Whatsapp's new message recall feature puts drunk-texting back on the menu

It's a situation most of us are familiar with. A night out with friends—or a few bottles of liquor in the confines of your own apartment—brain filters turned off, emotions on a high, and the pressing desire to open your messaging app and fire off a couple dozen texts expressing regret, hate, or love, as the case may be. It never ends well, as you're stuck wishing you weren't so foolhardy. The world would be so much better if you could retract those messages, wouldn't it?

Well, now you can on Whatsapp. The company has had the feature integrated for months now—you could actually enjoy this particular feature on modded versions of the app—but only just announced its official launch earlier in the day. Of course, apps like Telegram and Skype have had the same feature for months, so it's not like it's a novel development, but Whatsapp has the largest active user base of any messaging app in the world, so this is something that'll come in useful for the millions of drunk-texters around the world.

There are a number of conditions that come with the feature, of course:

• Messages can only be recalled within a seven-minute window.
• You and the recipient must be on the latest versions of Whatsapp if the recall is to be successful.
• You will not be notified if the recall is unsuccessful.

To do a recall, simply long-press a message, and tap on the delete icon at the top of the screen. It will bring up a dialog box with three options. Tap on "Delete for everyone" to recall the message.

This feature will roll out in phases, so don't be bothered if you don't receive it immediately.