Editing and unsubscribing messages was one of the flagship features of iOS 16 announced earlier this month, but the functionality may not work well if you send messages to anyone who doesn’t use the latest software version of Apple. The latest beta 16 for iOS developers includes a messy solution to allow recently editable iMessages to be received on iPhones without iOS 16, 9to5Mac reports. It can be annoying for anyone in an iMessage group chat with an older iPhone or Android.
Instead of just viewing the edited version of a message, if someone running the second beta of iOS 16 tries to edit an iMessage sent to a device with an earlier version of the software, the latter will receive the edit as second text, preceded by the words “Edit a. Earlier versions for iOS 16 developers did not send anything when trying to edit a message sent to a device other than iOS 16. But the new approach seems quite messy for the recipient, who will see 9to5Mac reports that Apple Software may not automatically delete the original message after sending an edited version.
Edited in “It’s a messy solution”
For most iPhone owners, the problem is unlikely to persist for long as iOS 16 will be available for devices dating back to the 2017 iPhone 8, not to mention the fact that Apple is very fast when launching new versions of your software. But it could still be annoying for Android users in iMessage group chats or for anyone still using an iPhone prior to 2017. That said, there could be benefits to being able to view an unedited message.
It’s a mess similar to how emoji reactions (also known as “tapbacks”) have historically been handled when sent between iOS and Android. But here’s a solution to the problem, with Google updating its messaging app to properly analyze tapbacks sent from iOS, and Apple planning a similar update to iOS 16. Hopefully a similar solution will finally emerge for editable iMessages .