WhatsApp Lets Users Edit Sent Messages – For 15 Minutes

WhatsApp is to allow users to edit sent messages for the first time, following the introduction of the feature by other services such as Telegram and Twitter.

Users will be able to edit a message up to 15 minutes after it has been sent, with an “edited” alert displaying for altered content.

But no editing history will be available, so recipients will not be able to see what the text looked like before it was changed.

Parent company Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, has begun rolling out the feature worldwide and it is expected to become available to all users in the coming weeks, the firm said in a blog post.

Typing mistakes

Users can access the feature by long-pressing a message and selecting “edit” from the pop-up menu that appears.

Previously if users needed to alter a sent message – to fix a typo, for example – the only way to do so was to delete the sent message and write a new one, with the previous message replaced by an alert reading, “This message was deleted.”

“From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats. All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose ‘Edit’ from the menu for up to 15 minutes after,” WhatsApp said.

Telegram rolled out message editing in May 2016, and allows chats to be edited for up to 48 hours after they were posted.

Tweet edits

Twitter began testing an editing feature early last year and began rolling it out in early October for paying Twitter Blue users, shortly before the company was acquired later that month by Elon Musk – who had campaigned for the feature.

Twitter allows users to edit tweets up to five times, for up to 30 minutes after the initial post.

Meta’s Facebook began rolling out editing features for posts and comments about ten years ago, saying at the time that it would allow mobile users to more easily correct typing mistakes.

Instagram allows users to edit posts, but not comments.