Read receipts aren't everyone's favorite thing — after all, they can let friends know we've read a message when we would rather pretend we hadn't — but they're handy for keeping up with online conversations. And Facebook Messenger has read receipts, if you know where to look.
Read receipts on Facebook.com and Messenger.com
The best way to tell whether a message has been read is to log onto Facebook with a web browser (or access the Facebook Messenger website by going to messenger.com instead of facebook.com). Clicking on the Messenger icon reveals a list of the people you've communicated with. Selecting a person pop-ups a small window over your Facebook timeline.
If a friend has read your message, you'll see a miniature version of their profile picture. If they haven't, you'll see a gray icon with a white checkmark indicating the message has been delivered, but not yet read. You may also see a white circle, which means the message is sending, or a white circle with a gray checkmark, which means the message has been sent, but not yet delivered.
If you mouse over the miniature version of their profile picture, a popup will show "Seen by [Name of person]" along with the date and time it was seen. The website version of Messenger is the only way to see the time and date the message was read.
Read receipts on the Facebook Messenger app
Messenger uses small, circular icons that show up in the lower right the message window. If a friend has read your message, you'll see a miniature version of their profile picture. If they haven't, you'll see a blue icon with a white checkmark indicating the message has been delivered, but not yet read. You may also see a white circle, which means the message is sending, or a white circle with a blue checkmark, which means the message has been sent, but not yet delivered.
With the app, you can't see the time and date stamp. Tapping the icon or message will just reveal the status as "Seen."
You won't always be able to see if a message has been read
A message being unread doesn't necessarily mean the recipient hasn't read it. Message notifications — which your friend may have pop up on their desktop or smartphone — let friends read your messages without read receipts. You'll only get a read receipt when your friend opens Messenger to read your message or views Messenger messages through Facebook.
Updated on 3/23/2022 with new instructions for revealing read receipts.
[Image credit: Facebook Messenger app on iPhone via Techlicious/Smartmockups, screenshots via Techlicious and Facebook]
Elizabeth Harper is a writer and editor with more than a decade of experience covering consumer technology and entertainment. In addition to writing for Techlicious, she's Editorial Director of Blizzard Watch and is published on sites all over the web including Time, CBS, Engadget, The Daily Dot and DealNews.
From Brenda Oldham on September 01, 2020 :: 9:18 am
Is there a way to make sure anyone who sends me a message doesn’t know whether I’ve read their message or not? I was wondering if we can choose whether or not the message senders know if we have or haven’t. Also, if I send a message to someone who is NOT my fb friend, will my message show up in the same place as the ones from his fb friends? Didn’t know whether or not there’s more than one file or whatever they’re called. Thank you!!!
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