Adjust WhatsApp message after sending, useful or dangerous?

WhatsApp is working on a way to edit messages after you’ve sent them. What does this mean in practice?

An awkward spelling mistake. A slightly over-enthusiastic promise. Perhaps even a premature insult. WhatsApp is working on a way to slightly adjust your words after sending. But depending on how the chat giant arranges the function, this can also cause questionable situations.

Customize sent WhatsApp messages

The edit function will therefore soon make it possible to adjust WhatsApp messages after sending, such as discovered WABetaInfo† The ability is different from the ability to delete messages after sending. Users will soon be able to select and edit a sent message on WhatsApp.

Since this is an unreleased test version of WhatsApp, it is not yet entirely clear what the limitations of the function are. For example, it is not clear how long after sending a message you can still adjust the content. Currently, users can delete a message up to an hour after sending it. This may also be the time limit for the edit function.

Another potential pitfall is the space for tampering with the content of a message. Suppose someone asks innocently: ‘Do you like pizza?’ Then you answer (of course) with ‘yes, very fond of that’, after which the sender without you realizing it changes his question to ‘listen to the music of OneDirection’. Very uncomfortable when such a conversation leaks out to your friends!

Usually services with an edit function therefore use an indication when a message has been edited. It is not clear whether WhatsApp provides such a notification after editing a message. We also don’t know when the feature will actually come out. According to WABetaInfo, the feature is coming to Android, iOS, and desktop.