WhatsApp is probably the most popular and known instant messaging service of the last few years. It doesn’t even need an official introduction. You, your friends, your parents, and even that cruel relative who gives you lecture about your future is taking advantage of this free app to stay connected with everybody.
Last year WhatsApp added a function that tells the sender whether you have read their message or not. This came as a problem to a few (err.. a lot) since it somewhat forced you to reply to the message instantly. Some users liked it while some didn’t. If you don’t like this feature then here are 5 techniques you can use to read WhatsApp messages without alerting the sender.
1. Disable Read Receipts
Disabling “Read receipts” option is probably the most straightforward technique. By doing so you’ll disable the ability of WhatsApp to show blue ticks to the sender that tells them that you’ve read their message. But the downside here is that if you disable read receipts you will not be able to know whether someone has read your texts or not. Here’s how to disable it.
- Open WhatsApp and go to app settings.
- Tap on “Accounts” and then on “Privacy”.
- Scroll to the bottom and untick “Read receipts”.
2. Get a Glance from the Notification Bar
This is a no-brainer – you get a notification in your notification area when you get a message. You can easily read the complete or partial message from the notification bar without opening the app. The blue ticks show only when you open the app to read messages.
3. Enable Airplane Mode Before Reading Messages
Once you get a message don’t open the app immediately, turn on the airplane mode or flight mode instead. This will turn off the WiFi or mobile data and will take WhatsApp offline. Now go ahead and read the message and you won’t alert the sender since you’ll be reading the message from app cache. Once you are done, close the app (remove it from your recent apps list too) and turn off the airplane mode.
4. Add WhatsApp Widget to Your Home Screen
I don’t know if you are aware of the fact that WhatsApp has a widget. You can place this widget on your home screen to read messages at a glance. Since reading via widget doesn’t open the app you can keep the blue ticks from showing up. To add the widget, just tap and hold any empty space on the home screen, scroll down to find the WhatsApp chat widget and add it to your home screen.
5. Use WhatsApp Pop-up
A lot of people might have forgotten about this old feature but it is still available in WhatsApp. Go to the app’s settings and select “Notifications”. Now look for “Pop-up Notification” under “Message Notifications”. Tap on it and select one that suits you from the following:
- Only when screen “on”
- Only when screen “off”
- Always show pop-up
By doing so you can read the messages without actually opening the app.
Did you find these tricks useful? Is there any other trick you would like to share? Tell us in the comments section below!
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