Undo Send has been one of the most anticipated features in iOS 16. It allows you to retract sent messages on iMessage which is a huge boon for many users. You can now correct mistakes, reiterate messages, and even better explain the concept that you initially intended. But it can be heartbreaking if the feature fails to work or isn’t available for you. Why is this happening and how can you fix it? Let’s find out!

Why is Undo send not available or working for me and How to fix it

There can be a couple of reasons why this feature is unavailable for you or why this feature isn’t working as intended. Here are some of the prominent reasons and fixes that should help you get Undo Send working on your device again.

1. Not available on iOS 15 or older

iOS 15 or lower versions of iOS do not support Undo Send. This means that if you aren’t updated to iOS 16 then it could be the first reason why this feature isn’t available to you. 

To fix this, you will need to update your device to iOS 16.

2. iOS 15 or lower on the recipient’s device

If you have got iOS 16 but you sent a message in iMessage to someone on iOS 15 or below, then as per our testing, it doesn’t work — at least as of today (June 08, 2022). It seems both the devices need to be on iOS 16 for Undo Send to work as advertisied.

When you send a message to someone running an older iOS version, the sent message stays the same. Using Undo Send won’t remove it from the recipient’s device. 

The only way to fix this issue would be to get your contact to update their device to iOS 16. Unless they update, you won’t’ be able to retract your messages using Undo Send.

3. Text messages are not supported

Undo Send as an option is only available for iMessage. If you’re trying to retract a text message, then it could be the reason why the Undo Send option is unavailable to you. 

In such cases, you can try sending an iMessage to the user if they have an iOS device. If they do not, then, unfortunately, you will have to send your corrections in a new message as usual. 

You can differentiate between an iMessage and a text message based on their color.

The iMessage conversation will have blue message bubbles while the text message conversation will have green bubbles.  

4. 15 minutes window has lapsed

Lastly, we recommend you check when your message was sent. If it was more than 15 minutes ago then it is the reason why Undo Send is unavailable to you. 

Undo Send is a privacy-focused feature that notifies each user about the retracted message in the conversation. This includes the sender of the message as well. 

Thus, Apple has a time limit of 15 minutes to retract your sent message. Past this time limit, the Undo Send option will be unavailable to you for the sent message. 

There is no way to fix this issue as it is not an error or bug but an intended feature. We recommend you keep the time limit in mind for the future to retract your messages earlier.  

FAQs

Here are a few commonly asked questions that should help you get up to speed with the latest information.

Can I unsend any sent messages?

Yes, you can retract any sent message as long as it is an iMessage and both you and the recipient are running iOS 16. Additionally, keep in mind that you can only retract sent messages for up to 15 minutes from the time of sending them.

Can I unsend the sent emails?

Yes, you can retract sent emails through the iOS Mail app as well. However, this option is only available for 10 seconds from the time of sending the email.

We hope this post helped you easily figure out why the Undo Send option is unavailable to you. If you have any more questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below.