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When I made the switch from my iPhone 15 Pro Max to a Galaxy S25 Ultra earlier this year, one of the first things I missed was the ability to delete text messages that I’d sent. The ability to unsend messages through iMessage has been a godsend since Apple introduced it. While it has its limitations — you can only delete messages up to two minutes after sending them — the “Undo Send” feature works well. Without that feature, though, moving to Google Messages felt like taking a step backwards in a couple of different ways.
Now, it looks like Google is finally bringing that feature to Android through Google Messages, as it has been beta testing the ability to delete sent messages for everyone in a chat since early this year. The change was originally spotted by Android Authority late last week, though it still appears to be in the process of rolling out to users, as the Android phones in my house haven’t actually received the update yet.
Some questions about limitations
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There are still some questions about just how long the feature gives you to delete a message from a conversation, with Android Authority noting that it was able to delete a message up to an hour after the message was originally sent. That seems a bit excessive, personally, especially since Apple’s Undo Send only supports deleting a message for two minutes.
It’s also important to note that deleting a text does not stop anyone else from seeing it before the deletion goes through. Plus, if the person that you’re texting with is using a version of Google Messages that is older, the message won’t be deleted for them. That also means that using any other messaging service outside of Google Messages will likely yield the same result, though I can’t test that particular pain point as I haven’t received the update.
Of course, most people on Android are likely already using Google Messages, despite its shortcomings. It’s become the default messaging app on many Android phones, including Samsung. While the exact limitations of how and when you can delete a message aren’t clear just yet, there’s no doubt that having this ability will make many Android users happy.
