What read receipts are and why you might want to turn them off
Read receipts are notifications that tell the person who sent you a message that you have opened and read it. When read receipts are on, a checkmark, timestamp, or "seen" indicator appears next to their message — even if you haven't responded yet. The sender knows you read their message the moment you open the conversation.
You might want to turn read receipts off for several reasons. Some people find it stressful to know someone is waiting for a response the moment they see you've read their message. Others prefer privacy and don't want to signal their availability or activity patterns. In group chats, read receipts can create social pressure or awkwardness if some people respond quickly and others don't.
The good news is that most messaging apps let you control read receipts independently — you can usually turn them off without affecting other privacy settings. The steps differ depending on which app you use and what device you're on.
Key Takeaways
- Read receipts show the sender when you have opened and read their message, but you can disable this feature in most messaging apps.
- Turning off read receipts on your device does not prevent you from seeing read receipts from other people — those are controlled by their settings.
- Different apps store the read receipts setting in different places: iMessage uses Settings, WhatsApp uses Account settings, and Facebook Messenger uses Preferences.
- Some apps like Signal let you disable read receipts entirely, while others like SMS on Android may not offer the option at all.
How to turn off read receipts on iPhone
On iPhone, the process depends on which app you're using. For iMessage (Apple's built-in messaging app), open Settings, scroll down and tap Messages, then toggle off "Send Read Receipts." This applies to all iMessage conversations on that device.
For WhatsApp, open the app, tap Settings (the gear icon at the bottom right), select Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts." You'll see two checkmarks instead of blue checkmarks when you read a message, but the sender won't know when you opened it.
For Facebook Messenger, open the app, tap your profile picture at the top left, scroll to Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts." For Signal, open Settings, tap Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts."
If you use multiple messaging apps, you'll need to check each one separately — there's no single setting that controls read receipts across all apps on iPhone.
How to turn off read receipts on Android
Android phones have more variation because different manufacturers and messaging apps handle this differently. For WhatsApp, open the app, tap the three dots at the top right, select Settings, go to Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts."
For Facebook Messenger, tap your profile icon at the bottom right, scroll down to Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts." For Signal, open Settings, tap Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts."
For standard SMS text messages, the option varies by phone manufacturer and carrier. Samsung phones sometimes include this in Messages app settings, but many Android phones don't offer read receipts for SMS at all — only for messaging apps. Check your default messaging app's settings menu to see if the option is available.
How to turn off read receipts on desktop and web apps
WhatsApp Web uses the same setting as your phone — if you turn off read receipts on your phone, they're off on the web version too. You don't need to change it separately.
Facebook Messenger on desktop also syncs with your phone settings. Open Messenger, click your profile picture, go to Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts" — this change applies across all devices.
Signal Desktop has its own settings. Open the app, click the menu (three dots), select Preferences, go to Privacy, and toggle off "Read Receipts." This is independent of your phone setting, so you can have read receipts on your phone but off on your computer, or vice versa.
For Gmail and Outlook, read receipts work differently — they're called "delivery notifications" or "read notifications" and are usually off by default. You typically have to request a read receipt for each individual email, rather than having it on automatically.
What happens when you turn off read receipts
When you turn off read receipts, the sender will no longer see when you've read their message. On WhatsApp, they'll see one checkmark (message delivered) instead of two blue checkmarks (message read). On iMessage, they won't see the "Delivered" or "Read" status at all. On other apps, the read indicator simply won't appear.
Turning off read receipts does not hide your last seen time or your online status — those are separate settings. If someone can see you're online or see your last activity, they'll know you're active even without read receipts. To hide those too, look for "Last Seen" or "Online Status" settings in the same privacy menu.
One important point: turning off read receipts on your device does not prevent you from seeing read receipts from other people. If someone sends you a message and has read receipts turned on, you'll still see when they read your message. Read receipts are controlled individually by each person's settings.
Apps that don't offer read receipts settings
Some apps don't give you the option to turn off read receipts because they don't use them at all, or because the feature is built into the platform in a way users can't control. Standard SMS text messages on many Android phones fall into this category — the carrier or phone manufacturer controls whether read receipts are sent, not the user.
Apple's FaceTime doesn't have read receipts for messages in the traditional sense, though you can see if someone has seen your message in the conversation thread. Telegram shows read receipts by default and doesn't offer a way to turn them off globally, though you can hide your "last seen" status separately.
If an app doesn't have a read receipts setting and you want to use it anyway, the only workaround is to avoid opening messages in the app itself — but this defeats the purpose of using the app. In those cases, you might consider switching to an app that does offer the privacy control you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I turn off read receipts, will people think I'm ignoring them?
Not necessarily. Most people understand that read receipts are a privacy setting, not a personal choice about them. However, if someone is used to seeing your read receipts and they suddenly disappear, they might notice the change. You can explain it as a privacy preference if it comes up.
Can I turn off read receipts for just one person?
Most apps don't offer per-contact read receipt settings. When you turn off read receipts, they're off for everyone. Some apps like WhatsApp let you mute conversations or archive them, but that's different from hiding read receipts. Your best option is to turn off read receipts globally if you want to hide them from specific people.
Does turning off read receipts affect group chats?
No. When you turn off read receipts, they're disabled in both one-on-one and group conversations. Everyone in the group will no longer see when you've read messages, just as they won't in private chats.
What if I want to see read receipts from others but not send them myself?
That's exactly what turning off read receipts does. You'll still see when other people read your messages (if they have read receipts turned on), but they won't see when you read theirs. The setting is one-directional — it only controls what you send out, not what you receive.
Will turning off read receipts slow down my phone or use more data?
No. Read receipts use minimal data and have no impact on your phone's performance. Turning them off won't speed up your device or save battery life in any noticeable way.