You can now edit and unsend messages on your iPhone. Here’s how to do it

WASHINGTON — Apple’s latest software update gives users a new iMessage feature: a two-minute grace period to delete all butt texts and autocorrect duds. 

IOS 16, Apple’s newest phone operating system, was released Monday and brought big changes across the board, including to how users can text. The biggest new feature in that department is the unsend function, which lets iPhone users edit and delete iMessages that have already been sent. 

For up to 15 minutes after sending a text, users can ed it their messages up to five times. However, a record of the edits will be made available to the person on the receiving end.

And for the first two minutes of a sent message’s life, it can be recalled as if it had never been sent in the first place. 

Like all things, there is a catch. For the feature to work, the other person must have an updated iPhone released in 2017 or later. This means any text exchange with a non-iPhone user, or the green text bubbles, cannot use the feature.

Deleting a message:

Press and hold on the “undesired” text messageA Quick Actions menu will appear on your screenTap “Undo Send”This feature will only work for two minutes after initially sending the message.The undo action will only work with iMessage texts, meaning that chats with Android users or iPhones via SMS won’t have access. 

Users on the receiving end of the text may be able to see messages if their iPhone is not up to date. Once a message is deleted, the other person is able to see that you’ve “unsent” a text. 

Editing a message: 

Press and hold on the text message you want to editA Quick Actions menu will appear for that messageTap “Edit” Once you’re done editing, tap the blue check mark to update the text message.Beware that you can only edit the message up to five time and that changes must happen within 15 minutes of the text being sent.This feature only works on iMessage, meaning it won’t let you edit SMS messages or any sent to Android users.