One of our favourite options of iOS 16 is the power to edit and unsend iMessages. Just long-press a message and you may select to edit or undo ship (we present you learn how to edit and unsend messages right here). But advocates have raised issues that the system may very well be abused by unhealthy actors–texting abuse is frequent amongst these in abusive relationships, and the power to alter or disguise proof is regarding.
While Apple has not addressed these issues publicly, some adjustments to the system in iOS 16 developer beta 4 appear focused particularly at them. You used to have quarter-hour to edit or unsend a message, and edited messages would solely present an “edited” tag to the recipient. The new guidelines are as follows:
- You solely have two minutes to finish Unsend a message.
- You nonetheless have quarter-hour to Edit a message, however you may solely edit it as much as 5 instances.
- Either celebration can faucet the “Edited” label to see an inventory of prior edits.
With these adjustments, the power of an abusive accomplice or scammer to make use of the system for hurt is tremendously diminished. A two-minute window to delete an iMessage continues to be loads of time to catch these “oops I sent this to the wrong person” or “I really shouldn’t respond and just let it go” moments, however tremendously reduces the power to message somebody and know that they’ll see it earlier than you vanish all hint of it. Logging (and limiting) edits retains an proof chain for individuals who may want it sooner or later.
Of course, this function nonetheless solely applies to iMessages (blue bubbles). Regular SMS textual content (inexperienced bubbles) can’t be edited or deleted.
