How to delete text message on iphone

Apple just released iOS 16 for the iPhone Monday, and the software update brings plenty of new iOS features. 

There's a new lock screen that you can completely customize, and the Mail app has a handful of new features that make it more Gmail-like. 

But one of the biggest updates is found in the Messages app. Apple has added the ability to edit sent messages, or even delete a message you may have accidentally sent to the wrong person. 

Also: How to get your iPhone ready for iOS 16

Once you've installed iOS 16, here's how you can edit and delete sent iMessages. To be clear -- you can use the edit and delete features only on iMessages, not regular text messages.

How to edit a message

I think it's safe to say that everyone has relied too much on autocorrect when sending an iMessage, leading to potentially embarrassing typos. Prior to iOS 16, you had to own the mistake and accept that it would exist on the recipient's phone, forever. However, once you update to iOS 16, you'll have the ability to edit a message within 15 minutes after it was sent. 

You'll need to act fast after you realize your mistake. But once you do and you're still within the 15-minute window, all you need to do is long-press on the message, then select Edit from the list of options. The text field will show back up, letting you fix your error and then save it. 

Also: The worst thing about eSIM-only iPhones

On the recipient's end, if they're using iOS 16 as well, a small "Edited" label will appear below the new version of the message that no longer contains your fumble. If they tap on the Edited label they'll see a log of the changes you made to the message. If you made multiple changes, each one of them will show up in the history. 

Those on older versions of iOS will receive a second message with the corrected text. 

How to delete a sent message

The process for completely deleting a message you've sent within the last 2 minutes -- helpful if you send it to the wrong contact or thread -- is nearly identical to editing a message. Originally, deleting an errant message had the same 15-minute window that editing messages did, but Apple eventually changed the limit to 2 minutes to prevent any abuse of the feature. 

Also: How the major carriers are handling the iPhone 14's eSIM

Once you realize the error of your ways, long-press on the message until you see a menu pop up. From that menu, tap Undo Send. There's a small animation that shows the message disappearing, followed by a line of text in the thread letting everyone know a message was removed. 

Easy-peasy, right?

The best part is that this feature also works on your iPad and Mac once they're running iPadOS 16 and MacOS Ventura. So feel free to make mistakes on whatever device you're chatting on -- because now you can fix it.

Related

• Unless you take action, your iPhone will keep a permanent copy of all of your messages forever.
• You can delete an entire conversation by swiping left on it in your iPhone's Messages app.
• To delete individual messages, tap and hold on the message until you see the pop-up menu, then tap it to get to the trash can.
• You can configure your iPhone to automatically delete messages after a month or a year in the Settings app.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

You're not going to save a lot of space on an iPhone by deleting messages — even a lot of plain text messages take up an inconsequential amount of space — but you might want to delete messages for privacy reasons or just because it keeps your Messages app better organized. (And texts with images actually can take up a fair bit of room.)

Whatever the reason, you can delete entire conversations or just specific messages. And you can even configure your phone to delete messages automatically after a certain period of time.

When we say messages, note that we mean all the messages in the Messages app — which includes both iMessages, exchanged among iPhones, and ordinary SMS text messages, which are exchanged with non-iPhone devices. You can always tell which are which: your iMessages appear in blue text bubbles, while your SMS texts appear in green bubbles.

How to delete a conversation on an iPhone

It's easy to eliminate an entire conversation with just a swipe.

1. Open the Messages app.

2. Scroll through your messages until you find the conversation that you want to remove.

3. Swipe to the left until you see "Delete."

4. Tap "Delete" and then tap "Delete" again in the confirmation window that appears at the bottom of the screen.

How to delete one or more messages in a conversation

If you don't want to eliminate the entire conversation, you can delete messages singly or in a bunch.

1. Open the Messages app.

2. Scroll through your messages until you find the conversation you want to delete messages from, and tap on it.

3. Find the message you want to delete, and then tap and hold it for about three seconds.

4. Tap "More…" in the pop-up window and then do one of the following:

• If this is the only message you want to delete, tap the trash icon at the bottom left of the screen, and then tap "Delete Message" in the confirmation window.
• If you want to delete more than one message, check all the messages you want to remove by tapping the empty bubbles to the left of the message, then tap the trash icon, and then tap "Delete Messages" in the confirmation window.

• You can remove all the messages at once by tapping "Delete All" and then tapping the "Delete Conversation" confirmation. This is the same as swiping left on an entire conversation as explained above.

How to automatically delete old messages

If you don't feel the need to hold onto messages forever, you can configure your iPhone to do the deleting on your behalf.

1. Open the Settings app and tap "Messages."

2. Tap "Keep Messages."

3. By default, the iPhone keeps all messages forever (or until you manually delete them). If you prefer, tap "30 Days" or '1 Year." If you do, the iPhone will automatically discard your messages after the selected time period.

Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:

• How to check your data usage on an iPhone, and manage each app's data

• All the ways you can transfer photos from one iPhone to another, without using a computer

• 5 ways to conserve battery life on your iPhone, and get the most out of a single charge

• How to stop your iPhone from tracking your location, and manage each app's location-tracking

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

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