How To Tell If Someone Has Read Your Text On Android?

Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Snapchat all allow you to see when a message has been sent, received, and read if read notifications haven’t been turned off by either party.

So if your preferred method of communication is SMS through your default messaging app then can you still see if someone has read your text message after receiving it?

In this article, we are going to look at ways in which you can tell whether or not your messages have been read by the receiving party.

How do you tell if a text message has been read on Android?

First things first, we need to know what a read receipt is and what a delivery receipt is.

A Delivery Receipt is different from a Read Receipt in that the delivery will tell you whether the other person has received the message to their phone successfully.

Now, this does not mean they have read the message; it just means that it was received on their phone.

If the person’s phone is off or they have no signal, you won’t get a delivery receipt until the phone is back on, or back in range and the message is delivered successfully.

This is the case for most Android messaging services like Samsung Messages and Google Messages.

What apps show when a message is read?

To get read receipts for text messages your phone relies on Rich Communication Services also known as RCS.

Most messaging apps don’t fully support RCS but the need for it amongst users is getting more prevalent and so it is becoming more widespread.

Android and Samsung messages both support this feature though. There are some things your phone relies on in order to get Read Receipts.

  • Both people must use Android messages as their default message app.
  • The phones must support RCS fully.
  • Both people must have Send Read Receipts enabled.
  • You must have either a Wi-Fi connection or data.

Luckily Android Messages and Samsung Messages support live chat so you get instant Read Receipts just like you would with WhatsApp.

So can you tell if someone has read your texts or not? the answer is yes and no. It depends.

Firstly, you should turn on your own Read Receipts if they aren’t already on, you can check and enable them by following this simple process:

How do I turn on my Read Receipts on Android Messages?

You need to enable read receipts within your Chat Features settings if you want to be able to tell when Android users read messages within the Android Messages app.

  1. Open Android Messages
  2. Go to ‘Menu.’
  3. Choose ‘Settings.’
  4. Go to ‘Advanced.’
  5. Select ‘Chat Features.’
  6. Choose ‘Send Read Receipts.’

How do I turn on Read Receipts for Samsung Messages?

You can also do this on Samsung messages too, though the method for doing this is a little different that within the Android or Google Messages app.

  1. Open the Samsung Messages app
  2. Go to the 3-Dot Menu.
  3. Choose ‘Settings.’
  4. Choose ‘Chat Settings.’
  5. Toggle ‘Share Read Status’ to ‘On.’
  6. You can also see when people are replying to your messages if you turn on ‘Show Typing Indicators.’

Now you have turned your Read Receipts on you should be able to see if someone has read your messages.

However, the downfall of this is the same as any other social app, the other party must also have their read receipts enabled, which is obviously no guarantee.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are limits to text message read receipts for Android, it depends on both parties having their Read Receipts enabled as well as the devices being RCS compatible.

WhatsApp has their own one and two blue check marks system for read receipts. And Facebook Messenger, Kik, and Snapchat as well as other live messaging services all have their own version of Read Receipts.

As users, we have gotten used to knowing when our messages are being read and when they may be being ignored.

Although, a great feature in general especially for work-related activities Read Receipts can cause more problems than they are worth.

If you have been left on Read, don’t assume that you are being ignored, the other person could be busy, or it could be a glitch so remember to be patient.

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Author

Tracy

An avid gamer, historian and all-round literature buff, Tracy is our go-to when it comes to using different devices. MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux or whatever else, Tracy's got a device that runs it (she's even got an old Blackberry laying around somewhere!).

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