iOS 16 lets you unsend, edit random text messages on your iPhone. How it works

Sending a premature text message, sending messages to the wrong person, and sending random misspellings happen more often than we’d like. It’s usually not a big deal because the recipient can spot simple grammatical errors, and if you send a message to the wrong person, you can usually follow it up with a simple “sorry” and you’re fine. Until it does.

Sometimes an error in a text message can cause you trouble or inconvenience, which is why you need to have the ability to recall any message and edit what you’ve sent — which you’ll finally be able to do with iOS 16.

Do not miss: 5 Hidden iOS 16 Features and Settings You Should Know About

Apple is expected to announce the release date of these new iPhone texting features at next week’s event. Other new features coming to the iPhone include new lock screen customization options and Apple Pay Later. And SharePlay is added to messages.

We’ll explain how these two new text messaging features work. And if you want to explore iOS 16 right now, before the mass public release, here it is how to download and install iOS 16 second beta on your iPhone and iPad.

Edit messages you’ve already sent

If you use messaging tools like Slack, you’ve probably edited at least one—or 100—of the messages you’ve sent. Whether you’ve made a typo or your message contains incorrect data, the edit feature is a good way to make your corrections quickly. With iOS 16, you’ll also be able to edit your messages sent from your iPhone within 15 minutes of sending.

To edit a text message, you’ll need to launch Messages and log into any thread that uses iMessage, which you probably recognize as blue text. This feature will not work with SMS text messages (green texts). Now press and hold your finger on the message you want to edit. This will bring up the Tapback reactions and Quick Actions menu. Finally, tap editing.

The text message will then be editable. You can delete the entire message, correct errors, or add more text to it. After you are done, press the blue checkmark button on the right side to save your edits. You can only edit one message up to 5 times.

An active Edited button will appear below your edited text message. The person on the other end will also know that the message has been edited if they tap Editedall previous versions of your text message will appear above the edited text message in slightly grayed-out chat bubbles.

Instantly recall any messages you accidentally sent

Random messages happen all too often. Maybe you tapped the send button when you wanted to select an emoji. Or maybe you sent a message to the wrong person. Either way, you’ll be able to recall those messages with iOS 16. Unlike the message editing feature, you only have 2 minutes to undo sending a text.

To cancel sending a text messagelaunch the Messages app, press and hold the message (blue text only) you want to cancel, and tap Cancel sending.

The text message will disappear from your thread on both your end and the recipient’s end. A message will appear in your thread saying that your message has not been sent, but that the recipient may have already seen it.

Unfortunately, if the other person is running something older than iOS 16, the message won’t actually be undelivered, even though your phone will say it is.

The recipient will see a gray text status message that says: “[Name] unsent message” if they have already viewed the text. This is similar to the delete message feature that apps like WhatsApp and Signal already have, which also display a similar message after recalling a text.

While you wait for these new features to roll out, check out what’s new a makeover is coming to Apple Maps. Also, here Apple’s new MacBook Air.