WhatsApp edit message feature looks almost ready to launch

Developers at Meta have almost finalized the edit message feature for WhatsApp, the long-standing demand of the users of the messaging app.

While it’s still not quite ready to go live, we’re now learning a little more about how this feature will end up working.

WABetaInfo dug into WhatsApp beta 2.22.22.14 to get a peek at how its implementation will ultimately work. For instance, it looks like the app will give users up to 15 minutes to edit their messages after initially sharing.

Once edited, the message will appear with a label making clear that it’s been changed, just beside the timestamp showing when it was sent.

We’ve still got some questions about how edits will sync between devices, and what happens if the recipient’s is offline during that edit window, so we may have to wait for a future beta to get further insight there.

While this is progress, we still know very little about WhatsApp’s launch timeline for message editing. When it does arrive, we will get any kind of Twitter-style visible edit history? Could the implementation end up working more like Slack’s message editing feature? We’re looking forward to finding out.