How to Unsend a Message from Your iPhone (and Why You May Not Want to Do That)

The estimated reading time for this post is 5 minutes

Q. I’ve heard that now I can unsend a message from my iPhone, and I really want to know how to do that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent a text and then wanted to take it back!

Can you write a Wonder of Tech article showing me how to unsend a message from my iPhone?

A. Great question! Yes, beginning with iOS 16 released last fall, iPhone users can unsend messages after they’ve been sent. This new feature may seem very handy for times when you regret sending a message.

But you should proceed with caution. There are some significant disadvantages to unsending messages from your iPhone. In fact, when considering whether to unsend a message, you may want to remember the adage: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

How to Unsend a Text Message from Your iPhone

When Apple announced the new feature of unsending messages in iOS 16, many people became quite excited. Who among us hasn’t sent out a message in haste, only to discover an embarrassing typo? Or discover it was sent to the wrong person? Or regret what was said in a moment of passion, anger, or confusion?

The good news is that unsending a message on your iPhone is quick and easy. The not-so-great news is that unsending a message on your iPhone might not be your best option. Unsending might even make matters worse. (More below on why you may not want to unsend a message.)

After you send a message from your iPhone, you have two minutes to unsend that message.

To unsend a message on your iPhone:

• Press and hold a message you’ve sent within the past two minutes.
• A menu will appear.
• Tap Undo Send in the menu.

If you sent the message more than two minutes ago, the Undo Send option won’t appear in the menu.

After you tap Undo Send, the message bubble will pop and disappear. Then you’ll see a notice that you’ve unsent the message.

Important => The recipient of the message will also receive a notice that you have unsent a message.

So while the message you unsent will no longer be on their iPhone, they will see that you unsent a message. In the likely event that they’re curious about the message that you deleted, you may want to have an explanation ready ahead of time.

What Else You Should Know

Before you unsend a message from your iPhone, you should know a bit more about how this feature works.

Undo Send for iPhone Messages Is Very Different from Undo Send in Gmail

For example, you should know that unsending messages from your iPhone isn’t as predictable as using Undo Send in Gmail. With Undo Send in Gmail, you can set the time period up to 30 seconds during which you can change your mind and unsend the email. With Undo Send in Gmail, the email message never gets sent and the recipient never sees it.

Learn more at => Gmail Undo Send – Saving You from Your Mistakes

But unsending messages from your iPhone doesn’t work the same way as Undo Send in Gmail. Granted, having a 30-second delay in sending a text message probably wouldn’t work for most people. But the chance that the recipient may actually see your message and the fact that they will be notified about you unsending a message make the experience quite different.

Other Factors to Know About Undo Send

Before you rely on Undo Send to undo your mistakes, you should also know that your message might actually not be deleted. If the recipient of your text message doesn’t use an iPhone, you can’t unsend a text message you’ve sent to them. When you press the text bubble, the menu won’t include an Undo Send option.

You can see whether someone doesn’t have an iPhone because the messages will be green, not blue. See => iMessage: Team Blue!

Also, if the recipient of the message hasn’t updated their iPhone to iOS 16, the message you unsend will still be visible on their iPhone. Similarly, if they receive messages on their iPad or Mac computer and haven’t updated those devices, your message may still be visible after you’ve unsent it.

But you have no way of being certain whether someone who has an iPhone also reads messages on a different Apple device, nor whether all of their devices have been updated.

Apple explains it this way:

“If the person you’re messaging is using a device with iOS 15.6 or earlier, iPadOS 15.6 or earlier, macOS 12 or earlier, or is using SMS, the original message remains in the conversation. When you unsend a message, you’re notified that the recipient may still see the original message in the message transcript.” (Emphasis added)

Why You May Not Want to Unsend a Text Message from Your iPhone

We all make mistakes, but deleting an iPhone message may cause more problems than it solves.

In short, if you unsend a message on your iPhone, you will not actually know whether the message will still remain visible to the recipient. Plus, even if the message was deleted, you won’t know whether the recipient saw the message before it was deleted. And, if the message was deleted, the recipient will see a notice that you deleted the message.

Alternatives to Deleting an iPhone Message

Instead off deleting a message, you could apologize, send a funny meme, or just correct your mistake.

Even better, take a moment or two and make sure before you send a message, that it’s really the message you want to send. Just don’t depend on unsend on iPhone to erase your mistakes.

Your Thoughts

Have you ever wished you could unsend a message? Will you try to unsend a message from your iPhone? What would you think if you saw that a message you received had been unsent by someone? Do you think unsending a message on the iPhone could cause more problems than it solves?

Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!