WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the handy features of WhatsApp is the ability to edit messages after they have been sent. This allows you to easily correct typos or add/remove information from a message.
However, a common question many WhatsApp users have is – does editing a message trigger a notification for the recipient? The short answer is no, WhatsApp does not send a notification when you edit a message that has already been sent.
In this article, we’ll provide a detailed overview explaining how message editing works on WhatsApp and why no notification is sent. We’ll also provide tips on how to alert someone that you’ve edited a message.
How Message Editing Works on WhatsApp
When you send a message on WhatsApp, it is delivered almost instantly to the recipient’s device. Once a message is delivered, you can still edit or delete it from your end. Here is how WhatsApp handles message editing:
– When you edit a message, the edited text is updated on your device as well as the recipient’s device.
– The original message is overwritten with the edited version. There is no record of the original message text.
– On your end, WhatsApp shows a small “Edited” label below the message time stamp to indicate the message has been edited.
– However, there is no notification sent to the recipient to alert them of the edit. The edited message just appears in the chat as if it was the original text.
– If the recipient has already seen/opened the original message, they won’t know it was edited unless they notice the subtly changed text.
– You can edit messages at any time after sending, even if the recipient has already read/opened the message.
So in summary, WhatsApp does update the message text when you edit, but provides no notification or indicator to the recipient that the message was edited.
Why WhatsApp Doesn’t Send Edit Notifications
WhatsApp was designed to provide a smooth, interrupt-free messaging experience. Sending edit notifications goes against this goal for a few reasons:
– It would lead to constant interruptions for the recipient if they received an alert every time a message was edited. This could become annoying.
– The edit notifications would clutter up the notifications tray especially in busy chats with lots of edits.
– It goes against providing a streamlined chat interface. The edits are shown in-line seamlessly as if they were the original message.
– For minor typos or wording changes, an edit notification is not really necessary and would disrupt the flow.
Overall, the aim is to provide a clean chat screen that is focused on the conversation content rather than administrative notifications. Showing edit histories and alerts could detract from this goal.
How to Notify Someone You’ve Edited a Message
While WhatsApp doesn’t send an edit notification automatically, you can still manually let someone know that you’ve edited a previous message. Here are some tips:
– Make the edit obvious: If you’re making a major change to the message, rewrite it in a way that the edit is very noticeable. This will hint to the recipient that you’ve altered the text.
– Follow up with a new message: Send a new message to explicitly state that you’ve edited the previous message. e.g. “I’ve just edited my last message” or “Sorry, I edited my previous message for a typo”.
– Use the @mention: You can tag the recipient’s @username in a new message to draw their attention to the fact that you edited an earlier message.
– Phone/video call: For very important edits, you may want to give the person a quick phone/video call to inform them you’ve updated a previous message.
– Delete and rewrite: If the edits are so extensive you’ve essentially rewritten the entire message, you can delete the original and send your text as a new message.
When Edited Messages Can Cause Confusion
While WhatsApp’s seamless edit experience provides a smooth chat flow in most cases, there are some situations where a lack of edit notifications can lead to confusion:
– If important details like locations, times, names etc. are changed without the recipient’s knowledge.
– For sensitive conversations where context is key. Editing a previous statement can impact the tone.
– In long chat threads with back-and-forth conversations. Losing the original message text makes it harder to keep track of who said what.
– If someone edits a message to say something completely different or even contradictory to the original text.
– When messages are edited much later, after a conversation has continued, as it may no longer make sense.
In these cases, it’s best to manually inform the recipient that a message was edited to avoid miscommunication. Or you need to be careful when going back and editing messages after a conversation has progressed.
Does WhatsApp Have Any Plans to Add Edit Notifications?
Currently, WhatsApp has not given any indication of adding edit notifications or edit histories to their platform. The seamless experience has been a core part of WhatsApp’s messaging philosophy since the beginning.
However, there are some signs that WhatsApp may be rethinking their stance:
– Recently, they have introduced new capabilities like deleting messages after the fact, which begins to add more metadata about edits.
– WhatsApp continuously experiments with and surveys users about potential new features. Edit notifications have been rumored to be on the table.
– Facebook’s own Messenger platform does have edit histories and notifications when a message is edited. So the technology already exists within Meta/Facebook.
But any major changes would likely be optional or easy to disable by default. Automatically interrupting all users for every minor edit would not align well with WhatsApp’s core experience.
Overall, while not confirmed, we may see WhatsApp add basic edit notifications or histories in the future. But this would likely be an opt-in choice since updating all users in all conversations could risk degrading the app’s signature seamless messagingflow.
WhatsApp Edit Notifications on iOS vs Android
Currently, neither iOS or Android versions of WhatsApp send edit notifications or show edit histories. The behavior is consistent across platforms – edited messages silently replace the original text.
However, there are slight differences in how edits are displayed:
| Platform | Edit Indicator |
|---|---|
| iOS | “Edited” shown below message |
| Android | Small pencil icon next to time |
As you can see, both platforms have subtle indicators that a message was edited. But again, no proactive notifications are sent.
Any future added capabilities around edit notifications would likely launch on both platforms simultaneously, rather than be platform exclusive. WhatsApp aims to provide feature parity across iOS, Android, and Web.
Third-Party WhatsApp Notification Apps
While WhatsApp itself does not have edit notifications, some third-party apps claim to provide this capability:
– **WAMR:** This app is for iOS only. It integrates with WhatsApp and can send alerts when your contacts edit messages, along with other notifications.
– **WhatsApp Plus:** A modded version of WhatsApp for Android that enables edit alerts and message history. Not officially tied to WhatsApp.
– **GBWhatsApp:** Another altered Android APK that tracks edits. Against WhatsApp’s policies so use carefully.
**However, be very cautious with third-party apps** – they may violate WhatsApp’s policies, involve security risks, or get your account banned. Officially, WhatsApp does not recommend or support using unauthorized apps.
Using WhatsApp Business for Edit Notifications
WhatsApp Business is aimed at companies to engage customers. It has some advanced features over regular WhatsApp, like quick replies. However, as of now, WhatsApp Business still does not send notifications for edited messages.
But since WhatsApp Business is often used for customer service, edit notifications could be a useful future addition. Agents may want to know if previous replies have been edited, to maintain context.
Overall though, the standard WhatsApp experience of seamless, interruption-free messaging remains the priority for now, even for Business accounts.
Should WhatsApp Add Edit Notifications?
Whether WhatsApp should add message edit notifications comes down to balancing convenience vs interruption:
**Reasons to add edit notifications**
– Prevents confusion when important details are changed without the user knowing
– Maintains context in long, complex conversations
– Provides transparency and awareness of changes for sensitive discussions
– Mirrors the capabilities of other major messaging platforms
**Reasons to keep the current seamless experience**
– Avoids constant interruptions for minor typos or edits
– Maintains clean chat interface focused solely on messages, not administrative notifications
– Aligns with WhatsApp’s goal of providing smooth conversations
– Gives users the flexibility to quickly revise a message before sending
Overall, there are good arguments on both sides. In our opinion, basic edit history and the option for notifications could be helpful additions in specific situations.
However, they should not disrupt the seamless messaging experience that WhatsApp is known for. Optional functionality that can be disabled may be the right balance. But the company itself has not stated if edit notifications are planned.
Conclusion
In summary:
– WhatsApp currently does **not** send notifications when you edit a previously sent message
– The app seamlessly replaces the original text with the edited version with no alerts
– Subtle indicators (like “Edited” or a pencil icon) show a message was tweaked but no proactive notice goes to the recipient
– Manually messaging the contact is required if you want to inform them of an edit
– Third-party apps provide edit notifications but are not officially supported
– Edit notifications may come eventually but are unlikely to be on by default, to avoid disrupting standard WhatsApp experience
So for now, be aware that seamless and silent message edits are part of WhatsApp’s core messaging philosophy. But adding optional edit histories could help avoid confusion in some use cases.