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Lion007s

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 16, 2014
180
202
Australia
As you all are aware, you can turn on Read Receipts for iMessage.

When you open a thread and view a message, it'll be shown as Read to the person who sent you the message.

However if you see the message on the lock screen and decide to swipe on it and hit the "x", it'll appear as Read as well even though in the Messages app itself it is still unread.

If you decide to clear the message from notification centre, it does not appear as Read to the other party involved, and it is still unread in the Messages app.

The same happens on the Apple Watch - If I receive an iMessage and then raise my wrist to view it, I get two options: Reply and Dismiss. If I hit Dismiss, it appears as Read. If I clear it from the Watch's notification centre, it remains unread.

Why is Apple inconsistent? Shouldn't hitting the "x" on a message from the lock screen leave it unread to the person who sent the message too? This needs to be fixed!
 
This is working correctly, you just don't understand.

If you click the X, you are implying that the message was read. If you swipe down from the top to clear messages from your lock screen, you have not yet read the message.
 
But it depends on the setting on the receiving iOS device.
You can tell imsg not to send read receipts in the settings options.
 
This is working correctly, you just don't understand.

If you click the X, you are implying that the message was read. If you swipe down from the top to clear messages from your lock screen, you have not yet read the message.
Why would you imply that you read the message if you are simply dismissing a notification about it (which might not even display all of the message to read)?
[doublepost=1453485214][/doublepost]
But it depends on the setting on the receiving iOS device.
You can tell imsg not to send read receipts in the settings options.
Sure, but if you want to have that enabled to indicate that you read the message why should it indicate that you read it if you simply dismissed the notification of the new message and didn't actually read it yet?
 
Why would you imply that you read the message if you are simply dismissing a notification about it (which might not even display all of the message to read)?
[doublepost=1453485214][/doublepost]
Sure, but if you want to have that enabled to indicate that you read the message why should it indicate that you read it if you simply dismissed the notification of the new message and didn't actually read it yet?

because there are two ways to dismiss notifications. one way is to read it, another way is to not read it. this makes perfect sense but for some reason you guys are having a problem understanding.

the way it works now is perfect. if someone sends me a message that says "ok", i can just swipe left and read that message by dismissing it. if the message warrants a response, i can clear it from my notifications using the other method and it will still be unread in the messages app.
 

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because there are two ways to dismiss notifications. one way is to read it, another way is to not read it. this makes perfect sense but for some reason you guys are having a problem understanding.

the way it works now is perfect. if someone sends me a message that says "ok", i can just swipe left and read that message by dismissing it. if the message warrants a response, i can clear it from my notifications using the other method and it will still be unread in the messages app.
It seems that you are implying that clearing or dismissing a notification is equivalent to reading it when the action that you are performing is simply clearing/dismissing a notification and nothing else. Perhaps somehow you think it's the same as reading the message and therefore it makes sense, but that's not what the action is as it's simply a dismissal/clearing of notification, not actual reading of the message. In fact the message remains being marked as new on your device, clearly indicating the system doesn't believe it's been read, even though it tells the receiving party that it has been.

Factor in the fact that if you dismiss such a notification from the Notification Center itself it doesn't appear to mark that message as read (per what the OP posted), so clearly at the very least there's a disconnect between the clearing/dismissal (using the "X") working one way in one place and another way in another place, which doesn't make much sense.

On top of that, in plenty enough cases all of the message can't even fit in the notification, so clearly a message can't even said to be read in those cases even if someone might think that dismissing/clearing a notification is the same thing.

As for the two X's in the included screenshot, the differentiator between those is not that one is read and one is dismissed, it's that one is dismissed action that is specific to the particular/individual notification, and another is the dismissal action that is for the whole group of notifications (depending on if you have notifications grouped by apps or by days essentially).

Certainly seems like there's confusion and inconsistencies that are causing misunderstandings, but they don't appear to lie in the posts that you think they lie in.
 
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there is no confusion or inconsistencies. it makes perfect sense and i like the way it is. if i get a small text that doesn't need a response i can read it from the notification centre by using 1 of the 2 X's. if i need to respond later, i'll use the other X.
 
there is no confusion or inconsistencies. it makes perfect sense and i like the way it is. if i get a small text that doesn't need a response i can read it from the notification centre by using 1 of the 2 X's. if i need to respond later, i'll use the other X.
Except the other X dismisses all the notifications you have which can be be well beyond message notifications. Why would the same control--the X--perform different things in different places: in some places it's just dismissing/clearing something in some places it's doing more than that? That alone is an inconsistency when it comes to the UX.

Not to mention nothing like that exists on the lock screen.

In addition to the fact that if its not a short message you can't even read it all to say that it's been read.

And even if the system sends a read notification to the recipient in those cases the message is still treated as unread on your end.

All are at the very least inconsistencies, if not more.

So, while you can certainly say you might like it the way that it is, or at least don't mind it, clearly there are inconsistencies that are present nonetheless (again, even if you somehow happen to like them or at least don't care about them).
 
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Except the other X dismisses all the notifications you have which can be be well beyond message notifications. Why would the same control--the X--perform different things in different places: in some places it's just dismissing/clearing something in some places it's doing more than that? That alone is an inconsistency when it comes to the UX.

Not to mention nothing like that exists on the lock screen.

In addition to the fact that if its not a short message you can't even read it all to say that it's been read.

And even if the system sends a read notification to the recipient in those cases the message is still treated as unread on your end.

All are at the very least inconsistencies, if not more.

So, while you can certainly say you might like it the way that it is, or at least don't mind it, clearly there are inconsistencies that are present nonetheless (again, even if you somehow happen to like them or at least don't care about them).

if it's that important to you then you can group your notifications by application in the settings menu.

either way, i'm failing to see why this is a big issue.
 
if it's that important to you then you can group your notifications by application in the settings menu.

either way, i'm failing to see why this is a big issue.
Even then you would still be dismissing all message notifications and not just a particular one that you want to (and on top of it changing notifications to appear in a way that you might not necessary want want to see them in).

I don't think anyone necessarily sees it as a big issue (or at last I personally don't), but it's an inconsistency and an issue on some level nevertheless, and could be more of an issue for someone and not much for someone else.
 
if it's that important to you then you can group your notifications by application in the settings menu.

either way, i'm failing to see why this is a big issue.

I see where you are coming from. Sometimes when you wish to just dismiss a Message notification from the lock screen, you don't want the other recipient to know it has been read when it might not have been (since it could be a long message that doesn't display fully). It even shows as Unread in the Messages app still, so why should it be sent as "read" to the recipient? There is a lack of consistency that needs to be addressed here because not every message is a short "ok", some are longer. I think CD M did a great job at explaining everything
 
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