegram chats, Secret Chats use end-to-end encryption, meaning the messages are encrypted on your device before being sent directly to the recipient. Telegram itself has no access to decrypt and read these messages. Some key features of Secret Chats:
- End-to-end encrypted messages, photos, videos and files
- Self-destructing messages with custom timers
- Not stored in Telegram cloud – only accessible on originating devices
- Prevent chat screenshots
- Not forwardable to other chats
This ensures Secret Chats offer the highest level of privacy and confidentiality.
Why Delete a Secret Chat?
There are a few reasons you may want to delete a Secret Chat:
- Free up device storage: Secret Chats take up storage space on your device and can’t be accessed from other devices. Deleting them frees up space.
- Maintain privacy: Deleting a chat removes the conversation history from your device for privacy reasons.
- Start fresh: You can delete a problematic chat and start a new Secret Chat with that contact.
How to Delete a Secret Chat on Android
Follow these steps to delete a Secret Chat on Android:
- Open the Telegram app.
- In the chat list, long press on the Secret Chat you want to delete.
- Tap on the trash icon on the top bar.
- Confirm deleting the chat by tapping “Delete”.
The Secret Chat will now be deleted from your device. Your chat partner will still retain the chat on their device.
How to Delete a Secret Chat on iOS
To delete a Secret Chat on iOS:
- Open the Telegram app and go to your chat screen.
- Swipe left on the Secret Chat you want to delete.
- Tap on “Delete”.
- Confirm deleting the chat.
This will erase the Secret Chat from your iOS device.
How to Delete a Secret Chat on Desktop
Unfortunately, Telegram’s desktop apps do not support Secret Chats currently. So you cannot initiate or delete Secret Chats from the desktop.
The desktop apps automatically fetch the cloud-based Telegram chats. Since Secret Chats are not cloud-synced, they are not available on desktop.
How to Delete a Secret Chat on Web
Like desktop, Telegram Web does not allow Secret Chats due to the lack of cloud sync. So you cannot delete Secret Chats from the web interface.
However, deleting the Secret Chat from your mobile device also deletes it from the web when you sync your chats again.
Final Words
I hope this detailed guide helped you learn how to delete Secret Chats in Telegram across mobile devices. Please note deleting a Secret Chat removes it only from your device and your chat partner still retains the messages on their device.
Secret Chats offer the highest security, but lack the multi-device access of cloud chats. Use them judiciously depending on your priorities.
