Reply to a specific message
A quoted reply helps the recipient identify what you are answering. When you compose text with an attachment, the quote belongs to the text; the file is sent separately.
- Open the conversation and find the message you want to answer.
- Reveal its actions by hovering or moving keyboard focus to the message controls, then choose Reply.
- Check the quoted-message banner above the composer, type your answer, and send.
- Choose Cancel reply if you want to send an ordinary message instead.
Add or remove your reaction
Choose React on a message and select one of the available tapbacks. Choosing a reaction you already left removes it. Wait for the result before trying again if the line is slow or an error appears.
The reaction display can identify your own tapbacks. A reaction is not a delivery receipt and should not replace a clear written answer when a customer needs a decision.
Fix what a sent message says
For an outgoing message, open More and choose Edit, change the wording, and save. Apple allows this for about fifteen minutes after sending.
The recipient sees the message marked as edited, and on their device the original is still reachable. This corrects a wrong time or a typo; it is not a way to make something unsaid.
Saving means the request was accepted, not that it has been applied. Messages does not confirm an edit directly — it arrives back through ordinary sync a moment later, and the conversation shows “edited” under the message once it has. If the window has closed you get an error instead, and the original wording stands.
Unsend a recent outgoing message
For an outgoing message, open More and choose Unsend. The action asks the sending platform to retract it; a visible button does not guarantee the request will succeed.
Apple limits undo-send to recent iMessages, generally within two minutes, and older recipient devices can retain the original message. SMS cannot be recalled this way. Read any error and do not treat Unsend as proof that nobody saw, copied, or saved the content.
Unsend is different from cancelling a queued automation. Pause the external workflow separately if it might send the same content again.