Apple
How to Unsend a Message on iPhone
One of iOS 16’s best features is the ability to edit or unsend a sent iMessage on iPhone. In this guide we’ll show you how to do it.
There might be a time where you send an iMessage to a friend or family member and immediately regret it due to the content of the message or a typo. On previous versions of iOS, you could only send another iMessage for clarity.
Fortunately, iOS 16 does away with that and iOS now allows you to unsend a message within two minutes or edit a message within fifteen minutes. You currently have up to five edits.
One other thing to keep in mind is that messages will only be unsent if the other person is also running iOS 16 on their iPhone. If they’re running iOS 15 or below, the message will remain.
With all of that in mind, here’s how to unsend, or edit, an iMessage you recently sent on your iPhone.
How to Unsend or Edit an iMessage on iPhone
Again, in order to unsend or edit iMessages on iPhone, you need to download iOS 16. For more about the operating system, check out our iOS 16 walkthrough.
Once you get iOS 16 on board your iPhone, head into your Messages application and find the message thread where you want to edit or unsend a message.
Find the message and perform a long press on the message you wish to unsend or edit. This will pull up the menu you see in the screenshot above.
If you wish to unsend the message, tap Undo Send. If you don’t see the Undo Send option, two minutes have probably elapsed which means there’s no way to unsend the message.
If it’s successful, you’ll see “You unsent a message” in place of the message. If the person is still running iOS 15, it will note that the other person may still see the message on devices where the software hasn’t been upgraded.
If you want to edit an iMessage on your iPhone, you’ll want to tap on Edit in the popup menu instead. You’ll then see a text box like the one depicted in the screenshot above.
If you don’t see Edit available, you’ve waited too long and you can’t edit the iMessage.
Install iOS 16.7.10 for Better Security | ||||||||||||||
If security is important to you, think about installing Apple's iOS 16.7.10 update on your iPhone right away. iOS 16.7.10 itself doesn't have any security patches on board, but if you missed older versions of iOS 16, you'll get the fixes and features from updates you missed when you upgrade. iOS 16.7.9 featured 20 security patches. If you want to protect your device from harm, and you missed iOS 16.7.9, you should install iOS 16.7.10 sooner rather than later. iOS 16.7.8 has two security patches on board, iOS 16.7.7 had two, and Apple's iOS 16.7.6 update delivered several security patches to iPhone users. iOS 16.7.5 had nine security patches on board and they're important if you want to keep you device and its data safe from harm. iOS 16.7.3 delivered several security patches including one that patches up an issue with the Find My app. iOS 16.7.2 brought several security patches to iPhone models still running iOS 16. Learn more about them here. iOS 16.7.1 carried two important security enhancements including one that addressed a kernel vulnerability. You can learn more about the pair over on Apple's website. iOS 16.7 had three security patches on board and you can learn more about them right here. iOS 16.6.1 brought two important security patches to iPhone. If you're interested in what they patch up, here's Apple's guide. The iOS 16.6 update featured 16 security patches. For more information about the changes, check out Apple's rundown. iOS 16.5.1 brought two security patches to iPhone users If you want to learn more, head on over to Apple's website. The company's iOS Security Response 16.5.1 (c) update also included a security update and you can learn more about it right here. iOS 16.5 brought a ton of security patches to the iPhone. You can find out more about them over on Apple's security site. iOS 16.4.1 included two security upgrades . You can learn more about the pair right here. Apple's iOS 16.4 update had a substantial number of patches on board. You can read about them in detail over on Apple's security site. The iOS 16.3.1 update had three security patches on board including one for an actively exploited vulnerability. For more on the security contents of iOS 16.3.1, check out Apple's security page. iOS 16.3 brought 10+ new security patches with it and you can learn more about all of those right here. In addition, the software came with support for physical security keys for Apple ID. These will beef up your account security by requiring a physical security key as part of the two factor authentication sign in process. Learn more about the change right here. If you skipped iOS 16.2, you'll get its changes with iOS 16.7.10. iOS 16.2 brought a ton of important security patches with it and you can dig into the details on Apple's security site. The update also brought end-to-end encryption to iCloud, iMessage, iPhone backups, Notes, Photos, and more. If you want to learn more about it, head over to Apple's guide. If you decided to missed iOS 16.1.2, you'll get its solitary security patch with your upgrade. Learn more about it right here. If you skipped iOS 16.1.1, you'll get its security patches when you upgrade. You can learn more about them right here. If you missed the iOS 16.1 update, it brought 19 security patches to the iPhone and you can learn about the particulars of those over on Apple's website. If you failed to download iOS 16.0.3, it had one security patch on board, a fix for a potential exploit within the Mail app. For more about the fix, check out Apple's security site. If you're still running iOS 15 your iPhone, you'll get a bunch of other patches when you upgrade. iOS 16.0 brought a ton of security patches to the iPhone. If you're interested in the exact nature of these improvements, you can read about them over on Apple's security website. In addition to those patches, iOS 16 brings some additional enhancements to privacy and security including Safety Check which, according to Apple, will help "people in domestic or intimate partner violence situations review and reset the access they’ve granted others." The feature also resets system privacy permissions for apps and restricts Messages and FaceTime to the device on hand. Apple's also made some improvements to Passkeys in Safari. iOS 16 brings a brand new sign-in method that's end-to-end encrypted and safe from phishing and data leaks. | ||||||||||||||