Android Users Will Soon Be Able to Edit Texts Sent to Their Friends on IPhone
Texting between iPhone and Android used to be a pain. That’s because Apple restricted its SMS users from messaging on Android, which deprived them of many of the modern chat features we’re used to, like functioning group chats.
That changed dramatically when Apple rolled out support for RCS : the messaging protocol had been standard on Android for years, but by allowing iPhones to use it instead of SMS, green bubble conversations suddenly weren’t so lousy. Instead, RCS adds most of the key iMessage benefits you’d expect, like typing indicators, high-quality image and video sharing, and, of course, functioning group chats.
But the transition isn’t complete yet. RCS actually supports more features than these, though just not on iOS. This includes end-to-end encryption (though some Android-to-Android chats aren’t encrypted either ), and message editing, or the ability to adjust a message after it’s been sent. Fortunately, that’s changing.
As Android Authority reports , cross-platform message editing is now available to Google Messages users. This means that if you send a message to an iPhone user via RCS in Google Messages, you’ll be able to edit that text for 15 minutes after you send it. Android Authority confirms that the feature works when sending messages to iPhone users running both iOS 18.5 and the iOS 26 beta . This includes both group chats and private messages.
This is certainly a great update, but it comes with some big caveats. First, it appears to be rolling out in limited testing. While Mishaal Rahman of Android Authority has access to the feature, it appears Google is doing a slow rollout, so you may have to wait before you see it on your end. Until then, if you have an iPhone, you won’t see it on your end — at least not yet. It’s a Google Messages-only feature at this point, and Apple doesn’t currently support it. In fact, edited messages appear as brand new messages to iPhone users, with an asterisk at the top indicating that something has been changed.
iMessage itself supports message editing (and end-to-end encryption, for that matter), but since iMessage only works between iPhones, it’s another feature that won’t show up when you text your Android friends. I’m hoping that as RCS matures and Apple implements more of its features, we’ll see more cross-platform support for these features. Perhaps soon you’ll be able to text Android users via RCS knowing that your messages are protected by end-to-end encryption, or be able to edit a message you send from your iPhone to any contact, not just your other iPhone friends. For now, though, it seems like Google Messages users have the advantage, while us iPhone users will have to read our edits as a separate, whole message.