LinkedIn is a popular social networking site used by professionals to connect with colleagues and further their careers. When you send someone an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, they will receive a notification prompting them to accept or ignore your request. However, sometimes you may want to withdraw a connection request before the recipient responds. Here are the steps to withdraw a LinkedIn request using your iPhone.
Open the LinkedIn Mobile App
The process for withdrawing a connection request starts right within the LinkedIn mobile app on your iPhone. If you don’t already have it installed, you can download the free LinkedIn app from the App Store. Once downloaded, open the LinkedIn app and log into your account if you aren’t already automatically logged in.
Go to Your Sent Requests
Now that you’re logged into the LinkedIn app, you need to navigate to the sent requests page to view pending invitations you have out. To find this page on mobile:
- Tap the “My Network” icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like little people figures).
- Next, tap “Manage” at the top of the My Network page.
- Finally, select “Sent requests” to view all the connection invitations you have sent through LinkedIn that are still pending.
Locate the Request You Want to Withdraw
You should now be on the Sent Requests page where you can view all your outstanding invitations. Scroll through the list to find the specific request you would like to withdraw. The recipient’s name and position will be displayed.
Select “Withdraw Connection Request”
Once you have located the pending request for the connection you want to remove, tap on the three dots “…” icon to the right of their name. This will open a dropdown menu. From here, select the option to “Withdraw connection request.”
Confirm Withdrawal
A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that you want to withdraw the connection request to that person. Tap “Withdraw Request” to finalize withdrawing your invitation. The request will then disappear from your sent requests page.
Does the Recipient Get Notified?
When you withdraw a LinkedIn request, the recipient will see that your invitation has been retracted. Specifically, the pending request will disappear from their “Manage invitations” page where they view incoming requests. They will not receive an explicit notification that you withdrew the request, but its removal from their list makes it clear it was rescinded.
How Long do Recipients Have to Accept?
Connection requests on LinkedIn remain pending for up to one week before expiring. That means recipients have up to seven days to accept or ignore your invitation. If they take no action, the request will automatically be withdrawn after a week.
Withdrawing a request manually therefore allows you to retract the invitation sooner than the one-week expiration period.
Can You Re-send a Withdrawn Request?
If you change your mind after withdrawing a connection request, you can send another invitation to the same person. To do so, simply search for their profile again and use the “Connect” button to re-invite them.
There is no limit on how many times you can send a connection request to someone on LinkedIn.
Does Withdrawing Prevent Future Requests?
Withdrawing a connection request does not block you from sending an invitation again in the future. You remain able to re-send requests to the same person after retracting a previous invitation.
The only way to prevent future requests is to block someone. This can only be done after establishing a connection, not from a pending request.
Can You Undo a Withdrawn Request?
Unfortunately, there is no way to “undo” withdrawing a request and reinstate a canceled invitation. Once you withdraw a connection request, that specific invitation is permanently removed.
Your only option is to send a brand new request to the same person if you want to connect in the future.
Does Withdrawing Affect Your Limit?
LinkedIn limits the number of connection invitations you can send each week as a spam prevention measure. The current limit is around 100 invites per week.
Withdrawing a connection request does not impact your weekly invitation limit. Retracting an invitation essentially frees up that request to be used on someone else.
Can You See a History of Withdrawn Requests?
Your “Sent requests” page will only display currently pending invitations. Once you withdraw a request, it disappears from your sent list and there is no history or log of retracted invitations.
The recipient will also not see any evidence you previously sent them a withdrawn request.
Is There a Limit on Withdrawn Requests?
There is no restriction on how many requests you can withdraw. You can retract invitations as needed without limit.
The only potential issue is if you excessively send and withdraw requests, LinkedIn may flag your account for suspicious activity.
Can the Recipient Reject a Withdrawn Request?
No, since a withdrawn request disappears from the recipient’s view, they are unable to actively reject or accept the retracted invitation.
Withdrawing effectively cancels the request before the recipient takes any action on it.
Does Withdrawing Prevent Reconnecting Later?
Withdrawing a connection request has no impact on your ability to reconnect with the same person in the future. You remain able to send them a new request at any time.
The withdrawal is a clean slate and does not harm your chances of connecting down the road.
Can You See Who Viewed Your Profile?
LinkedIn’s premium subscriptions offer the ability to see who has viewed your profile recently. However, when you withdraw a request, it does not show up as a profile view for the recipient.
Withdrawing a request leaves no public trace of the interaction on either person’s account.
Is There Another Way to Cancel Besides Withdrawing?
Withdrawing the request is the only method to actively cancel a pending connection invitation you sent. As mentioned, requests expire after one week automatically if left alone.
But if you want to retract it sooner, withdrawing is your only option.
Can You Withdraw After Being Accepted?
You cannot withdraw a connection request after the recipient accepts it. Once they confirm the invitation, you become first-degree connections on LinkedIn.
At that point, the only way to disconnect is to remove them from your connections list.
Summary of Key Points
Here are some key takeaways about withdrawing LinkedIn requests on iPhone:
- Go to “Manage” then “Sent requests” to view pending invitations
- Tap the three dots next to a request and select “Withdraw” to retract it
- The recipient will no longer see the request in their invitations list
- You can send them a new request again in the future
- There is no limit on how many requests you can withdraw
Conclusion
Withdrawing a LinkedIn request is a simple process on iPhone. The invitation is permanently removed from both your sent requests and the recipient’s inbox. While it leaves no public trace, withdrawing a request completely cancels it and allows you to reconnect in the future if needed. Using the LinkedIn app makes it easy to manage your requests on the go.