In Summary
- The read receipt for Instagram messages lets the person who sent you a message know whether you have seen it.
- If you disable read receipts on Instagram, the person who sends you messages won’t be able to tell if you’ve read them.
- You can now disable read receipts on Instagram on both iPhone and Android app. This guide will show you the easiest way for the same.
Direct Messages or DMs are a popular feature on Instagram that allows you to chat with friends, share photos and videos and much more. Instagram is the main messaging app for many people. However, it lacked some basic privacy features such as end-to-end encryption and read receipts. Instagram recently added end-to-end encryption for DMs and has now announced the most requested read receipts controls. In this guide, you’ll learn how to easily disable the Read Receipts feature in the Instagram app.
Table of Contents
What is Instagram Read Receipts Feature?
The read receipt is an indicator that shows you whether the person you have sent a message to has seen it or whether other people know that you have read their message. This function is available in many messaging apps such as WhatsApp, iMessage and others. When read receipts are enabled, you may see markers or a notice that says ‘Read’ or ‘Seen”.
Read receipts are a handy feature, but some people choose to disable read receipts for privacy reasons. Many messaging apps allow users to disable read receipts on their platforms, and now Instagram is the latest platform to offer this feature.
How To Disable Read Receipts in Instagram DMs
At the time of writing, the Read Receipts feature on Instagram is in the test phase. Until now, users had to rely on various indirect methods to read messages without notifying the sender. These methods often involved workarounds that were not officially supported by Instagram, such as reading a message from the notification bar, restricting the user to Instagram, and turning airplane mode on and off. But thanks to the recent addition, you can simply use the Instagram settings to disable read receipts on Instagram.
How to turn off read receipts from Instagram settings
- Update your Instagram app to the latest version. This method works for both Android and iPhone.
- Open the Instagram app and click on your profile picture located in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Click on the Hamburger menu and click on the Settings and Privacy
- Click on Privacy and then on Messages
- Scroll down and go to Who can see your activity settings section
- Now, Turn off the Read Receipts feature and relaunch your Instagram app.
- This will remove the read receipts feature on the Instagram app.
Easily Turn Off Read Receipts on Instagram
Read receipts are a helpful feature to know when someone sees your message, but some people turn this feature off to have more privacy. That way, they don’t feel the need to reply immediately just because someone knows they’ve read the message. You can easily enable and disable read receipts on Instagram. I hope you find this guide helpful.
FAQs on Disabling Instagram Read Receipts
1. Can you permanently turn off read receipts on Instagram?
Yes, you can permanently disable read receipts on Instagram by turning off Read Receipts in the Instagram settings.
2. How often does Instagram update its app?
Instagram is a popular app used by billions of people around the world. The app is frequently updated with new features and bug fixes.
3. If I deactivate my Instagram account, will unread messages show as seen?
If you delete your Instagram account, your account will be removed from public view and your name will no longer appear as the sender of those messages. Instead, the sender will be labeled as “Instagrammer” and all your unread messages will remain unread.
4. What are other ways to hide the read receipts feature on Instagram?
- Use Airplane Mode: Open Instagram, let the message load, turn on airplane mode and then read the messages. Close Instagram and then switch off airplane mode.
- Hide activity status on Instagram: Turn off the activity status on in the Instagram app. This makes it less obvious when you’ve read a message.
- Ignore messages without them knowing: You can restrict someone to prevent message notifications.
- Don’t get notified of new messages: Turn off notifications so you don’t open messages as soon as they arrive, so you don’t accidentally send read receipts. Or turn on notifications and read the messages in the notification without opening the chat screen.
This way you can read the message without notifying the sender that you have read the message.