Cancel This Message

What does ‘Cancel This Message‘ mean? How to do this? The various question that comes in our mind. We are going to discuss all the things in deep. Ever text or message someone the wrong text or a text not meant for the person? Or did you ever just think about how the text message you type on your device gets sent on to the person it is meant for? If any of these things bother you, worry or panic not cause we are here to help you to find the answer to your query. 

To cancel a message being sent there is no direct way to do so like there is on other internet text messaging services like Whatsapp and Instagram. But there is nothing that’s beyond the extent of technological tricks. So if you want to know how to ‘Cancel this message’ then let’s dive in to reveal the tricks we’ve got for you.

What is SMS

SMS, which is short for Short Message Service is a service that enables us to send text messages to other users on their mobile number through the service provider that we have. It was one of the first developments in the field of text messaging which today has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. To understand the scale of text messaging today, here are some figures that are going to blow your mind. 100 billion messages are sent daily on Whatsapp, 8 Billion messages are sent on Facebook Messenger everyday and 15 billion messages are sent on Telegram every day. 

The text messaging facility has been among us for quite a while now but it is still older than you can think of. Text functionality was added to telephone messages back in the 1980s. The first text message was sent in the year 1992. This was the kind of message that we know of right now. It was transferred via the Vodafone GSM network in the UK. The message that was sent read ‘Merry Christmas’.

Since then the usefulness and the productivity of the message sending and receiving services have been growing higher than anything. As a matter of fact, in 2010, 6.1 Trillion messages were sent all over the world. For a rough idea that is the number 61 followed by a whopping 11 zeroes(6100000000000). This number is insane given that the world population was only around 7 Billion in 2010 and not everyone had access to a smartphone or a feature phone. 

The mechanism of the SMS service is quite simple. Let’s have a look at the mechanism of sending and receiving a text message and have a peek at what goes behind the wires. 

As soon as you type a message and hit send on your device, the message is forwarded to a Short Message Service Center which is often abbreviated as SMSC. The SMSC’s job is to receive messages and forward them to the respective recipient. It acts as a middleman for carrying the words jotted down by you on your device carried through the network to the final recipient. SMSCs are based on two principles. These principles are ‘Store and forward’ and ‘Forward and Forget’. 

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Store and Forward:

The name of this principle itself gives the user a hint to what is primarily the role here in this principle. This principle receives the short message and forwards it to the recipient. The only thing special about this is if the recipient does not receive the message or any other error occurs then the SMSC itself stores the message and keeps on forwarding it to the recipient until and unless the recipient receives it. In short, this type of SMSC never gives up until your message is sent to the receiver. 

Forward and Forget:

This type of SMSCs distinguishes itself from the earlier stated Store and Forward principle in terms of how they handle the messages that the receivers do not receive. The SMSCs based on this principle on receiving the messages forward them to the recipient to whom it is addressed or is meant for. Once after forwarding the message to the recipient the message is removed from SMSC. This means that if the message on forwarding to the recipient crashes and does not make it to the other end of the conversation chain then the SMSC does not forward it again and declares it unsent. If any other error occurs then too the SMSC does not try forwarding it again unlike the Store and Forward which keeps on sending the message again and again unless the recipient receives it. 

Uses of SMS service

The SMS was the only texting service that existed for the majority a few years back when Facebook and Whatsapp had not arrived and people too used feature phones. The messaging service has been used extensively in many fields. Some of these services are very crucial to a large majority of the businesses and the general public. Starting off with the messages sent to us to keep updated of our bills and new plans of the service provider to the OTPs that enable us to make transactions the SMS service although has not evolved much from where it started off initially but it has managed to attract a vast user base and enough uses for itself to make sure that it thrives and grows more with every passing day.

The SMS service that we know of today is more or less the same as when it was launched or initially started off. The SMS service is almost used by every new application we install on our device to sign up or sign in for the first time with the help of an OTP. Bank statements, bank balance, transaction records and transaction reminders are some of the important uses that thrive to sustain the daily life of a normal user. Although we now have many messaging services like Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. the vast user base and the security has paid off pretty well for the SMS service. In the recent times of enabling digital transactions through a single tap on your phone, the SMS service has become prone to many spams and harmful messages that sometimes cost people a fortune.

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This is often termed as Online Fraud. We and the generation before us have put so much trust into the SMS service that sometimes we even believe that the things that turn out to be a complete scam. Recent cases of SMS fraud like extraction of banking details via a single link sent on the phone through SMS has cost people hundreds of thousands of dollars. The section of the society which is still not much qualified in the field of handling smartphones and other tech stuff are the easiest target for such scammers. The only effective way of lessening the effect of these arising online scams is through careful monitoring of the data being sent and the knowledge of the people regarding these rising concerns. 

What is Cancel This Message means?

Consider yourself in a situation where you want to send a private message to a person of personal importance. While sending the message you sent it to the wrong person. This may seem a light topic of concern for the general public but now put yourself in this scenario. You work in the White House. There is a document you want to send to your superior through the SMS service. You type the mobile no. of the person to whom you want to send the message. While typing down the mobile no. in the recipient section you misplaced a digit. And you finally need to Cancel This Message.

Now the text you have been meaning to send to someone you know may arrive to someone at random just due to the misplacement of a single digit. The documents of national importance are at risk of breach and you are to blame. What do you do in this situation? You might want to stop the message before it reaches the wrong recipient. In order to do so follow the steps provided below that you might feel easier to carry out and save yourself your job or save yourself from the embarrassment of a lifetime. 

Difference between messages and Internet messaging apps

Cellular messaging has a limited functionality as compared to Internet messaging. The internet messaging has enabled not only texting between individuals but also framed the Internet as we know it today. Cellula messages brought a huge change by enabling person-to-person conversations over text across extreme distances. But it had certain caveats such as 160 characters limits, it only worked if you had a balance on your SIM card and it was not reliable to be safe and encrypted as the messages would first go to the SMSCs.

Internet messaging has opened the gates to many doors such as blogging where your writings are not confined to a single person and are visible to the entire world. On the internet, the messages are first sent to the servers of the messaging service and are then forwarded to the intended recipient. The messages on the Internet texting can be encrypted end to end and thus it becomes more secure and safe for texting. Moreover, there are no character limits on most of internet messaging services. On the other hand, cellular messaging only allows up to 160 characters at a time in a single message.  

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How to cancel this message?

We are providing you with two different methods to cancel this message, soon we update for more:

Method 1: Airplane Mode

In case the message you hit send on is still sending and is on its way to the recipient, this is the best method to stop it from going elsewhere. 

  1. Go to settings of your device. 
How to cancel this message?
  1. Go to connection and sharing.
  2. Turn on ‘Aeroplane mode’. 
Aeroplane mode

This shall put the signals you receive from your SIM on halt until you turn it off again. 

Another way to turn on the Aeroplane Mode as seen on many devices is from the Control Panel

  1. Open the control panel by swiping down on the status bar on the screen of your device. 
  2. In the control panel you shall see the ‘Airplane mode’ toggle icon. 
  3. Use this to turn on and off the airplane mode on your device. This will “Cancel This Message.”
Aeroplane mode to cancel this message

Method 2: Force Stop Messages

Just in case you find that you cannot get your hands on with Method 1, try this method which although a bit longer will do the job as we require. 

  1. Open the settings on your device. 
  2. Go to the ‘App management’ section. 
  3. Find ‘Messages’ from the list. 
  4. Open it and select the ‘Force stop’ option. 
  5. This shall ‘Cancel This Message’ from being sent. 

Remember, both these methods work only if the message is in the sending phase and has not been sent. 

FAQ

Q1. How do I unsend a message?

Ans: There is no method to unsend a sent message in Android but there are certain applications like TigerText that help you to unsend text if you text using the app. 

Q2. What do I do if my message is not being sent?

Ans: If your text message is not sending off to the recipient, try to restart your device. If still, the problem persists, talk to your service provider regarding the same.

Q3. How do I send a message to someone not in my contacts?

Ans: If you want to send a message to someone not in your contact list just type their mobile no. in the recipient box of the message writing window on your phone. 

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