The small marks beside your message say something precise, and almost everybody reads them slightly wrong. One tick means the servers have it. Two ticks mean the other person's client has shown it to them.
What they do not say is that anybody read it, and the gap between those two things is where most of the anxiety about them comes from.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Read the delivery marks correctly, including the clock.
- check_circle See who in a group has seen a message, and for how long that is possible.
- check_circle Understand what read receipts cost you, since they are reciprocal.
- check_circle Stop drawing conclusions the marks do not support.
The change from one mark to two happens when the other client opens the chat, not when a person looks at the screen.
done_all Three states, in order
A clock means the message has not left your device. You are offline, or the connection is struggling, and nothing has happened yet.
One mark means the servers have it. It is sent, it will be delivered, and the recipient has not opened the chat.
Two marks mean their client has fetched and displayed it — the chat has been opened. That is as close to "read" as any messenger can get, and it is not the same thing. A phone unlocked in a pocket, a chat opened and immediately left, a glance at a notification: all of these produce two marks and no reading.
What you can and cannot conclude
Four readings of the same two marks. Only one of them is supported.
done_all Two marks appeared
group The list in a group
visibility_off Not telling people you read things
schedule It has stayed at one mark for hours
The honest summary: the marks describe devices, not people.
settings Reading and controlling them
- Look at the mark beside your own message Clock, one, or two. Only your messages carry them.
- Hold a message in a group To see who has seen it, while that is still available.
- Open Privacy and Security for the setting Read receipts have their own row.
- Expect the trade Turning yours off removes other people's from your view.
- Use Send When Online instead of watching If what you actually want is to know when they are back.
This page is the marks on a message. The curriculum step is the whole presence surface: online status, last seen, typing indicators, and the reciprocal settings that govern all of them together.
At a glance
- 1Clock and ticks
Clock: sending. One tick: sent. Two ticks: read.
- 2Read in groups
Two ticks mean at least one member opened it.
- 3Reciprocal
Hiding your read status hides others' too.
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