If you send message, and then day later delete that message, I assume the receiver still can respond, even though deleted from you side? (and they have not responded yet)

Yes. I do that all the time.

Thanks Ira, good to check, so you can delete a message right after you send it, and they will still receive?

Once Messages tells you "Delivered" you can delete what you sent.

Thanks all

Follow up guys: Just noticed today some text sent, and also from past don't say delivered. So Ira.. need that "delivered" confirmation? or not always/ really. Maybe glitch today, not seeing saying delivered.

I only see "Delivered" on fairly recent text messages in my lists. I do see "Delivered" at the time I send them, unless the recipients phone is powered off, but after a few days the message does not show it. So as long as the text message you sent is not in the last few days it is probably safe to delete yours.

Update: I don't think you will see "Delivered" to a non-iPhone. I just sent a text to a non-iPhone, heard the woosh of delivery, do not see the "Delivered" notice, deleted my text and the recipient was still able to reply to me.

Ira thanks, "as the text message you sent is not in the last few days "

So you would wait a few days before deleting to be safe? If their phone is off then then may not get it if I delete on my end?

And you agree, don't even bother looking for a delivered status, That is a waste of time?

If "Delivered" is shown, safe to immediately delete. If not shown and it is an iPhone recipient, maybe wait. If recipient is not an iPhone then it comes down to what the cellular provider does when the message cannot be delivered immediately, and I have no clue there. Couldn't hurt to wait to delete on your end.

I tend to delete certain sent messages immediately and have rarely heard from the recipient that they did not get it. But then maybe all those people never power their phones off.

Ira, thanks, wow I think the verdict then is to leave it there for a few days... Too draining to calculate all that... So good info. thanks.

Once an iMessage, SMS, or MMS has been sent, it is entirely in the hands of third-party servers for delivery and can safely be deleted from your phone, computer, or tablet. Whether it is actually delivered to your intended recipient or not its continued existence on your device will have no bearing on the final delivery. However, if you do not delete the "conversation" from your device "delivered" will switch to "Read" and the date it was read, if and when that occurs. That said, not all devices, or perhaps it is message carriers, acknowledge receipt or reading (opening) of messages.

NOTE: There are apps that block phone calls and messages just as there are those that block emails. So delivery does not guarantee the recipient will even see, much less read, a text.

Joe, this changes the viewpoint now.

So, once I send it whether not not going to android, chrome, etc, (and regardless of any status message on my end), I can delete from my list, and if they receive it or not has nothing to do with my deleting the message from my computer?

I don't know if you'll find this applicable, but I always wait to see "Delivered," because although it's rare, messages occasionally get lost in the ether and NEVER get delivered.

Most often heard from people who have been reminded that they owe you money.

Going with what Joe said: Once sent it's definitive sent, it's now on a server and done with. So I can delete it.. Only reason to keep then is is you want to see if read.

You are correct! 👌

It may be definitively sent, but it's NOT definitively RECEIVED.

And I say that from experience, NOT as conjecture.

If you actually care about your recipient having received it, your reason to keep it is to see that "Received."

The "Received" notification does not mean the text was read. The "Read" notification only means the message was opened. Not all received messages return a "received" notice. The only guarantee a message has been received and read is an explicit reply from the recipient.

No arguments with any of that, but if you're concerned about a message having been delivered, waiting for "Received" is certainly a useful step, and if you neither see it nor get a response you're alerted to maybe resend.

A message's merely having been consigned to the "ether" is insufficient.

Which is why, when a message is really important, I use email in spite of text message convenience. The SMS/MMS system is based on the old "Pager" system and lacks the reliability assurance features of either POP or IMAP. (Admittedly, the receipt and read acknowledgement features are not activated on most IMAP and POP servers, but they are there.)

Personally I find iMessages (blue bubble in Message) more likely to do what you want than SMS/MMS (green bubble in Message) and are synchronized across all my devices. Whereas incoming SMS/MMS messages have to be indivdually deleted on each device.

Me too...except I didn't have such an elegant technical rationale. I thought it was just because I'm one of those old farts who younger users deride because he won't be weaned from the medium he's used for decades.

Not having cellular service on my iPhone, I've got no experience with green bubbles, but I use Messages any time I want a quick response, because the recipient is likely to see a message sooner than an email, and if I don't see that "Received," I know to resend.

The Internet, being what it is, though, I"ve had both messages and emails evaporate into thin air before reaching me or, as the case may be, my "sendee." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯