UPDATE! You can now turn off and disable read receipts in Facebook Messenger on the iPhone! Thanks to reader Mikki for sharing this! In Messenger on your iPhone click on the menu in the left-hand corner, then click on the cog wheel, then ‘Privacy & Safety’, then ‘Read Reciepts’! For those of you who don’t have an iPhone, or didn’t get that update yet, read on!
It’s no secret that one of bigger safety issues on Facebook has been the inability to turn off read receipts in Facebook Messenger; there has been no way to stop someone from knowing if you’ve read their FB Messenger message. So abusers, stalkers, bullies, and other bad actors have always been able to know whether you saw a message that they sent you, because the ‘read’ flag was automatically set to “read” as soon as you opened the message. Now, with very little, if any, fanfare, Facebook has rolled out a way to stop someone from knowing that you have read their message.
Of course, people will tell you “just block” the person. But sometimes you can’t, for example when it’s an ex with whom you have to coordinate parenting time. In fact, some courts put right in their parenting orders that the method of communication will be through Facebook Messenger or other text-based communication (this happens most often when the two parents can’t have direct communications without one triggering the other).
We’ve often railed against the fact that there is no way to turn off the read receipts in FB Messenger, especially in this day and age. After all, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, and all of the dating apps have a way to turn off read receipts, and have for ages.
In fact, in 2023 we wrote “Facebook enables abusers. And they know that they do it. In a world full of online stalking, cyber bullying, and intimidation of the abused and traumatized, the fact that Facebook has never given users the ability to turn off Facebook Messenger read receipts may be one of the most egregious hand-offs of power to abusers ever to be perpetrated by a social media platform.”
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Now, finally, and, again, with little or no fanfare, Facebook has finally provided a way to turn off read receipts on a user-by-user basis, meaning you will need to turn off read receipts one at a time for the people who you don’t want knowing when or that you saw their message.
What’s more, it’s a pretty half-baked setup: you can stop people from seeing when you have read their messages, but you can’t respond to them without turning read receipts back on.
The key to stopping people from seeing read receipts is in the new ‘Restrict’ option that Facebook has rolled out.
According to Facebook, “restricting” someone will:
Move the chat out of sight
Removes the conversation from your Chats list so you won’t get message notifications.
Hide your activity
They won’t see when you’ve read messages or your Active Status.
Unrestrict anytime
They won’t be notified you restricted them. Unrestrict from privacy settings.
Note that restricting someone means that you won’t be notified when they message you, and you won’t see it because they are hidden from your inbox, so you will have to check manually once you know where to look (which we explain below).
Also note that, again, while they are ‘restricted’ you will be able to see what they say to you but you won’t be able to message them until you unrestrict them at which point they will see read receipts for you again.
How to Turn Off, Stop, and Disable Read Receipts in Facebook Messenger
This will work both if you are on your computer using a browser, or using the FB app. In each there is now an option, per person with whom you are messaging, to “restrict” them.
How to Turn Off Read Receipts in the Facebook app
Open FB Messenger. From the list, locate the person for whom you want to turn off read receipts but don’t click on them.
Very gently start to slide the person’s entry to the left until you see two sections, ‘More’ and ‘Archive’. If you slide the entry too far to the left it will automatically archive the person’s messages, and you don’t want that.
Click on ‘More’ and this menu will open up:
Click on ‘Restrict’ and that contact will be moved to the restricted area.
Once someone is moved to the restricted area you will no longer be notified of their messages, and they won’t know whether you have read their messages until you unrestrict them (which you will have to do to respond to them).
How to View Messages from a Restricted Contact or to Unrestrict Them When Using the Facebook App
Open the FB Messenger app and click on the gear icon to get to the settings section
Find the ‘Privacy & safety’ section and click on it
Under the Privacy & safety menu, go to ‘Restricted accounts’
How to Turn Off Read Receipts in a Computer Browser
Open the chat with the person whom you want to restrict. Click on the drop-down menu next to their name. Click on ‘Restrict’. They will be moved to the restricted area.
Once they are moved to the restricted area you will no longer be notified of their messages, and they won’t be able to tell when you have viewed their messages until you unrestrict them (which you will have to do to respond to them at which point they will once again see read receipts).
To View Messages from Someone Who is Restricted or to Unrestrict Someone When Using a Browser
Open up the chat section of Facebook in the browser, and click on the 3 dots next to the word “Chats”
Click on ‘Restricted accounts”
Remember, in order to respond to someone whom you have restricted you will have to unrestrict them, at which point they will see read receipts from you again.
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i hate facebook – but you can disable read receipt on the *iphone app* through: >preferences
> privacy & safety
> read receipts
its always been an option. not sure about other phones. dont see option through messenger when using on a laptop browser.
Hi Mikki! Weirdly that only showed up on the latest update for us and a whole lot of others we’ve asked – so thank you for bringing this to our attention! TIP