The Messages app on iPhone has an Edit option that lets you edit recent messages that you sent to someone within a certain amount of time after sending the original message. This feature lets you correct typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes you may have made in the original text to prevent miscommunication between you and the recipient.

In this post, we'll explain what happens to messages when you edit them, what types of messages you can edit, and how to edit them on iPhone.

You can only edit iMessage texts (blue bubble) in the Messages app on iOS 16, iOS 17, or later for up to 15 minutes after you sent the original text to someone. Messages sent more than 15 minutes ago are not eligible for editing. During the 15-minute window, you can edit a message a maximum of 5 times, and no more.

When you long press on a message that was sent much earlier (older than 15 minutes), you will not see the Edit option.