Apple’s New iOS 16 Developer Beta Curtails Feature to Retract and Edit Messages; Introduces Edit History

Ever since its announcement at WWDC 2022, Apple has been working hard to optimise the upcoming version of iOS and these efforts could be seen in the updated developer betas of iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, the next generation of operating systems for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, respectively. The Cupertino firm only recently launched its first public beta for general users to try out and report bugs, and it appears that Apple is working on their feedback as well. This is because the fourth developer beta, which was released on 27 July, comes with an interesting update to the rather controversial feature allowing users to retract or edit messages on iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura.

Users of the recent developer and public iOS 16 Betas could use the edit or retract feature in the Messages app, letting them edit a message sent to another user within 15 minutes of it being delivered to the recipient. As pointed out by 9to5Mac, the new (fourth) Developer Beta makes things stricter and now allows for only five edits of the same message within the same 15-minute window of it being sent.

While the earlier betas let a user retract a message within fifteen minutes of being sent, that timeframe has now been reduced to just two, which is less than half of the earlier window. The source also points out that the receiver of the edited message will now also be able to view the edit history of the message, compared to the older beta where one could only see an indicator that it was edited, making things a lot more transparent between both sender and receiver.

Apple has not explicitly mentioned why it has reduced the time limit to retract and edit messages. Again, since all three operating systems are still in a Beta state, there's a good chance that these limitations may be tweaked further until the final stable releases arrive.

The current public beta which was released on 12 July, brought the first stable releases of iOS 16, iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, tvOS 16, and WatchOS 9 for the general public to install and try out. They are currently available for download for eligible Apple devices.

Users who are aware of the risks of using such software and wish to try out the latest beta version can sign up for the Apple Beta Software Program on the company's website. Feedback from the same sources could improve the software experience until the final release which is expected later this year.