How to Delete Stickers on iMessage and Reveal Covered Text

If a sticker is covering an iMessage bubble, remove the sticker layer from your iPhone by touching and holding the message bubble, tapping Sticker Details, swiping left on the sticker, and tapping Delete. If you only want to read the covered text, double-tap the bubble instead. These are different actions: deleting removes the overlay on your side; double-tapping reveals the text while leaving the sticker in place. Apple documents both options in its iPhone sticker guide.

Delete a sticker attached to a message

Use these steps when a sticker has been placed on top of an existing message bubble. You do not need to delete the whole conversation or the text underneath it.

1. Open the conversation and press the message bubble. Find the bubble with the sticker and touch and hold the bubble itself. A shortcut menu should appear. If the sticker covers most of the text, use the bubble’s outline as your target.

2. Tap Sticker Details. This opens a list of stickers attached to that bubble. If more than one sticker is on it, identify the one you want to remove before continuing.
3. Swipe left on that sticker’s row. A red Delete button appears. Swipe across the sticker entry—not across another message in the conversation.

4. Tap Delete. The sticker disappears from the message bubble on your side. The underlying message stays in the conversation, so you can read it without the overlay.

Reveal covered text without deleting the sticker

If your immediate goal is to read a sentence, you can skip the deletion steps. Double-tap the message bubble with the sticker on it; Apple says this reveals text that the sticker covers. The sticker remains attached, so use Sticker Details later if you decide to remove it. This is useful when the sticker is part of a conversation you want to leave as sent.

What deleting a sticker does—and does not do

Removing an overlay this way changes the view on your side; it does not erase the sticker from the other person’s conversation. Apple notes that recipients see a sticker when it is placed on a message and describes the removal gesture as applying on your iPhone. If someone else is also bothered by the overlay, they can remove it from their own view. The message text itself is not deleted by Sticker Details.

There is a separate case: a sticker may have been sent as its own message bubble rather than placed on top of an earlier message. In that case, use the normal message controls. Touch and hold the sticker message, tap More, select it, then tap the Delete button. Deleting a message this way removes it from your Apple devices, but not from the recipient’s. If you sent it as an iMessage within the last two minutes, touch and hold it and choose Undo Send to retract it. Apple says both sides need compatible iMessage software; people using older system versions may still see the original. Undo Send is not available for SMS, MMS, or RCS messages. See Apple’s guides to deleting messages and unsending an iMessage.

If Sticker Details is missing

• Press the message bubble, not empty space. The Sticker Details command is tied to a bubble with an attached sticker. Pressing the sticker itself may show a different menu.
• Check what kind of sticker you’re looking at. Sticker Details is for a sticker placed on a message bubble. A sticker sent alone is handled as a message; use the separate-message steps above.
• Check software compatibility. Apple says both you and the recipient need iOS 17.2, iPadOS 17.2, macOS 14.1, watchOS 10.2, visionOS 1, or later to see its sticker updates. If the menu or conversation looks different, update your device and try again.
• Use the quick read option if you’re in a hurry. Double-tap the bubble to uncover text without changing the sticker or message.

For an overlay, the short path is press the bubble → Sticker Details → swipe left → Delete. For text you only need to read, double-tap the bubble and leave the sticker untouched.