How to Go “Unseen” and Secretly Read Private Messages on Facebook

facebook message seen in browser
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When you read a private Facebook message, the person who sent it sees it marked as ‘seen’ or marked as ‘read’. But have you ever wished that you could go ‘unseen’, that is to read a private message on Facebook without the other person knowing you’ve read it? Here is how to read a Facebook message without the person who sent it knowing.

Facebook message marked as seen in browser:

facebook message seen in browser

Facebook messages marked as seen in mobile app:

facebook messages marked as read-1

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Individual message marked as seen in mobile app:

individual facebook message marked as seen

The secret is in installing one of the browser add-ons or smartphone apps that will keep your Facebook messages from being marked as ‘read’. There are a few, including Unseen on Facebook for Firefox, Messenger Unseen on Facebook for Chrome, UnSeen for Facebook for iOS, and [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead].

Here is a tutorial for Unseen on Facebook for Firefox, but installing another browser add-on, or using another browser, will be similar.

Download Unseen on Facebook for Firefox

unseen on facebook for firefox

Once you have downloaded it, you will see this message:

unseen on facebook for firefox successfully installed

And, on your Firefox Add-ons page, which may open automatically, you will see:

unseen on facebook add-ons page

If your Add-ons page doesn’t automatically open, you can get to it from the Firefox menu bar by selecting “Tools” and then “Add-Ons” from the dropdown Tools menu.

firefox add-ons page

That’s all there is to it! The Add-on doesn’t even require a restart. From hereon, whenever you read a private Facebook message, it will not be marked as read or ‘seen’. To disable it, just hit the “Disable” button from the Add-ons page.

A word about the iPhone, iPad and Android app, UnSeen for Facebook: it is a separate, standalone app (in other words, you have to use it instead of the Facebook chat app), it is ad-supported, and it accesses your Facebook data. For all of those reasons, but most especially that it accesses your Facebook data, we really can’t recommend you use it, although if you really need that functionality, you will have to weigh for yourself whether it is worth it.

There is also now a [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead], but we have not tested it, as we generally are opposed to Facebook apps for the same “access to Facebook data” reason.

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