Your iPhone May Be Sending Message Read Receipts Even If You Turned Them Off

[MacRumors]

A recurring iOS bug that makes Apple's Messages app send read receipts despite the setting being disabled appears to be on the upswing again, based on reports from users running iOS 15.

In iOS, with read receipts enabled (Settings -> Messages -> Send Read Receipts), the "Delivered" text that a person sees under an iMessage they have sent you turns to "Read" when you've viewed it in the conversation thread, so they know you've seen the message even if you've not responded. The setting syncs across all Apple devices signed into the same Apple ID.

Over the last few years there have been sporadic reports that Messages doesn't always observe the user setting, but according to Macworld's Glenn Fleishman, the bug appears to be rearing its head again, only this time for a larger number of users running the latest version of iOS 15.

Some people have found that restarting their device resolves the problem, at least temporarily, but no permanent fix has been discovered, suggesting Apple needs to change something about the way the function works in a future update to its mobile operating system. We'll update this article if we learn more.

Article Link: Your iPhone May Be Sending Message Read Receipts Even If You Turned Them Off

 

[Christoffee]

This is annoying! I have read receipts on, except for people that I manually turn them off for. How do I know it’s working??

 

[Kleber20]

Oh no

 

[svish]

Irritating bugs in software. Hope Apple fixes it soon.

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

 

[senttoschool]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

Nothing. I just don't/can't always reply right away. I turn it off so you don't get butt hurt.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

My freedom to choose.

 

[polyphenol]

I'd very much wish to switch off read receipts for all - with exceptions. People close to me, for example, I am happy for them to see read receipts. But I definitely don't want to allow others to have any more information about me than is unavoidable.

 

[justperry]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

Nothing to hide, just don't want them to see it for the sole reason I can't instantly reply to them, or not in the mood, or not interested (In case of being part of a group).

Nothing. I just don't/can't always reply right away. I turn it off so you don't get butt hurt.

^^^^This

Some really expect you to instantly reply, problem is, you can't or are not in the mood to reply instantly.

 

[Kleber20]

^^^^This

Some really expect you to instantly reply, problem is, you can't or are not in the mood the instant reply.

Couldn’t you read the message from the notification preview? That’s what I do and then ignore people and their reply into oblivion if I am not in the mood

 

[SirAnthonyHopkins]

Nothing. I just don't/can't always reply right away. I turn it off so you don't get butt hurt.

If you have friends who get "butt hurt" (what an awful phrase) when you don't reply immediately upon having seen a message, get better friends!

 

[rotlex]

Oh the horror! ?

 

[ouimetnick]

This is annoying! I have read receipts on, except for people that I manually turn them off for. How do I know it’s working??

You don’t, and “we think you’re gonna love it”

-Tim Cook

 

[LeeW]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

I am hiding the fact that I have read it because I know you will be sitting there 10 seconds after you know I have read it moaning that I have not replied already.

 

[PsykX]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

I don't want to create expectations or anxiety. I might have read the message, but will respond to it later. Texting generates the expectation and pressure to get an answer instantaneously.

 

[rocketbuc]

Quite annoying. Is there a way to ensure that it is disabled?

 

[Nicole1980]

If you have friends who get "butt hurt" (what an awful phrase) when you don't reply immediately upon having seen a message, get better friends!

Its not just friends who text you, but relatives, work associates, maybe even someone you dated once and is asking when the second date will be and you havent decided how to answer that yet.
Theres all sorts of reasons why I'd rather have someone think that i havent read the text yet.

 

[jive turkey]

This has been going on for me since 15.0, so it isn't just the latest updates that are causing it, but it seems to mostly happen on my iMac oddly enough. I am constantly having to go to individual messages and turn read receipts off. What my iPhone is doing is turning on shared focus status, despite me having it disabled everywhere, causing me to again have to go into messages individually to turn it off (this time on my phone).

Annoying for sure.

 

[Seanm87]

Another one of the turn off read receipts team. Most annoying thing known to man. I’ll reply to you when I want.

 

[yabeweb]

iOS 15 shows very well and even more every day how smart working can affect quality.

 

[BootsWalking]

We need a "Seen Read Receipt" feature, which tells us when the original sender has seen the read receipt our phone sent him when we read his message. That would make the sharing of read receipt info a two-way street - it would also notify/remind us that our phone is sending read receipts, either because we enabled them or because of the bug described in this article.

 

[RiddlaBronc]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

And i bet you have face/touch/passcode enabled.
What are you hiding?

 

[wallinbl]

People who have read receipts turned off make me suspicious and uncomfortable. What are you hiding?

A better question is why do you want to see when I've read your message? The suspicious behavior is needing to know this. It makes you a stalker.

 

[rsnhakan]

This problem was also in iOS 14. Hope they will fix it.

 

[polyphenol]

We need a "Seen Read Receipt" feature, which tells us when the original sender has seen the read receipt our phone sent him when we read his message. That would make the sharing of read receipt info a two-way street - it would also notify/remind us that our phone is sending read receipts, either because we enabled them or because of the bug described in this article.

And a receipt to show that the person has seen/read the "Seen Read Receipt"?