How to Know if your WhatsApp Message Was Read with Blue Ticks Turned Off

25 May, 2021 — James Brandon

If you often use WhatsApp, then you probably know about the blue ticks feature. The blue ticks feature was introduced back in 2014 and allowed the sender of a WhatsApp message to know whether the recipient has read their message or not.

By default, when you send a WhatsApp message to another user, a single grey tick will appear at the bottom of the message indicating that the message was sent. If the person receives the message but hasn’t read it yet, two grey ticks will appear. When the person finally reads your message, the two grey ticks will automatically turn to blue ticks.

Not all recipients want people to know if they have read messages sent to them. Because of this, WhatsApp introduced a button to disable the read receipt feature. When the button is turned on, people sending messages will not know if the recipients read their messages or not.

However, there is a trick that you can use to know if someone has read your WhatsApp message even if their bluetick feature is turned off.

Sending a voice note

By default, when WhatsApp voice notes are heard by a person, the blue ticks appear regardless of whether the recipient has turned the read receipt feature on or off.

If you have a feeling that someone has turned off the bluetick feature and is ignoring your WhatsApp messages, just send them a short voice note. If they listen to it, you will know by the color of the ticks beside the message. In a previous related article, we also discussed how you would listen to WhatsApp audio messages in secret.

Viewing the Message Info in group chats

The read receipt is always sent in group chats. If you think that someone is ignoring your messages in a group chat, you can view the message info to see the participants that have viewed your message. To do this:

• Tap and hold any group message sent by you

• Tap the three vertical dots on the top right side of the screen

• On the menu that appears, tap Info

• You will receive a list of participants who have read your message (Read by) and those who have received the message but haven’t read it yet (Delivered to).