You Can Now Edit Private Messages on X
Have you ever sent a direct message or private message on X (formerly Twitter) that you regret? You can now edit private messages on X if you’re using iOS.
The update comes after a more controversial change from last year, when X adjusted the default direct message settings to make it harder to send messages to users who don’t follow you without paying for X Premium (then Twitter Blue). Luckily, this new feature is equally available to everyone, regardless of subscription status, and will be coming to other platforms in the future.
How to edit private messages on X
To edit DMs on the X, you’ll need to use the iPhone app —at least for now. Once done, enter any Direct Message conversation by clicking the envelope icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Find one of your private messages and long-press on it to open a submenu with emoji reactions, the ability to reply, and a new Edit Message button next to the icon of a pen writing on a piece of paper. .
Simply customize your message in the text box that appears and click the big blue arrow button in the bottom right corner of that text box to send it. This is how you edited the DM on X.
A new “Edited” tag will appear under your edited post and any reactions will disappear and need to be reapplied, but otherwise it will work as normal. There doesn’t seem to be a time limit on how recent private messages can be before you can edit them – I was able to edit private messages years ago without issue. The edited message will also retain the timestamp of the original.
However, there are a few more nuances to keep in mind. The most important thing is that you can only edit a message five times . You also can’t edit messages attached to images, and iPhone users have no way to see what a message looked like before it was edited. When the feature arrives on Android and the web, it will work slightly differently: instead of editing an old message, users will receive a new message with the changes and the word “edited” in front of it.