WhatsApp Empowers Users with 15-Minute Message Editing Feature

One of the most anticipated features for WhatsApp yesterday has finally been revealed: message editing.

In a Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that users may now edit a message within 15 minutes after posting it. If you wish to change a message, you may hold down on the message and touch the edit option. The timestamp of the altered messages will be marked with the word “edited” to indicate the change. The app won’t keep track of any rectification history, though. The earlier iterations of altered messages won’t be visible to other users.

We’re thrilled that you will now have greater control over your discussions, including the ability to edit typos or provide extra information. Within 15 minutes of sending the message, you must press and hold it for a few seconds before choosing the “Edit” option from the menu, the business explained in a blog post.

Users previously had to either altogether remove a message or write a correction in a different message. The chat app extended the window of opportunity to remove a message from two days (48 hours) to 60 hours last year.

Message editing has long been a feature of Telegram and Signal, two of WhatsApp’s rivals. Apple also made it possible to modify and return texts received using iMessage with iOS 16. Even Twitter gave its premium users access to the edit button last year. Even while the window of 48 hours that Telegram offers for message modifications is not as long, it is still better than nothing.

I’ve sent many mails with typos, but the editing tool will allow me to fix them swiftly rather than sending another reply. Corrective messages might make the receiver confused. Additionally, it generates pointless alerts. It can also be perplexing since when you remove a message, it doesn’t entirely vanish from the chat. It is instead substituted with a greyed-out remark that reads, “This message was deleted.”

According to Meta, users are already receiving the functionality, which will be made available to everyone in a few weeks.

Also Read: WhatsApp Multi-Device Support: Now Enjoy WhatsApp on Multiple Phones Simultaneously