How To Turn Off Read Receipts In Facebook Messenger, Apple IMessage, WhatsApp

How to Turn Off Read Receipts in Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, WhatsApp

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple's iMessage all include a read receipt feature that notifies the sender when their message has been read. Receipts of reads are a critical component of messaging apps communication. It enables users to determine whether or not their message was read by the intended recipient. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage all support read receipts in their own unique ways. However, if you prefer to keep things more private and don't want the sender to know when you've read their message, you can disable these read receipts at any time. For example, if you maintain read receipts on WhatsApp, a blue tick appears next to the message to indicate that it has been read by the recipient.

We've put together a step-by-step guide for disabling read receipts in popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Apple's iMessage.

How to deactivate WhatsApp's read receipts

Follow these steps to disable read receipts on WhatsApp.

1. Begin by launching WhatsApp. On the upper-right corner of the screen, click the three-dot icon. Select the Configuration option.

2. Select Account > Privacy from the Settings menu.

3. Here, you'll find a button labeled Read Receipt. To turn it off in individual chats, toggle it off. For group chats, you cannot turn off read receipts.

How to turn off read receipts in iMessage

Turning off read receipts on iMessage is a little more involved than it is with WhatsApp.

1. On your iOS device, launch the iMessage app.

2. To access Messages, navigate to Settings and tap on it.

3. This section contains an option called Send Read Receipts. To disable the ability entirely, toggle it off.

4. To disable read receipts for a particular user's chat, navigate to that user's chat and click on the user's profile photo.

5. Toggle off the Send Read Receipt option, select the Info icon.

How to turn off read receipts on Facebook Messenger

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off read receipts in Facebook Messenger. Active On is a setting in the settings that enables you to disable the Active Now banner that appears next to your name whenever you log in. It displays the last time you were online, and by disabling this feature, your friends will not be able to see this information. This can be found by opening the Messenger app > clicking on the profile icon > navigating to the Active 'On' section > toggling it 'Off'. There is, however, a workaround that allows you to read a message without informing the sender.

1. After receiving a new message on Facebook Messenger, simply toggle your phone's settings to Airplane Mode, which will disable all Internet and network connections on the device.

2. Then, without an Internet connection, you can open Messenger and view the message.

3. When you're finished reading, swipe the app out of your app drawer.

4. Airplane mode may now be disabled. Thus, the sender will remain unaware that you have read their message until you reopen the app.