How to Unsend or Edit iMessages on iPhone with iOS 16 [In-Depth Guide]

One of the best things about iOS 16 might be the introduction of major improvements to iMessage. Now, if both the sender and recipient are on iOS 16, you get a 15-minute window to edit the message and a 2-minute window to unsend a message.

This is useful if you misspell a word or mistakenly send the wrong message to the wrong person at the wrong time.

However, with iOS 16 still in the early public beta stage, there’s way too much confusion about how this feature works. Seeing this, we have come up with this step-by-step guide that explains everything regarding unsending or editing a text message using iMessage on any iPhone running iOS 16.

How to Unsend Texts in iMessage

Though you only get a 2-minute window to delete or unsend text, it’s still great over not having this feature entirely. Here’s how you can unsend texts in iMessages:

Step 1: Open the Messages app from your iPhone’s home screen or app library.

Step 2: Now, go to the messaging thread from where you need to unsend/delete a message.

Step 3: Once inside, tap and hold any message you wish to unsend until you receive haptic feedback alongside an overlay menu.

Step 4: From the overlay menu that appears, tap on the ‘Undo Send’ option to unsend the message.

How to Edit Texts in iMessage

Unlike the first method, wherein you can entirely delete or Unsend a text message within two minutes, iOS 16 also brings in a longer 15-minute window wherein users can edit the text messages they’ve already sent. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Open the Messages app from your iPhone’s home screen or app library.

Step 2: Go to the messaging thread where you want to edit the sent text.

Step 3: Once inside, tap and hold any message you wish to unsend until you receive haptic feedback alongside an overlay menu.

Step 4: From the overlay menu that appears, tap on the ‘Edit’ option to edit the sent text message.

Once you follow these steps, others will still be able to see that you have deleted a message but without knowing what it was. Whereas if the recipient runs an earlier version of iOS, the message sent to their device will not be deleted.

On the other hand, if you were to edit a text, the recipient will be able to check the edit history by tapping on the “Edited” text that sits below a message. You’re only allowed to make five edits to an individual message.