How to Unsend a Message on iPhone [2023]

There’s no shame in admitting that we all have a message we regret sending out with an embarrassing typo that went unnoticed and is fraught with dangerous potential to plunge you into a swamp of humiliation. Well, you might be able to avoid this situation again.

Why? Because you can "unsend" messages sent via iMessage app in two situations. The conditions are:

• You must actively unsend the message within 2 minutes after sending the message
• Both the sender and the recipient are using iOS 16, iOS 17 on their iPhones or later

If you can satisfy these two simple, straightforward yet no-compromise rules of the game, then this is how you get it done.

How to Unsend Messages Using the Messages App on iPhone

You can unsend messages sent from the Messages app as long as they were sent within the past 2 minutes and Sent to people with iPhone or iPad. Messages sent to other phones (i.e. Android) cannot be retrieved as the "Unsend" option of these phones cannot be accessed.

To unsend a message from your iPhone, open the iMessage app.

In Messages, select the chat that contains the message you want to delete. While this conversation is open, Long press on the message you want to cancel.

If there is time left in the 2-minute countdown, you will see the "Undo Send" option on the overflow menu. Click UndoSend from this menu.

Do! That's all you need to recall a sent message on the iMessage app.

What happens when you cancel sending a message on iPhone?

The message will be immediately deleted from the conversation thread's screen as well as the recipient's side of the conversation. The rest of the unsent message is just a label that says "You didn't send the message" and it will appear under the last message you sent. Once unsent a message cannot be recovered as it will be permanently deleted from the conversation.

Although recipients will not be able to read your message after you click Undo Send, they will still know that you retracted the message because they will also Received a similar alert in the same conversation that read "Unsent Email."

However, if the recipient’s iPhone is running an older version of iOS (such as iOS 15 or previous versions), regardless of whether you complete all the steps, The message will be deleted from their inbox. In this case, you will see the following alert at the end of the conversation instead of the unsent message.

It should be noted here that even if you actively "unsend" the email on time, the email may not be withdrawn from the recipient's inbox.

What messages can you unsend on the Messages app?

You can use the Undo Send option on all types of messages including text, emojis, images, videos, links and Memoji. All you need to do is make sure your iPhone is running on iOS 16, iOS 17 or newer.

If the message you want to unsend appears in a blue bubble, you can unsend it at any time within the 2-minute deadline. Messages that appear inside blue bubbles are messages sent via iMessage, and since it's Apple, not your network operator, that controls what you can do with such messages, they can be dismissed within a short time of being sent from your iPhone Send or edit.

What messages can't you unsend on the messaging app?

The message that cannot be unsent is the message that appears in the green bubble. These messages are sent via SMS or MMS instead of iMessage, and are sent immediately after being sent from the iPhone. Because Apple doesn't control what you send outside of iMessage, you won't be able to unsend or edit such text using the Messages app. These messages include contacts who do not use iPhones and iPads but instead use Android devices.

When you long-press on a green bubble message, you won't see the "Undo Send" option, even if you haven't passed the 2-minute mark.

Can you cancel sending the message after 2 minutes?

This is a hard no. Undo Send will disappear as an option in the overflow menu when you long press on a message anytime 2 minutes after sending it. So you can only hope that you discover the error or regret it within 2 minutes of taking action on your message.

However, Apple provides a way to fix the bug by letting you edit messages well beyond this 2-minute timeline. While you won't see the Undo Send option in the message's overflow menu, you can still use the Edit option to change the content of the originally sent message. The Messages app allows you to edit messages with different content up to 15 times within 5 minutes of sending the original message.

However, this won’t be as effective as unsending the email because both you and the recipient can see the edit history of the email you modified, including ones you regretted sending. original text.

Will deleting the text unsend it on Messages?

No. Delete and Undo Send are two different options on the Messages app. Unlike unsending a message, when you delete a message from a conversation, it only removes the selected message from your side of the conversation. This message will continue to appear on the recipient's iPhone as long as the recipient retains the message.

Another thing to note is that unsent messages cannot be recovered by you or the recipient. However, deleted messages can be recovered at any time by going to the Recently Deleted screen on the Messages app.

I canceled sending a text message but the recipient could still see it. Why?

As mentioned above, the Undo Send option is only available on newer versions of iOS, including iOS 16 and iOS 17. If the person you previously messaged has an iPhone running iOS 15 or earlier, your message will not be unsent on their device, meaning the message will continue to appear on their iPhone.

In this case, you'll see a banner telling you that this person "may still be able to see your messages." In this case, there is nothing you can do but face the recipient with the message you mistakenly sent to them.

The above is the detailed content of How to Unsend a Message on iPhone [2023]. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!