WhatsApp has today announced one of the most anticipated features we all have been longing to have, the edit feature. Yes, effective today the Meta-owned social messaging platform now allows its users to alter sent messages.
A similar feature is seen on Telegram —but unlike Telegram, which gives users up to a 48-hour window to edit an already sent message, WhatsApp only offers a 15-minute editing window, which is the same as the duration offered by Apple’s iMessage.
This new functionality was first spotted in May last year by WaBetaInfo, a platform that tracks WhatsApp updates. In February this year, the WaBetaInfo reported that WhatsApp was testing the ability for iOS users to edit sent messages.
And now the company is globally rolling out the new feature giving users the ability to alter sent messages. They can do so by long-pressing on the sent message and choosing ‘Edit’ from the menu.
“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 fifteen minutes after,” the company said in a blog post.
The edited messages will have an “edited” tag next to the time stamp to mark the change. However, the app won’t show the recipient any edit history. Other users won’t be able to see the previous versions of edited messages.
While WhatsApp is just playing catch up with this new feature since its competitors like Telegram, Twitter, and Signal have long provided users with the ability to edit their messages —and in this case tweets for Twitter, this is a great addition to Meta-owned social messaging app. Until today, users could only either delete the misspelled message or send another separate corrected message.
Some that have tried the feature state that the feature quickly corrects mistakes [on the sent message] instead of sending another message. Sending corrections can confuse the recipient if they have already seen the message. It also creates unnecessary notifications.
