How To Undo Send iMessages In iOS 16

Apple’s overlords have simultaneously answered some of our prayers and terrified us with this new iOS 16 feature: the ability to undo an iMessage.

A text can be undone when you shamefully send a “U up?” message at 2 a.m. regretting it immediately. For the more mischievous-minded, it’s also useful for denying you ever said something when it conveniences you.

It’s up to you what you want to do with the feature (we’re not here to judge), but here’s how to actually implement it.

It only works if both iPhones are running iOS 16: Undoing a sent message won’t work if neither iPhone is running iOS 16. Despite appearing gone on your phone, the incriminating message will not be removed from your recipient’s phone if they are still running an older version of iOS. And if your recipient is using iMessage on an Apple computer or iPad, it will likely also remain visible on that device unless they are running macOS Ventura or iPadOS 16. Undo carefully!

  • Send a message that you regret.

Sending this one might make you regret it.

All of us have made mistakes, whether it was a typo or something worse.

  • Long press on the shameful text.

Press and hold to make your regrets disappear.

You can delete a text bubble by pressing and holding it. A pop-up menu should appear.

  • Tap on “Undo Send” and watch your regret dissipate.

TAKE HEED: Undo message send won’t work if the receiver’s software hasn’t been updated.

The text bubble will fizzle out of sight, and a message will appear in its place reminding you that you unsent a message. It will also remind you that the recipient may still be able to see it.

  • Breathe a sigh of relief. Or keep panicking if you don’t know what version of iOS they’re running.

We can only help you out so much here!