How to Edit Messages on iPhone & iPad

One of the better new features available for Messages on iPhone and iPad is the ability to edit sent messages. Editing messages allows you to correct mistakes and typos, adjust wording, rephrase things, or even send something completely different than the original message if you’d like to. There are many obvious use-cases for editing messages, and it’s a handy trick to learn for iOS and iPadOS users.

We’ll show you how you can edit messages sent from your iPhone or iPad, it’s really quite easy once you learn how it works.

How to Edit Messages from iPhone and iPad

The Edit Messages feature is available on all iPhone and iPad devices running iOS/iPadOS 16 or newer, and when communicating with other iMessage users.

1. From the Messages app, open any message thread where you have recently sent a message, or go to a message thread where you wish to edit a message
2. Tap and hold on the message you wish to edit



3. Choose “Edit” from the menu



4. Edit the message by correcting it or replacing words, typing as usual, then tap the blue check box when finished to complete editing the message



5. The message has been successfully edited

That’s all there is to it, simple, and what a useful feature it is, whether you’re typo prone or just like to refine what you wrote.

Viewing Edited Messages History on iPhone & iPad

Any edited message will show “Edited” in small text under the message, and if you tap on that Edited text, you can actually see the history of the message and the prior message before it was edited too.

The edited message history shows as a descending list of the edited messages with the original message on top. If you tap on ‘Hide Edits’ you will hide this list again.

Requirements for Editing Messages on iPhone & iPad

First, to edit messages you must be running at least iOS 16 on iPhone, or iPadOS 16 on iPad, or any newer version of system software. You can also edit Messages on a Mac using a similar process.

Second, for editing messages to be seamless, the person on the other end of the conversation must also be running iOS/iPadOS 16 or newer.

Third, you have about 15 minutes after a message is sent to edit a message. If more than that time has passed, you will not be able to edit the message.

Fourth, you can only edit messages you have sent. You can not edit someone else’s messages.

Finally, the messages being edited must be iMessages, exchanged between other Apple device users. Messages to and from Android users (typically shown by the green bubble) can not be edited because Android does not have iMessage.

These limitations and requirements for editing messages are similar to unsending messages on iPhone or iPad, which also requires newer system software and iMessage.

What do you think of the ability to edit messages? Do you edit messages often on your iPhone or iPad? Let us know your experiences and thoughts in the comments.