The catch, however, is that the message can only be remotely erased for 15 minutes after pressing send.
“Until now, deleting something you sent or received in Messages only deletes the content for you,” writes Android Police.
“The original sender of the former and recipients of what you sent will still retain a copy of what you’re deleting.”
But, soon, the function will give users an option to either “delete for me” or “delete for everyone,” the latter meaning the the message will also be removed from the recipient’s device — although it’s yet to be determined when exactly the feature will go live.
The new tool is the latest innovation with RCS, short for Rich Communication Services, which offer a wider array of features when messaging depending on the carrier.