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It’s a tiny symbol — those two blue ticks that quietly announce, “Yes, your message has been read.” For years, I lived under their rule, rushing to reply so I wouldn’t appear rude, or sometimes ignoring them and feeling guilty afterward. Then one day, I switched the “read receipts” off. What followed was surprisingly liberating.
Why I wanted more privacy
Like many of WhatsApp’s 2 billion users, I’ve often opened a message at the wrong moment — standing in line at the grocery store, mid-meeting, or when I simply didn’t have the mental energy to respond. The problem? The sender immediately knew I’d read it. No room for pretending, no gentle buffer.
Turning off the “seen” feature meant I could finally read messages on my own terms. A friend sending a long rant? I could take a breath, finish my coffee, and decide later how to respond without that creeping sense of obligation. It wasn’t about avoiding people, it was about reclaiming a little digital breathing space.
How to switch it off
The process is straightforward. On iPhone, head to Settings (that little gear in the bottom right), then Account, then Privacy. There, you’ll find a toggle called “Read Receipts.” It’s on by default. Switch it off, and voilà: no one will know whether you’ve read their messages.
On Android, the path is similar: tap the three dots in the top corner, select Account, then Privacy, and look for Read Receipts. Turn it off and you’ll only ever show the two gray ticks — confirming delivery, but never transforming into those dreaded blue ones.
The only catch? It works both ways. If you hide your “seen,” you also give up the ability to know when others have read your texts. A fair trade, perhaps.
Living without blue ticks
At first, I worried friends might think I was ignoring them. But interestingly, it shifted expectations. Conversations flowed more naturally, without that unspoken pressure of “I know you’ve read it, why haven’t you replied?” In a way, it made chats feel less like a performance and more like real communication again.
The privacy settings on WhatsApp aren’t perfect, but this one small change brought a lot of calm into my daily digital life. Sometimes the best way to stay connected is to give yourself — and others — permission to reply in their own time.
