You can use read receipts to automatically let someone know when you’ve seen their text messages. When read receipts are turned on, the sender sees the word “Read” below messages they’ve sent to you. If you haven’t read their message, the sender sees “Delivered.”
You can turn on read receipts for everyone or for individual contacts. You can also get read receipts when someone else sees your messages, and turn read receipts off again for one person or for everyone.
Turn on read receipts
Turning on read receipts lets everyone know when you’ve opened their messages.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Apps, then tap Messages.
- Turn on Send Read Receipts.
Note: Turned off read receipts for a particular contact? You’ll have to switch the setting back on for that one contact individually. (The steps are in Turn on read receipts for one person, below.)
Turn off read receipts
To keep others from knowing you’ve opened their messages, turn off read receipts.
- Start the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Tap Apps, then tap Messages.
- Turn off Send Read Receipts.
Note: This only changes conversations with contacts whose read receipts you never turned on individually. (For a single contact, see Turn off read receipts for one person, below.)
Turn on read receipts for one person
Even if you turned off read receipts generally, you can turn on read receipts in a conversation so that one recipient knows when you’ve seen their incoming messages.
- Start the Messages app on your iPhone.
- Tap a conversation, then tap the contact icon at the top of the conversation.
- Turn on Send Read Receipts.
Turn off read receipts for one person
Turned on read receipts for an individual and want them to stop getting read receipts? You can switch the setting off for only that contact.
- Start the Messages app on your iPhone.
- Tap a conversation, then tap the contact icon at the top of the conversation.
- Turn off Send Read Receipts.
Get read receipts when someone else sees your messages
You can only turn on read receipts for yourself. If you’d like read receipts when your messages are opened, the recipient needs to turn them on, as covered in Turn on read receipts for one person, above.
