You Can Edit or Unsend an iMessage Up to 15 Minutes After Sending in iOS 16

iOS 16 adds a long-awaited feature set allowing you to edit and unsend iMessages that you've sent to someone, but as it turns out, there is a time limitation.

messages editing ios 16
You can edit or unsend an iMessage up to 15 minutes after it's been sent, but after that, it is uneditable and can no longer be unsent.

Unsending an iMessage or editing an iMessage requires both Messages users to be running iOS 16. If you try unsending an iMessage to someone running iOS 15 or earlier, it does not work, nor does the editing feature.

Apple warns that people running earlier versions of iOS are able to see messages that have been unsent, even if it is no longer visible on your end.

You can edit or undo an iMessage by long pressing on it in an iMessage conversation and tapping on either "Edit" or "Undo Send." Note that these features are limited to blue bubble iMessages and do not work with green SMS messages.

There's also a new option to recover recently deleted messages, and deleted messages can be recovered for up to 30 days after deleting them. Deleted messages are located in the Recently Deleted section under the Filters list. Recently deleted works for both iMessage and SMS messages.

In addition to these two features, there is a "Mark as Unread" option for when you want to respond to a message at a later time but don't want to forget, and all of your unread messages can be seen in the new "Unread Messages" folder under Filters.

Related Forum: iOS 16

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Top Rated Comments

kc9hzn Avatar
40 months ago

We went from Steve Jobs annoucing the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the Macbook Air.... to some random guy annoucing we can unsend a message.
To be fair, Steve… had a tendency to monopolize keynotes. To the point where he became the public face of every team of the company. Tim Cook seems to prefer letting the lead developers/project managers/VPs for each team present (and get credit for) their contributions. The latter goes a long way towards dissociating Apple from being that one guy
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving ?️ Avatar
40 months ago

Wonder if read receipts are affected if someone marks as unread?
Leave "read reciepts" (OFF). Problem solved :)
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vanylapep Avatar
40 months ago
We went from Steve Jobs annoucing the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, the Macbook Air.... to some random guy annoucing we can unsend a message.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4jasontv Avatar
40 months ago

Leave "read reciepts" (OFF). Problem solved :)
I have no idea why people would enable read receipts.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Thebrochure Avatar
40 months ago
Screenshot says, "Hold my beer."
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
apparatchik Avatar
40 months ago
We need an “uncall” feature for certain nights
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)