how to delete messages on hangouts

Summary: Are you looking for ways to delete or restore Google Hangout photos? Learn how to delete and recover photos from Hangouts, shared in chat messages. Also, learn steps to recover Hangout messages from your Gmail account.

Google Hangouts is a great app to chat, voice, or video calls with your friends, family, and colleagues. You can quickly share photos, videos, and documents, etc., via Hangouts. You may even find a photo shared by a friend long back on Hangouts.

However, often, there might be a need to delete photos shared in Hangouts chats.

Addressing the sudden needs, here we bring solutions to common Google Hangouts queries. In this post, you will know how to delete as well as recover Hangouts pictures. You will also learn where Google archives Hangouts messages are saved so that you can recover old hangouts chats on your computer.

Part 1: How to delete photos from Google Hangouts

Album Archive automatically saves your photos from Hangouts, Google Drive, Google Photos, Google +, Blogger, and Picasa. You can view, download, or delete photos in Hangouts album located in Album Archive.

Follow the below steps to delete photos from Hangouts chats from Google Album Archive:

Login to your Google account.
In your browser, open Google Album Archive on PC or Mac.
Select Photos from Hangouts All the photos shared on Hangouts are displayed.
For deleting complete Hangout photos album:

– If you want to delete the complete Hangouts album, click on the three dots at the top-right corner and select Delete album.

Figure: Delete album option in Google Album Archive

For deleting specific photos in Hangouts:

– In case you have to delete a particular photo, double-click on the photo to open it. Select the three dots at the top-right corner, and select Delete Photo.

Figure: Delete photo option in Google Album Archive

Note: The even if the Hangouts photos are deleted from your Google Album Archive, they may be saved in the system of the person with whom you shared on chat.

Part 2: How to recover deleted photos from Hangouts

Method 1: Recover Hangouts photos from Trash

Once check the Trash folder in your Google Photos account. The photos remain in Trash for 60 days, beyond which they are permanently deleted.

Follow the below steps to recover deleted Hangouts photos:

Log in to your Google account
In the browser, open Google Photos.
Click on Main Menu icon on the top-left.
Select Trash.

Select the photo you want to recover and click on Restore icon at the top-right corner. The photos will be restored to Album Archive.

Method 2: Recover Hangouts photos from people you shared

Check and restore from the person with whom you shared photos in Hangouts chat. He/ she might have saved them.

Method 3: Contact Google Support

You can also contact and request Google Support for the deleted or lost Hangouts photos.

Part 3: How to save Hangouts photos in PC or Mac drive

Photos shared on Hangout are located in Google cloud. You can only view them online using an Internet connection. To view Hangout pictures offline, save them to your PC or external drive. You can directly download Hangouts photos from Google Album Archive on your system.

Steps to save Hangouts photos on computer drive:

Login to your Google account.
In browser, open Google Album Archive on PC or Mac.
Select Photos from Hangouts Photos shared on Hangouts are displayed.
Select the three dots at the top-right corner, click on Download to download the complete album. To save any specific photo, open it. Click on three dots at the top-right corner and select Download.

Figure: Save Hangout image file on your drive

5. In the dialog box, select Save File > OK. The photo gets saved in the Download folder of your computer.

How to retrieve lost or deleted Hangout photos from PC or Mac drive?

Accidentally deleted or lost Hangout photos from the drive? No worries. You can recover photos using Stellar Photo Recovery from your PC or Mac drives. Simply follow the below steps:

1. Download the Stellar Photo Recovery software from here.

Photo Recovery Photo Recovery Mac

2. Select the drive location from which you lost Hangout pictures.

3. Click Scan.

4. Preview found photos. Select the required files and click Recover.

Part 4: Hangouts – FAQ

1. Where are Google Hangouts chats messages saved?

The Hangouts photos are saved in Gmail. In your Gmail account, on the left panel, click to follow More > Chats > Hangouts. Under Hangouts, all your chats will be visible.

2. How to recover deleted Hangouts messages?

You can recover deleted Hangout messages or get old hangouts messages back from your Gmail account by following the below steps:

Open Gmail on your computer.
On the left panel, click More.
Click Chats or Hangouts, whichever label is visible.
Click on Archived Hangouts.

Figure: Recover messages from Archived Hangouts

Scroll through the Hangouts chats. Click the one you want to read. The Hangouts conversation will be displayed.

How to delete your Hangouts message history?

Deleting your Hangouts chat history will remove messages from Gmail as well on all your synced devices. But your contacts on Hangout can still see the chat history.

Steps to delete Hangout history with one contact:

Visit hangouts.google.com or in Gmail.
Select a conversation.
Click on Settings icon .
Select Delete conversation followed Delete.

Wrapping Up

Google Hangouts stores your photos shared on chat messages in Google Album Archive. You can either delete or choose to download them on your system from Google Album Archive.

Like other Google applications, such as Google Photos, Hangouts doesn't save the deleted photos in Trash or Bin before permanently deleting them. But you can check the Trash folder of Google Photos to restore Hangouts photos.

Plus, your Gmail saves and archives Hangouts messages. You can recover the deleted photos or messages from Gmail. If none of the solutions is helpful, check with the contact with whom you shared the photos or contact Google Hangouts support.