How to View the Time of the Message in Messenger

If you’re an avid Messenger user, you’ll have noticed that the app doesn’t display the time a message was sent or received. In Messenger, you can only see the time and date of the very first message that started the chat, but not for the individual messages sent in the exchange. Of course, there are situations where you need to know the time a certain message was sent or received on Messenger.

Fortunately, there is a way around the issue. This article will show you how to see the times and dates of Messenger messages.

View the Date and Time of a Message in Messenger

You may not be able to see the time stamp for a message in Messenger. However, you will be able to see the date and time of when your message exchange began for each period. For example, if you sent a friend a message on January 2nd at 2:45 pm, regardless of the length of the conversation, the very first message will show a time stamp. All the other messages in this conversation won’t show time or date info.

To see the date and time information for a message in Messenger on your mobile, do the following:

1. Open your Messenger app on your mobile.
   
2. In your “Chats” tab, choose a chat to view the messages.
   
3. Find the message you’d like to check the date and time for.
   
4. Tap on your message, and you’ll see the “Timestamp” on the top of your message.
   
5. This will work for Messenger on both iOS and Android devices.
   

If you use Messenger online, or if you send messages from your Facebook profile inbox, here’s how to see the date and time information for a message in Messenger on your PC:

1. Go to “messenger.com” or your inbox on your Facebook profile.
   
2. Select a chat to open the messages.
   
3. Let your cursor hover over the message and a timestamp will be shown on the left of the message. It will show the date and exact time the message was sent.
   
   

Deciphering Messenger’s Read Receipts

If you’re interested in seeing the date and time of Messenger messages, you might also want to be able to decipher the read receipts for sent messages. When a message is sent from Messenger, different types of circles are displayed. These circles indicate the different statuses of any sent messages on Messenger.

Here’s what the different circles indicate:

• An empty circle indicates that your message wasn’t sent.
• An empty circle that has a tick mark indicates that the message was sent on your side, but the recipient hasn’t received it.
• A blue circle indicates that the recipient has received your message.
• A circle with a tiny profile pic inside it indicates that your recipient read your message.

Setting Disappearing Messages in Messenger

If you don’t want anyone to fuss about when and what time messages have been sent in your Messenger, you can actually set your messages to disappear. Both you and a recipient in an end-to-end encrypted chat are able to set the timer for disappearing messages. If you send someone a message and they don’t see it within 14 days, your message disappears automatically and is not shown in the conversation.

To set when messages should disappear, follow these steps:

1. In your Messenger chat, tap on the “Secret conversation” option.
   
2. Tap on the recipient’s profile or group profile at the top of the chat.
   
3. Choose “Disappearing messages.”
   
4. Choose when the messages are to disappear from your chat once they’ve been read.
   

Bear in mind the following points regarding your disappearing messages in Messenger:

• Your recipients can still forward the message or even take a screenshot of it before it disappears.
• Your recipients can save or copy the messages before they disappear.
• Your recipients can take a picture of the disappearing message using a different device before it disappears.

Just because you’ve set your Messenger messages to disappear, doesn’t mean you mustn’t exercise caution with what you send. If Facebook detects that anyone took screenshots or screen recordings of the end-to-end encrypted conversations, you and the other recipients will be notified. Always ensure your Messenger app is updated and that you’re always using the latest version of Messenger.

How to Unsend or Remove a Message on Messenger

An easy way not to have the date or time shown on any messages is to remove the message completely. In Messenger, you can unsend a message permanently, or hide a message from your chat view. If you choose “Unsend for You,” the other chat recipients will see your message in the conversation on their end. If you choose “Unsend for Everyone,” none of recipients in the chat will see your message.

Here’s how to unsend a message in Messenger:

1. In Messenger, tap to open any conversation.
   
2. Tap and hold on the specific message you want to unsend.
   
3. Tap on the “Three dot” icon for more.
   
4. Tap “Remove.”
   
5. Tap “Unsend.”
   

It’s important to note the following regarding your unsent Messenger messages:

• If anyone in the chat has downloaded a copy of their Facebook data, you’ll see that certain messages were unsent but you won’t be able to see the content of the messages.
• If you suspect that any unsent message you got was against Facebook’s community standards, you can easily report it by long key pressing a message next to it, or by reporting the conversation.

Setting Up Automatic Responses on Your Facebook Page

If you’re interested in the times and dates of your Messenger messages, you might also be interested in setting up automated messages for your Facebook business pages. You can only do this if you are a Page Admin, Moderator, or an Editor of the page.

Here’s how to set up automatic responses for your business Facebook page:

1. On the left of the Page Admin dashboard, click on “Inbox.”
   
2. Find and click on “Automated Responses.”
   
3.  Choose the type of response, (away message, instant reply, job application received, etc).
   
4. Choose “Personalize” icon or “Three star-like” icon and customize the message.
   
5. You can have your message mention the name of the recipient, or you could add a link.
   

Know the Deets

At times you may need to reference an important message sent in Messenger, and know its date and time. For example, if you’ve sent important information to someone who claims they didn’t receive it, or they received it at a different time, you’d want evidence showing the actual date and time you sent the message. Fortunately, there are ways and means to get the information you require.

Have you ever needed to know the date and time a message was sent on Messenger? If so, how did you get around the issue? Let us know in the comments section below.