Almost every social networking site and the instant messaging app has Read Receipts. If you don’t know, Read Receipts is a feature that adds a checkmark to each message once it has been read.
For example, on Instagram, the app automatically prepares a read receipt when you send a message to someone. When the person you’ve messaged opens the chat and sees your message, it sends you the read receipts.
The read receipts tell you that the recipient has read your messages. Similarly, you send read receipts to your friends when you open their messages in a conversation. While this feature is very useful, Instagram users often want to turn it off.
Turn Off Read Receipts on Instagram
There could be various reasons one would want to turn off the read receipts on Instagram. Maybe they don’t want the sender to know they have read their messages, or maybe due to protect their privacy.
So, if you are the recipient and don’t want to send the read receipts, it’s a good idea to turn them off on Instagram. However, the problem is that Instagram doesn’t allow you to turn off the read receipt directly; but few workarounds do the job.
Turn off Instagram Message Notification
First, you must completely turn off the Instagram Message Notifications on your phone. This is because when you tap on Instagram message notification, the message gets marked as read. Here’s how to turn off Instagram Direct Notifications.
1. Open the Instagram app and tap on your profile picture in the bottom right corner.
2. Next, on the profile page, tap on the hamburger menu in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. On the list of options that appears, tap on Settings.
4. Next, on the Settings screen, scroll down and tap on Notifications.
5. Now, under Notifications, tap on Messages and calls.
6. Select Off for both Message Requests and Messages.
That’s it! This will turn off Instagram Message notifications completely.
Turn On Airplane Mode and Read the Messages
If you have turned off the Instagram message notifications, you can read the messages while in Airplane mode. The trick is to activate the Airplane Mode before opening the chat where you received the message.
1. Open the Instagram app and tap on the Messenger symbol in the top-right corner.
2. This will open Instagram’s Direct Inbox. Don’t open the messages now.
3. Pull down the notification shutter and enable the Airplane mode. Also, make sure the WiFi is turned off.
4. Now open the Instagram app and read your messages. After reading your messages, return to your profile page. It’s recommended to force-stop Instagram or log out of your account before disabling the Airplane mode.
5. After disabling the Airplane mode, you can start using Instagram.
That’s it! This is how you can read your Instagram messages without sending the read receipts.
Also Read: How To Read Any WhatsApp Message Without The Sender Knowing
So, this guide is about how to turn off read receipts on Instagram. If you don’t want the sender to know you have read their messages, you can turn on Airplane mode and read their messages. If you need more help disabling read receipts, let us know in the comments below.
