Google's Messages App Could Soon Allow Users to Edit Sent Texts; Reportedly in Testing

Google has been offering several significant updates to its Messages app that seem poised to make the platform more competitive in the coming days. Recently, it gained Ultra HDR support in RCS (Rich Communication Services) chats and more enhancements including photomoji, and animated stickers have been added to the app. Now, the search giant is reportedly working on a WhatsApp-like message editing feature for its Google Messages app. 

The addition of a new text editing feature in Google Messages was spotted by The SPAndroid. The publication has picked out four flags — bugle.enable_edit_ui, bugle.load_edit_history, bugle.process_outgoing_edits, and bugle.process_incoming_edits— that point to an edit feature in the beta version of Google Messages app that was released in the last week of November. 

Further, an APK teardown of the Google Messages app by the publication indicated that Google is making a new table in the messages database to keep details of edited messages. This table allegedly contains the message ID, the latest message ID, and original RCS message ID. It also said to include two other columns for edited and received timestamps. Google Messages is believed to store details of the messages you edit and process in these tables.

The message editing feature for the Messages app is not yet available to the public or confirmed by Google. It is expected to assist in fixing typos or making changes to the messages after they have been sent. The feature might undergo several updates before the final release.

Google has brought several updates to the Messages app over the past few months. The California-based tech giant added Ultra HDR support in RCS chats last month. This functionality allows users to share high-quality images in their RCS messages. The Ultra HDR image format is currently only available on the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro handsets, but will soon be available on more devices. Google Messages app already shows typing indicators, and offers photo and video sharing options among others.