"For the moments when you make a mistake, or simply change your mind, you can now edit your sent messages," read a Whatsapp blog post.

"From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats. All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose ‘Edit’ from the menu for up to fifteen minutes after," read the blog post.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg also announced the update and said users can now correct their sent messages within 15 minutes.

He wrote on Facebook: "You can now edit your WhatsApp messages up to 15 mins after they're sent!"

How can the message be edited:

Edited messages will display ‘edited’ alongside them, so those who messaging are aware of the correction without showing edit history.

As with all personal messages, media and calls,  messages and the edits are protected by end-to-end encryption. 

When will it be available?

This feature has started rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks, the blog post announced.