If you’re like most people, you probably don’t want to see read receipts in your Signal messages. But if you’re using Signal for work or school, there’s a good chance you need them. Here’s how to turn off read receipts in Signal:

  1. Open the Signal app on your phone.
  2. Tap the three lines in the top left corner of the screen. (If you have more than one chat window open, tap the three lines at the bottom of each.)
  3. Under “Settings,” tap “Privacy.”
  4. Under “Read Receipts,” turn off “Show Read Receipts.” (If you want to show read receipts for specific contacts, turn on “Show Read Receipts for Contacts.”) ..

With a focus on privacy, you might not want those you’re communicating with on Signal to know you’ve looked at their text message. Fortunately, you can turn off read receipts and disable the indicator that shows that you have seen their communication.

Read receipts, a popular feature on other messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, appear as white indicator bubbles on messages that you send in Signal. If you turn off read receipts and block the person on the other end from seeing that you’ve read their message, you lose the ability to see if they’ve read your message.

Start by opening the “Signal” app on your iPhone or Android smartphone.

Next, tap on your profile picture, avatar, or username’s initials in the app’s top-left corner.

Select the “Privacy” option from the “Settings” menu.

Finally, toggle off (or on) the “Read Receipts” setting.

As seen below, with read receipts on in Signal, both checkmark bubbles will be filled with a solid white color when the message is received and read. With read receipts off, the bubbles will be empty, but the checkmarks will indicate that the message was delivered.

The recipient will see the same type of indication on text messages that they send. Neither you nor the person you’re communicating with will be able to see if a message has been looked at when you turn off read receipts.

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