- Apple announced that its latest iPhone software will let you edit and unsend iMessages.
- You'll also be able to mark messages as unread, in order to come back to them.
- Reports surfaced in early 2020 that the company was indeed testing ways for users to rescind texts.
Apple is getting an edit button before Twitter.
An upcoming iPhone software update, iOS 16, will include options to edit and unsend texts in iMessage. There will also be an option to mark threads as unread in order to come back to them later, Apple said at its annual developers' conference on Monday.
The options will be available for 15 minutes after sending, Apple said, and you'll be able to recover deleted messages up to 30 days after deleting them.
MacRumors first reported in March 2020 that Apple was indeed working on a way to let you delete iMessages. The report said that both the sender and the recipient of the text would be notified if a message was deleted.
Editing and deleting have long been features of other messaging services, including WhatsApp.
Google has long had a similar setting that allows users to unsend emails for a few seconds after sending. And Slack users can edit and delete messages that users send on the workplace messaging app but only for a limited amount of time.
Twitter users have long requested an edit button, and the feature has become an inside joke of sorts over the years. In April, the company tweeted "We are working on an edit button" as an April Fools' Day joke. The company said later that the feature is likely to first debut on its paid subscription service in a few months.
Apple did not say when the new iOS update would roll out.