Android users can finally edit messages sent to iPhones, but there’s a catch

For years, text messaging between Android and iOS was a terrible experience, but that has recently changed thanks to Rich Communication Services (RCS). This new messaging standard dramatically improves texting between iPhones and Androids by enabling features like high-quality media sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators. While certain features were missing when cross-platform RCS launched last year, Google and Apple are gradually introducing them. For instance, the ability to edit a message sent from an Android phone to an iPhone is now finally starting to roll out.

iPhone users have long been able to edit iMessages sent to other iPhones, and Android users have enjoyed the same capability for about a year when using RCS to message each other. However, when Google first launched this feature on Android, it wasn’t part of the official RCS specification. Since Apple based its implementation on the official standard at the time (Universal Profile 2.4) that didn’t define message editing, the feature was unavailable for cross-platform chats.

That changed earlier this year when the GSM Association introduced the Universal Profile 3.0 specification, which adds support for both message editing and end-to-end encryption. Over the past week, several users, including myself, have gained the ability to edit RCS messages sent to iPhone users. After sending a message, I can long-press it to reveal a pencil icon. Tapping this icon fills the reply box with the original text, allowing me to edit and resend it.

This feature works for me when sending RCS messages to iPhone users running the latest stable release of iOS 18.5 and the iOS 26 beta, in individual and group chats, within the 15-minute window that currently exists for Android-to-Android and iPhone-to-iPhone message editing.

While it looks and functions as expected on the Android side, the edited message currently appears on the iPhone as a new message preceded by an asterisk. Furthermore, iPhone users aren’t able to edit RCS messages they send to Android users. Apple will likely need to update its Messages app to handle RCS message editing properly, though there’s no word on when that might happen. We hope full support for message editing will arrive alongside the cross-platform end-to-end encryption feature that Apple and Google pledged to support earlier this year.

The ability to edit RCS messages sent to iPhone users isn’t widely available yet in Google Messages. I’ve only seen two other reports of the feature rolling out: one from a Reddit user last week and another from one of my followers today. Google is likely A/B testing this with beta users, so most people will probably have to wait for a wider release.