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

[dysamoria]

Unsurprised.

Has anyone at Apple fixed the bug where iOS will download iTunes music when a car commands it to play music, despite having ALL RELEVANT SETTINGS set to NOT LET IT DO THAT???

 

[darkslide29]

Very interesting conversations in this thread 🤣.

The biggest reason I leave read receipts to on is just to know something I sent has been read, and I don’t really need a reply. Just need to know they got the message. If my partner is driving home from work, and I send a quick message to let them know something (for example, I’m making dinner, don’t worry about picking anything up), and I see that it’s been read, that’s good enough for me. Rather they don’t text and drive anyway. Without the read receipt, I might feel the need to call them to see if they got my message and make sure we don’t end up with two dinners. Not the best example, but hopefully makes sense.

My previous partner would notice immediately if read receipts were off. Especially problematic for me when it was a bug, because I never turned it off intentionally. Like really paranoid, being called out for being secretive. Apple getting me in trouble!

 

[dumastudetto]

This is a cool new feature for me. I've started seeing read receipts for all people I interact with, and I know when they are ghostin' me.

 

[RaoulDuke42]

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

No. This all about having a device that serves my needs— and not being at the mercy of the whims of others. I have my iPhone permanently set to show absolutely no Messages notifications, everything goes to my Watch. But if I’m not wearing my Watch, or have it and the iPhone in Do not Disturb (and the Watch face set to something without a Messages complication), it’s because I don’t want my mental space invaded when I’m reading an article or what have you. To each their own, but I strenuously resist the concept of being at everyone’s beck and call all the time.

 

[jarman92]

Relatedly, do you guys think it's "red receipts" "or reed receipts?" ?

 

[LivingMyBeachLife]

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

Because some people will take a read message as you need to respond RIGHT NOW!!! I know you saw my message, you need to respond NOW!!! It's not that you are hiding anything. People just don't want to be bombarded with a response. I may read a message while i'm in the doctors office and have to drive to run errand etc. I may not be able to respond. But with a read receipt, people become impatient and want an immediate response.

 

[UnjustifiedBot]

I had a family member with read receipts on. I messaged them several times in a minute or so. They never responded. I ended up calling them later that night and they said they never got the messages…? I knew at that point where we stood. It was actually something about family medical history and pretty important questions I needed answered. The bug must be active for them.

 

[usagora]

You took the time to actually open the message and read it. You can't take another 2 seconds to reply? If that's your thought process just read it in your notification center instead of opening it and leaving someone hanging on "read".

Some replies need time for consideration - you may not know or be sure of how to reply right away. Also, longer text messages may have to be opened to be seen in their entirety (and ones that do appear in their entirety can be accidentally tapped on). Yes, one could always reply with "let me get back to you on that" but they may not be in a place where they can reply for safety reasons or because they get interrupted by a phone call or something.

 

[msackey]

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.

I can't help but think this could never end. We'd have a Seen Seen-Read Receipt, a signal for when the other party has seen that you have seen their Read Receipt.

Is it "turtles" all the way down? ?

 

[PC_tech]

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.

Then seeing you read a message is giving them information? ???

 

[usagora]

Then seeing you read a message is giving them information? ???

How is it not? It's telling them what you did (opened their message). That's information about you.

 

[usagora]

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

Because it's just that - a preview, not necessarily the whole message. Longer messages need to be opened to be read in full.

@RogerWade You need to decide whether you're laughing for no reason or angry for no reason. You've got me confused with all these reactions. Better yet, explain how what I or anyone else said is angering or laughable. Seems pretty common sense to me.

 

[antiprotest]

At Apple, our customers' privacy and security are our top priority, unless...

 

[antiprotest]

Then seeing you read a message is giving them information? ???

Definitely. For example, you might not want them to know when you are awake or available. Say, if you boss sends you a text on Sunday morning or a family night, and you wanted to read it in case there is an emergency, but if it's not, you might not want to respond. There are hundreds of scenarios like this. It is essential to be able to control read receipts.

 

[notabadname]

The “read” is nice for those you choose to use it with however to allow NO response. For example, “I’m running 15 minutes late and will see you at the restaurant at 5:45 now”

If i see that you read it, that’s all i need. No response required. I just need to know you got the message. Without “read”, I am going to message again or call you to make sure you know.

 

[ian87w]

You took the time to actually open the message and read it. You can't take another 2 seconds to reply? If that's your thought process just read it in your notification center instead of opening it and leaving someone hanging on "read".

If your message requires immediate reply, and you have the time to type, that means you also have the time to press the call button and speak. If you don't, then your message is actually not that important, even for yourself as you don't feel the need to put the extra effort to reach the other person.

 

[polyphenol]

The “read” is nice for those you choose to use it with however to allow NO response. For example, “I’m running 15 minutes late and will see you at the restaurant at 5:45 now”

If i see that you read it, that’s all i need. No response required. I just need to know you got the message. Without “read”, I am going to message again or call you to make sure you know.

Were I to receive such a message, I'd send "OK" (or similar) rather than rely on a read receipt. Simple politeness and trying to avoid any possibility of miscommunication.

 

[uberzephyr]

You took the time to actually open the message and read it. You can't take another 2 seconds to reply? If that's your thought process just read it in your notification center instead of opening it and leaving someone hanging on "read".

So your approach is turn it on and then just always reply as soon as you read it, because otherwise they are left "hanging". Aside from the fact that you're implying that their wanting to converse with you is more important than anything else you may be in the middle of, you're making the assumption that every reply is "2 seconds". Many (although not most) times it involves something that will take me a significant amount of time to compose a reply, maybe because of data gathering I have to do, I'm in the middle of something else, or maybe just because I need to be particularly careful about how I word something. To cover those cases, I have it turned off, and the people that may merit a "2 second reply" just have to deal with that.

 

[assb10yr]

It's a feature required by china.

 

[uberzephyr]

And that's why you can enable or disable it per contact. If you have someone who isn't a paranoid stalker, and they respect that you might see the message but not respond right away, by all means turn read receipts on for that contact.

I wasn't aware you could turn it on or off by individual! It's not available in the Contacts app (where I would have thought it would be), it is set in the Messages thread itself. Thanks for making me go look that up!

 

[notabadname]

Were I to receive such a message, I'd send "OK" (or similar) rather than rely on a read receipt. Simple politeness and trying to avoid any possibility of miscommunication.

I would too. But if the recipient is driving, or otherwise engaged, I at least know the message was received.

 

[MrRom92]

Everyone out here afraid of someone knowing you saw their message… puh-lease. I leave read reciepts on, I *want* you to know I’m ignoring you!

 

[Yurmomgoestocollege]

My freedom to choose.

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

Edited because I replied to the wrong perso And can’t figure out how to change it. Anyway, my reply to Sir Controlling:

People like you are controlling and think everyone has to jump to answer you. You are the exact reason we need this feature. Our life doesn’t revolve around your demands. We aren’t hiding anything we just won’t be controlled. We answer when we feel like it.

 

[hankito]

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

Your comment is complete nonsense. What you mean to say is that it punctures your bubble of control and information and you can’t have that. People who require to know things that are none of their business make me suspicious and uncomfortable. The people I message can’t wait.

 

[sarah60]

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

We found that turning off "Share focus" in each message you send by tapping the person's name and then scrolling down will stop the read receipts from sending. Don't know if this is sporadic or if it is a fix. Either way, it is annoying.