Chat apps provide one of the most comfortable ways to communicate with others, but some of them truly lack the concept of privacy. There is a simple way you can read Facebook and Whatsapp messages without the other person knowing, but why do we need to go through so much trouble for this purpose?
That’s because the Facebook Messenger app will automatically display a read receipt to the sender as soon as you read the message and there is no option to toggle it off.
On the other hand, WhatsApp which is also owned by Facebook does have the option to disable read receipts but this means you won’t be able to see them either. Let’s just say the situation is a bit more critical with the Messenger app.
How to read Facebook and Whatsapp messages without the other person knowing
It can be awkward to read someone’s message and not reply to it right away, as they will see you have read theirs. So, if you don’t want to be forced to reply as soon as you read a new line, here’s how you can read Facebook and Whatsapp messages without the other person knowing.
Airplane Mode
The ‘read’ status of a message is updated via the Internet so when your phone is offline, you can read it without updating that status, and the sender doesn’t get the read receipts. You could switch off your Wi-Fi and cellular connection, but the easier solution is to simply enable Airplane Mode. This way you can shut off any kind of online connectivity with just one tap.
Ok, now let’s go through this one more time, just to be sure everything is clear. Enable Airplane Mode on your phone (it doesn’t matter if it’s an Android or iOS device), open Messenger or WhatsApp and read the message. Then you can go ahead and disable Airplane Mode. Even if you are to look at that message again, those read receipts still won’t show up to the sender. Let’s just say that messages accessed this way are ‘read receipt-proof’.
Notifications
As another way to cheat the whole read receipts system on Messenger and WhatsApp, you can just take a quick peek at incoming banner notifications. Of course, if the message is longer, you won’t see all of it, but even just a few words are enough to get what it’s about and whether it’s worth reading it all of it or not.
If you’re getting several messages one after the other, things might get a bit hectic on the notifications screen, in which case you can simply rely on the first method mentioned above in order to read Facebook and Whatsapp messages without the other person knowing.
And if you’re wondering why on Earth doesn’t Facebook Messenger have the option to disable read receipts, there’s no clear reason, but Facebook, in general, is quite limited as far as privacy is concerned. As a result, it would be unrealistic to expect any significant changes in the near future at least.
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