How To Tell if Someone Got your Text Message

Text messaging technology has come a long way over the past two decades. What once was a more difficult form of communication with flip phones has become one of the easiest forms of communication with smartphones. Text messaging is instant; it feeds our need to send and receive information quickly.

Unfortunately, the drawback to this form of communication, as opposed to standard phone calls, is the lack of instant feedback. So, you’ve sent a text to one of your contacts, and now you’re left wondering, “Did they receive it? Have they read it? When will they respond?”

The good news is that advancements have been made, and you can now see read receipts on both Android and iOS smartphones. This article will teach you how to tell if someone got your text message and provide you with some other helpful tips as well.

How to Tell if Someone Got Your Texts on Android

The Android operating system runs on a variety of smartphone models. From LG to Samsung and even Motorola, different manufacturers have different versions of the same operating system. It is, for this reason, that we’ll cover Android’s Advanced Messaging in this section.

Android’s Advanced Messaging function is similar to the iPhone’s iMessage. You can send larger files, higher-quality images, and get feedback on your texts.

Note: If you do not see this option in your phone’s Settings, or you can’t enable the feature, contact your cellphone carrier. Or, update your phone to the newest version of Android.

Although the instructions may vary slightly depending on your phone model, you can get read receipts using your native text messaging application. Here’s how you enable read receipts on your Android device:

1. Open your text messaging app and make sure you’re on the conversations page. Click the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner.
   
2. Tap on Settings.
   
3. Tap on Advanced Messaging.
   
4. Toggle all of the available options on.
   

It’s vital that you toggle on Advanced Messaging and that you share your own read receipts. Otherwise, the function will not work properly. If you text another person and do not see the read receipts, it’s either because they aren’t using Android’s Advanced Messaging feature, or one of you does not have these options turned on.

These instructions are valid for most Android devices. But as mentioned previously, they may vary depending on your cell phone carrier or the version of Android OS you’re running. If you can’t find the Advanced Messaging option, go to your phone’s settings and type in Advanced Messaging in the search bar. This should take you right to it.

Now, you can see if your text message was delivered, if the other person read it, and if they’re typing.

Enable Read Receipts in iOS

iPhones are notorious for their read receipts. One of the first operating systems to offer the feature, read receipts are usually on by default. You can see when another person is typing, if your message was delivered, and if they’ve read it. In this section, we’ll tell you all about how to see if someone got your text message on an iPhone.

Note: Read receipts are only available on communications between two iPhones when both are using iMessage. If you’re texting an Android user or a person who doesn’t have a great internet connection, you will not see read receipts on an iPhone.

As long as your recipient has their read receipts turned on, you can see them. There are two ways to turn this feature on; by contact or for everyone. Let’s review both.

To turn on your read receipts for everyone, do this:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone and tap on Messages.
   
2. Toggle the switch for Read Receipts on.
   

To enable read receipts for only one contact, do this:

1. Launch iMessage and select a contact.
2. Select the ‘i’ icon in the top right of the screen.
   
3. Toggle ‘Send Read Receipt’ to on.
   

You can toggle the read receipts on and off as you see fit. You just need to remember you enabled it. Now, you can seee if your message was delivered, read, or still sending.

If these methods don’t work for you for some reason, keep reading for third-party solutions.

Read Receipts and Facebook Messenger

If you want to tell if someone got your text message in Facebook Messenger, read receipts are enabled by default. There is no option to turn off read receipts in Facebook Messenger. If you want to see when another person gets a message you sent them, the Messenger app is the way to go.

If you see an empty blue circle, your message is being sent. If you see a blue circle with a tick, it has been successfully sent. A filled blue circle with a white tick means the message has been delivered, and the recipients’ profile image will appear once the message has been read.

The downside with this is when you are busy doing something else or when you aren’t in the mood or don’t have the energy to reply to that person. They will be notified of the delivery and that you’ve read the message, meaning they will be expecting a reply.

There is a way around it though. You can either use airplane mode once the message has arrived so you can read it without sending the read receipt or read it as a notification. Once airplane mode has been enabled you have to read the message, then quit iMessage before disabling airplane mode otherwise iMessage will send the receipt once it has a connection.

Read Receipts in WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a popular messaging application that a lot of people use daily. For a third-party workaround, this one’s pretty great. You can see when someone receives and reads your messages on this app. Here’s how to make sure that yours are on:

1. Open WhatsApp and tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner.
   
2. Tap Settings.
   
3. Tap Account.
   
4. Tap Privacy.
   
5. Toggle on the option for read receipts.
   

WhatsApp uses smaller ticks. One gray tick shows you the message was sent, while a double gray tick shows when it is delivered. When those ticks change to blue, you know the recipient has read the message. You can even select the message to find out exactly what time it was read!

Other chat apps

Other chat apps like GroupMe, Kik, WeChat, and others have their own versions of read receipts. It is often necessary for mobile apps as networks can be unreliable or spotty. The app and the sender need to know their messages are getting through.