Google’s New Feature Makes Texting to iPhones Smarter

Google’s New Feature Makes Texting to iPhones Smarter

Byte-Sized Brief

  • Google Messages is rolling out message editing to iPhones.
  • Users get a 15 minute window to edit sent messages.
  • It’s a long way from a wide release.

Texting between Android and iPhones could get a little bit friendlier, thanks to a recent rollout of message editing on Android devices. According to reporting from Android Authority, some users sending texts to pals with iPhones running iOS 18.5 and the iOS26 beta now have the ability to change message content for up to 15 minutes after pressing send initially. That’s the same window iPhone-to-iPhone and Android-to-Android users already enjoy.

This change is thanks to Rich Communication Services (RCS) support, a more unifying alternative to SMS messaging—and specifically the most recent update to RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which makes message editing and end-to-end encryption possible. This message editing feature isn’t widely available yet, and it’s a work in progress; to iPhone users, an edited message appears as a new message with an asterisk. And it doesn’t work the other way around yet (from iPhone to Android), but maybe there’s hope that will change soon.

The Bottom Line

Google’s starting to roll out a message editing feature for Android users sending texts to iPhones running the latest version of iOS 18 and the iOS26 beta. It’s still very much in the works, but could offer a helpful bridge between platforms.

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