Apple has released its latest iPhone operating system, iOS 16, for users to update their phones to. With it comes an overhaul of the lock screen as well as some new and long awaited features.
One new feature is that users will now be able to edit and unsend messages through Apple’s iMessage app. This means texts sent in error can be changed or removed - hopefully before the recipient sees them.
Unsend is fairly common across other social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger but editing a message is less common. Typos and other mistakes will be a thing of the past with this new feature - but unlike other apps, this is a limited time feature.
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The ability to edit and remove messages is only available for 15 minutes after sending, which differs to competitor WhatsApp where a message can be unsent indefinitely. iMessage has a time limit on these functions to stop further editing after the conversation has ended.
Users can press and hold on their sent message to ‘undo send’ or ‘edit’ but this must be done within 15 minutes of sending it. After five minutes the unsend option disappears, and the edit function also vanishes at the 15-minute mark.
Any edits can be seen by the recipient and the message will say “edited” underneath. For unsent texts, the recipient will be notified that something has been removed but neither party will be able to see it, which mirrors what users see on other messaging apps.
As this is a new feature for the new operating system it will not impact messages to anyone on the old iOS. Those using iOS 15.7 or earlier will see the message as it was originally sent and it will remain in the chat, even if the iOS 16 user deletes or edits it.
Over time this will become less of an issue as more people move to the new iOS. The new operating system is available for anyone on an iPhone 8 or newer.
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