WhatsApp users will finally be able to edit their messages after they've sent them — but only for 15 minutes

• WhatsApp is introducing a new feature allowing users to edit their messages within 15 minutes.
• Users can correct typos and add more text but the message will be marked as edited to others.

WhatsApp, the instant messaging service owned by tech giant Meta, is introducing a long-awaited feature that will allow users to edit their messages, the company announced Monday.

The new update gives users a 15-minute window to edit a text including correcting typos or adding more context, according to its blog. Users just have to long press on a message and select the edit option to complete the task.

One caveat is that the message will be marked as edited and others can see that it has been changed.

The new feature will be available to its two billion users globally over the coming weeks. The messaging app was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton in 2009 and acquired by Facebook — now known as Meta — in 2014.

With this addition to the app, the company will join the ranks of messaging platforms like Signal and Telegram which already offer message editing services.

Insider reached out to Meta for further comment but did not immediately hear back.

Until now users were unable to change their messages at all, but one feature introduced in 2017 enabled the option to delete messages for everyone. A recent addition to the app was letting users create polls.

WhatsApp's parent company Meta was just fined a record $1.3 billion by Ireland's Data Protection Commission for privacy violations.

The company had been transferring Facebook users' data to US servers without adequate protection and has now been ordered to stop.

The ruling only affects Facebook and not Meta's other platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram.