An option to edit sent texts

 Google Messages introduces an option to edit sent texts   

Google Messages celebrated a significant milestone last year, announcing that the service has a billion active RCS users. To commemorate the occasion, the Messages team also offered a preview of some new features coming to Google's messaging app. A few of these have already made their way to Messages in some parts of the world, including voice moods, AI-powered Photomoji, reaction effects, animated emoji, etc. RCS gets another iMessage-like feature, but only in beta so far.  It looks like Google is now slowly but surely making this available to users. Following are the some of the important points:-

Google Messages reached a billion active RCS users in November and previewed new features like voice moods, Photomoji, and Screen Effects.

 Google Messages has rolled out sent-message editing to some beta testers.

 There's no word yet about a wider rollout, even on the beta channel, but keeping the app up to date could increase your chances of getting the feature.

The feature has been in the works since at least February, but it has now been spotted in the wild.

A report from a reliable source indicates that the feature is now available on some devices (via AssembleDebug). Code sleuth AssembleDebug mentioned that, based on information spotted in the app's code and a few flags, able to access the feature a few months ago, so it's been in the works for some time. Google Messages is an excellent choice for RCS and SMS messages. It's been undergoing many changes, making it more appealing for everyone, such as hiding blocked contacts from group chats and allowing users to change the text message bubble colour in their chats. The latest feature that could be coming soon to the messaging app is one you may have been using on other apps, but it will still be welcomed. Unfortunately, this rollout appears to be quite limited right now. In any case, it's good to know that this feature has finally started to make it to at least some devices, with a wider rollout probably occurring in the days and weeks ahead.

The user who first spotted the rollout reports that messages can only be edited within 15 minutes, and this behaviour was found on messages.android_20240213_01_RCOO.phone.openbeta_dynamic. Users only need to long-press an RCS message and tap the pencil icon to make the changes. When the editing box appears, the changes can begin, and when you're done, send the message by tapping the Enter button. There is no information as to when the feature will be available to all users, but it's already showing up in beta, so the launch may not be too far away. 

Google has been working on this feature since February, and it's steadily improving Messages with new features like quick access to chat information. Still, despite the latest additions, some users might want to look into how they can disable RCS chats. You can edit the message as many times as you need, and an Edited label can be seen below the message to indicate there were changes. If they look at the message details, anyone in the conversation can see the original and unedited message. Since the update could reach all users soon, ensure that your Android apps are updated. Even if you have enabled the Automatic Update feature, manually checking for pending updates is a good idea.

Apart from this update, some other features previewed in November haven't become widely available yet. For instance, Profiles aren't live as of right now. This is designed to help other people identify you more easily, especially in group chats where participants may not have your contact information. Similarly, custom bubbles are absent, too, which lets users change the background colour of each conversation from the three-dot overflow menu.