One of the features you can take advantage of in iMessage, as well as many other internet chat services, is sending and receiving read receipts, which are a type of confirmation that tell you when the recipient has read the message you’ve sent to them.
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It’s useful for when you want to ensure they’ve received your message, and although not everyone likes to have people knowing when they read people’s messages, some like to let others know when their message was received loud and clear, whether they’re able to respond right away or not.
Use your voice to enter text on your Mac - Use Dictation. Go to a document or other text field and place the insertion point where you want your dictated text to appear. Press the keyboard shortcut for starting dictation, or choose Edit > Start Dictation. Speak the words that you want your Mac to type. There is no way to turn off both the “Read” receipts or the “Delivered” notification in iMessages without disabling iMessage completely. Turning off iMessage is easy, but it will prevent people from Macs, iPads, and iPods from being able to send you messages, since it causes SMS (traditional text messaging) to be delivered only. How to turn on or off Read Receipts from your iPhone and Mac. Go to settings on your iOS device. Find and tap on Messages. Find Read Receipts. Swipe the switch to white, if you like a little more privacy in your life. Swipe the switch to green if you don’t mind if others know when you’ve read their messages.
In this post, we will talk about the implications of using iMessage read receipts or not. We’ll also show you how to turn read receipts on or off for iMessage on your iOS devices, as well as on your Mac.
Read receipts – to enable them or to disable them
That is the question; should you enable them or disable them? You have to choose for yourself, but we’ll help let you know how they can be useful, and how they can also come back to bite you in the you-know-what.
If you’re using your iPhone or Mac in a work-based environment, read receipts are a great way to let your colleagues know that you received their message(s), even when you’re too busy to reply at that moment in time. Most of the time, the confirmation of delivery of the message is enough to satisfy them, and sometimes, a reply isn’t even necessary.
On the other hand, if you’re using your iPhone or Mac in a much more personal setting, such as when texting close friends or your significant other, read receipts can get tricky. They might think that when you read their message and don’t reply, you’re ignoring them, and they may become annoyed; also, when you disable them so they stop seeing when you read their messages, they’ll often notice and wonder why you’ve turned the feature off to avoid letting them see when you’ve read their messages.
As you can see, there are some situations where the feature can be useful, and be a kind gesture to the message sender, but there are also situations where they can be an annoyance and cause a lot of drama with your privacy – especially if you have a friend or significant other with attention issues.
How to turn iMessage read receipts on or off
Turn off read receipts on Mac
If you’re using a Mac, then turning read receipts on or off for iMessage in the macOS Messages app takes just a few steps.
Step 1: Launch the Messages app on your Mac from the Dock, Applications folder, or from Spotlight.
Step 2: Once open, click on Messages in the Menu Bar, and then click on Preferences.
Step 3: In the Messages preferences window, click on the Accounts tab, then click on the Send read receipts check box to either enable or disable read receipts for iMessage on your Mac.
Note: If enabled, the person who messages you will be able to see you’ve read their message, as shown below. If disabled, it will show “Delivered” for them instead.
That’s all there is to enabling or disabling read receipts for iMessage on your Mac, but doing so is also possible on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. We’ll show you how in the next section.
Turn off read receipts on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
Toggling read receipts on or off for iMessage is a little easier for iOS device users, but nonetheless, here are the steps:
Step 1: Launch the Settings app and open the Messages preferences pane.
Step 2: Turn the Send Read Receipts toggle switch either on or off to your desired setting.
Note: If enabled, the person messaging you will see when you’ve read their message, as shown below; on the contrary, if you disable read receipts, they’ll just see the word “Delivered” instead.
That’s all there is to it for letting others see when you’ve read their messages on your iOS devices!
But I want to see when others read MY messages
Unfortunately, because iMessage read receipts are a matter of privacy, Apple lets the end user make the choice on whether or not to share read receipts. Not all users are comfortable with people knowing when they’ve read someone’s message, and as a result, some people leave the feature turned off.
If you want to see when someone else reads your iMessages, you’re virtually powerless in that respect because there’s no setting to do so, but you can still ask the person if they’d be willing to turn on read receipts (and show them this tutorial so they know how to) so you can see when they’ve at least read your message, especially if they’re a busy person and often can’t reply on time. The worst they can do is say no and that they aren’t interested.
More details about iMessage read receipts
Read receipts are limited to iMessage in the Messages app only. SMS messages do not come with read receipts because it’s an older technology that carriers have not yet made these software advancements to. iMessage bubbles appear blue in the Messages app, while SMS bubbles appear green, and it’s important to be able to tell the difference.
Unfortunately, you can’t toggle iMessage read receipts on or off for individual people. Apple forces you to toggle it on or off for everyone, so keep this in mind when you make your decision.
It’s also worth noting that it’s possible for someone to see your message while they have read receipts enabled and the Messages app may not show that they’ve read your message. Some examples include when they see a preview of your message from the Lock screen or Notification Center and don’t open the Messages app to acknowledge your iMessage, or when using 3D Touch to peek at a message, or even if they have a jailbreak tweak installed that inhibits sending or receiving read receipts unless the user allows it to happen.
Conclusion
Read receipts are a nifty thing to have, but you need to weigh in whether or not they’ll do more harm than good, or will actually be a useful tool. I personally use read receipts because I couldn’t care less what people think when they see I’ve read their messages, but others may disagree with my standpoint and choose to keep the feature disabled.
Related:
Do you use iMessage read receipts for sending and receiving texts? Share below!
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The Mac OS X operating system, which runs on all Apple desktop and laptop computers, includes a feature called VoiceOver that speaks the text on your screen through headphones or speakers. Along with speech commands, VoiceOver helps users with visual disabilities navigate the operating system. If you do not need to use VoiceOver at your workstation, you can disable the feature through System Preferences.
1.Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your desktop and select 'System Preferences' from the menu.
2.Click on the 'Universal Access' control panel icon in the 'Personal' section.
3.Select the 'Seeing' tab at the top of the window.
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Click on the 'Off' radio button in the VoiceOver section of the window.
5.Click on the red circle in the upper left corner of the window to close the System Preferences window.
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About the Author
Bennett Gavrish is an I.T. professional who has been writing about computers, electronics and the Web since 2004. His work has appeared in the 'Nashua Telegraph' and the 'Daily Free Press' and on numerous websites. Gavrish received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University.
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