WhatsApp, owned by Meta, has announced that it will introduce a new feature allowing users to edit their messages, aligning itself with competitors like Telegram and Signal. The update will enable users to make edits within 15 minutes of sending a message.
With WhatsApp boasting a user base of 2 billion people, the feature will be gradually rolled out to all users in the coming weeks. WhatsApp’s primary market, India, alone accounts for 487 million users. In a blog post, WhatsApp expressed its excitement about providing users with more control over their chats, stating that editing messages would allow for simple corrections or the addition of further context.
To make an edit, users will need to long-press on a sent message and select the “Edit” option from the menu. The edited messages will be labeled as “edited” so that recipients are aware that changes have been made. However, the specific modifications will not be visible, unlike the edit history feature on Facebook, which introduced the edit function almost ten years ago.
Additionally, Twitter recently allowed its paying subscribers to edit their tweets within a 30- minute window, aiming to create a more relaxed and approachable tweeting experience. By introducing the edit feature, WhatsApp aims to enhance user convenience and improve the overall messaging experience, aligning itself with its competitors’ capabilities while catering to the evolving needs of its vast user base
