A novelty long awaited by users of WhatsApp it’s finally real: the ability to edit messages after sending them. The official announcement was made by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta, the company that controls WhatsApp and Facebook.
In a post on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg wrote: “You can now edit your WhatsApp messages up to 15 minutes after they’ve been sent!” The purpose of the new function is to correct any typing errors that can alter the meaning of the messages.
To illustrate how the feature works, Zuckerberg has attached a screenshot showing a message sent with an error (“Beast of luck”) and one being edited with the correction (“Best of luck ”, or “I wish you the best”). Zuckerberg did not provide any other information about the featurebut we can deduce that this will be launched soon.
WhatsApp: sent messages can be edited but with limitations
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The first thing to know is that modified messages will have a distinctive symbol to indicate that they have been edited after sending. The second thing is that the modification can only be made from the device from which the message was sent. This limitation exists to prevent other devices connected to the same account from altering the original content of the conversation. This means that If you send a message from the WhatsApp mobile app, you won’t be able to correct it from WhatsApp web (and viceversa).
Furthermore, as anticipated, the change must be made within 15 minutes of sending the original message.
This is a limitation imposed by Meta to protect the authenticity of messages exchanged between users (and above all to prevent messages from being modified and used as evidence in the event of legal disputes).