iPhone beats Twitter to the edit button, allowing users to change and unsend texts

While much of the world is waiting for Elon Musk to finalize his $44 billion Twitter deal and make good on the often-promised, ever-elusive edit button platform users have been longing for, Apple seems to have beat its Silicon Valley brethren to market with its coming release of its iOS16. 

This week the Cupertino brand announced that among its list of coming iPhone updates, all of which will be arriving this fall after a summer of beta testing, will include the ability to edit a text or just completely unsend it. Keep in mind that both actions will be logged in the specific chat window, though, so you won’t escape with your ego completely intact. But at least you can make sure your final message represents exactly what you hope to convey, be it a grocery list or romantic missive. 

You’ll only be able to edit or unsend errant iMessages during a 15-minute window after you first fire one off, but unsent messages will be recoverable for up to 30 days, explained Craig Federighi, senior VP of software engineering at Apple, in a video.

Still, 15 minutes is plenty of time to fix a typo, update a coffee order, delete a few choice words for your boss, or rethink an entire relationship. 

Combined with the edit and unsend options announced at Apple's 2022 WWCD event this week is another iMessage augmentation allowing users to mark conversations as “unread,” reminding them to return to earlier messages when they find some free time. Federighi said that these were “three of the most highly requested features” by Apple devotees. 

A few other key updates added in iOS16 include lock screen customization, which will let users pick from a larger selection of backgrounds, add new apps and widgets, as well as personalize colors, fonts, etc. There are also new Shareplay features, which seemingly allow users to sync up viewings on Disney+ and other streaming apps so you and a friend can watch a new show on your devices simultaneously while texting. This last one is especially important for anyone who forgot that their phone also operates as a phone.