Certain elements of modern life are capable of striking cold fear into the hearts of even the steeliest women. Sending an email to the wrong person is one of them.

This error can take one of two forms: the accident and the mistake. The accident is when you genuinely didn’t intend for that person to receive that message. (“Oh my god, Karen is being SO ANNOYING TODAY,” you write to your work wife, only to – of course – accidentally copy Karen herself straight into the email.)

The mistake, in contrast, is the email sent in earnest and instantly regretted. This is usually a passionate, creatively-spelled declaration of love, anger or heartbreak, and is often fired off in the early hours of the morning. And while it might sound impressive after several glasses of wine and a pep talk from your mates, it tends to look considerably less so in the cold light of day.

Thank god, then, that one email provider has finally cottoned onto the fact that we sometimes want to be able to turn back time.

An update to Gmail’s iOS app now means that you can undo emails you wish you hadn’t sent from your iPhone – but you’ll have to act fast.

Read more: These tattoos tell your smartphone how drunk you are

The function has been available on desktop and Android for some time, but not on iOS. Now, when you send an email on the new Gmail iPhone app, a black bar will appear at the bottom of the screen, giving you the chance to undo it for five seconds. During this time, your message is basically floating in email limbo. Think of it as your iPhone asking you, “Are you really sure you want to do that?”

If you undo, you’ll be taken back to the ‘Compose’ screen to make any tweaks (or take Karen from the office out of CC). But if you miss that five-second window, the email will actually be sent.

The new feature comes as part of the biggest redesign of the Gmail iPhone app in four years. And, may we say, not a moment too soon.

Images: iStock