WhatsApp now tells when you read messages
- Posted on
- Comment
The popular messaging application (app), WhatsApp has added a new feature, and users will now find a small but useful change.
WatsApp will now light up its double-check marks blue when a message has been read.
Many users have misinterpreted the double check marks next to messages to indicate that a message has been looked at, as so may other platforms offer the feature, but that’s not the case.
In reality, the double check marks simply mean a message has been received by the other user (the single check only tells you the message reached WhatsApp’s servers).
The blue coloring adds a third layer of information, as an updated FAQ will confirm.
Alternatively, you can long press on a message to access a ‘Message Info‘ screen, detailing the times when the message was received, read or played.
One could use ‘last seen’ indicators on the top left of a conversation to know when a contact was last in the app, but the blue check marks are more direct.
It would have been nice to see this added in as an on opt-out feature though – some users may not be so fond of the additional information.
You should start receiving the new read receipts so long as you have the newest version of WhatsApp for Android or iOS.
-TWN
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
[email protected] An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)