Apple’s iOS 16 will introduce the ability to unsend messages sent with the stock Messages app, but users may have to decide quickly if they wish to retract the correspondence.
The iPhone-maker has released iOS 16 beta 4 for developers today, and one of the big changes is a major reduction of the time limit to Undo Send. In previous versions, users have been afforded 15 minutes to act, but beta 4 cuts that quite dramatically to just two minutes (via 9to5Mac).
If Apple decides that’s the way to go when iOS 16 rolls out to consumers this autumn, it doesn’t leave a lot of time for reflection. However, it does answer a major criticism of the pending feature, with many pointing out it could be used by abusers to cover their tracks, rather than undo any typos or poorly phrased verbiage.
The beta also features changes to the iOS 16 edit message feature also coming this autumn. While users will retain the right to edit for 15 minutes, they will now be able to edit the message up to five times.
Again, perhaps to address possible controversies over the edit feature, Apple is now logging every edit with both the sender and receiver able to see all of the previous iterations of the message. In previous versions of the beta and during Apple’s WWDC keynote debuting the feature, the corrected message would just show an “Edited” label.
Apple has had time to think about the repercussions in the weeks since and it seems the company has come to the conclusion that the concerns were valid.
However, with at least six weeks to go before Apple launches iOS 16, it’s possible the company may issue more changes before the final version lands alongside the iPhone 14. Click to read all about the iOS 16 vs iOS 15 changes.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
