How to Unsend Messages on Mac with Undo Send

Ever wanted to unsend a message? Maybe you typed out a quick response and said something you wish you hadn’t, sent something in error, or sent something that is no longer relevant. If you have ever sent a message you regret or wish you could retract, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the Undo Send feature available in Messages for Mac.

Available for all iMessage conversations, you can use Undo Send to unsend any message sent from the Mac, whether it’s a text message, photo, video, gif, or any other iMessage that has been sent.

The Undo Send feature for Messages is available for all Mac users running macOS Ventura 13 or newer, as long as the recipient is also using MacOS 13 or newer, or iOS 16 or newer. Let’s review how this handy feature works.

How to Undo Send for Messages on Mac

To retract and unsend a message on Messages for Mac, here’s all you need to do:

1. After you have sent a message in Messages for Mac, right-click or control-click on the message you wish to unsend
2. Choose “Undo Send” from the contextual menu



3. The sent message will retract, disappearing from the conversation

After a message is unsent, a note will appear in the messages chat, indicating that a message has been unsent. It does not reveal what the message said, and unlike editing a message, it does not show what the message originally was.

You have 2 minutes to unsend a message after it is sent. If that time passes, the option will no longer be available in the contextual menu on right-click / control-click.

Unsending a message is different from deleting a message, and unsent messages can not be recovered.

Unsending Messages Limitations

It’s important to note the limitations of Undo Send in Messages for Mac. First, you and recipient(s) must be running macOS Ventura 13 or later, or iOS 16 or later, on their devices, whether it’s an iPhone, Mac, or iPad.

If any device is running earlier versions of system software, the Undo Send Messages feature will not work, and the recipient will still have the message visible on their device or computer.

If the recipient is using an Android phone and the message was sent over SMS text message protocol, you also can not use the Undo Send feature.

And of course if you do not have MacOS Ventura 13 or newer on the Mac, you will not have the “Undo Send” feature available in the first place. Similarly, unsending messages on iPhone or iPad requires iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 to have access to and use.

A similar feature exists for emails by the way, and you can unsend emails on Mac Mail app if you find yourself needing to do that as well.

Do you use the Undo Send feature in Messages for Mac? Did you know you can also unsend messages on Messages for iPhone or iPad?