One of the great features of iOS is iMessage which lets users send and receive messages, photos, videos, voice memos, and much more. iMessage received a vast improvement in iOS 10 with the introduction of stickers, effects, handwritten messages, and a couple of other new features.
Just like many other social messaging apps, iMessage displays read receipts as well. When the message is sent successfully from your side, a ‘Delivered’ text appears beneath it. When the message has been read by the other person, the text will change to ‘Read’. This is much easier to understand than the single and double ticks that appear in other messaging apps.
Read receipt is a great feature, but there are times when you wish to read messages without the other person knowing your saw it. Fortunately, Apple provides an option to disable read receipts, and in this guide, we will show you how to disable read receipts in iMessage for iPhone.
How to Disable Read Receipts in iMessage for iPhone
Method 1: Toggle off read receipts option
Step 1: Go to Settings.
Step 2: Tap on Messages.
Step 3: Turn off the toggle for ‘Send Read Receipts’.
Once read receipts has been turned off, your recipients cannot see whether you’ve read their message or not. Similarly, you can’t view the read receipts from other people.
Method 2: Use 3D Touch “Peek” trick
If you own an iPhone with 3D Touch (iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus), you can hard press a thread to “peek” at its content. This trick can be used to read new messages in iMessage without marking them as read.
When you 3D Touch an iMessage thread in the conversation view in the Messages app, you can view the new and recent messages from its conversation thread. In this way, the new message won’t be marked as read.
How to Disable Read Receipts in iMessage for Specific Contacts
iMessage also offers a handy option to disable read receipts for specific contacts rather than everyone. Here’s how you can access this option.
Step 1: Open iMessage.
Step 2: Go to a specific conversation where you wish to disable read receipts.
Step 3: Tap on the more details button in the top right corner, shown with an ‘i’ icon.
Step 4: Toggle off ‘Send Read Receipts’.
By toggling off read receipts on a per-contact basis, you can have read receipts enabled globally, but prevent it from being sent to specific contacts. That’s all you need to do to disable read receipts in iMessage for iPhone.
If you’re looking for more tips and tricks for iMessage, check out our article:
If you want to find out how to do it in WhatsApp, check out our article:
