How To Unsend Messages On iPhone, iPad and Mac (iOS 16)

Do you know that you can unsend messages on iPhone, iPad and Mac? If you accidentally send one or reconsider sharing some info, you have 15 minutes to undo send. All thanks to new iOS 16 features available for the stock Messages app.

Unsend messages is also working on iPad and Mac devices that are update to iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura.

How To Unsend Messages On iPhone

Deleting a message that you’ve just sent is easy:

• Open the conversation thread that contains the iMessage that you want to remove.
• Tap & hold on the bubble until the quick actions menu pops up.
• Select Undo Send. That’s it the message is deleted.

Important: iOS 16 allows you to delete an iMessage up to 15 minutes since you sent it! The Undo Send option simply doesn’t show up if the message is older!

Edit Message After Sending

iOS 16 also allow you the option to edit iMessage after sending. Sometimes this option might be more suitable:

How to: Use the Edit option in quick actions and the message opens with the text editor available. Correct the info and tap the blue check sign.

Fact: The Edited label is displayed next to Delivered / Sent to let all participants know that the text was modified.

Unsend Messages Not Available

Is the Undo Messages option not showing up? Here are the most common causes:

• Your device is not updated to iOS 16 or later.
• You’re trying to unsend after more than 15 minutes.
• You’re trying to unsend text message and not an iMessage. This feature is iMessage (blue bubbles) exclusive. If the bubble is green it means that you’ve sent a regular SMS and that one can’t be undone.

Unsend Messages Not Working

You unsend iMessages but your contact at the other end is still able to read them? That’s mostly happening because the receiving device is not updated to iOS 16 or later.

In fact, you’re also notified when this happens:

You unsent a message. [contact name] may still be able to see your message on devices running older versions of iOS.

Fact: The same is valid for the Edit message feature. If the other device is running iOS 15 or earlier it will get two messages instead. Both the original and the edited one.

Tip: Undo Send messages works similar on iPad and Mac as long as the devices are updated to iPadOS 16 and macOS 13 or later.

Do you like the new Undo Send messages feature in iOS 16? Does the 15-minute recall timeframe suit you? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related: You can also undo send emails in the stock Mail app!