To unsend an iMessage, follow these steps (your device must be running iOS 16 or later, iPadOS 16 or later, or macOS Ventura or later):
- Open the Messages app on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
- Navigate to the conversation containing the message you want to unsend.
- Tap and hold (or control-click on Mac) the message bubble that you want to unsend.
- From the pop-up menu, select "Undo Send."
- The message will disappear from both your device and the recipient’s device, and a note will appear in the conversation saying that you unsent a message.
Important details:
- You can unsend a message only within 2 minutes of sending it.
- Both sender and recipient must have devices compatible with iOS 16 or later for the message to be fully removed. If the recipient uses an older OS version, they may still see the original message along with a note that it was unsent.
- This feature works only for iMessages (blue bubbles), not for SMS messages (green bubbles).
This feature is handy to take back messages sent in error or ones you regret sending. If you want to edit a sent message instead, you can do so up to five times within 15 minutes by tapping and holding the message and selecting "Edit" from the options. Edited messages will show an "Edited" label but keep a visible edit history.
