If you’re an iPhone user, you might notice that iMessage shows you a timestamp when someone reads your message. But you may want to turn this feature off for some reason.

Fortunately, you can turn off read receipts on iMessage for everyone or for specific contacts. Here’s how to do it on iOS and macOS.

1. Go to Settings

When you send someone a text, they’ll know you read it by seeing a small read note in the text bubble that appears on your device. Similarly, they’ll also see this small read note when you view their messages on your phone.

This is a great feature to have if you need to send important or time-sensitive messages quickly. But, if you’d rather avoid the annoyance of people knowing when you’ve read their messages, it’s easy to turn off the feature on an iPhone.

You can do this by going to Settings on an iPhone. Then, scroll down to Messages and tap the Messages tab.

2. Scroll down to Messages

If you want to know whether someone read your text message, turn on read receipts on an iPhone. It’s also a great way to make sure you’re not missing any important messages that you’re not ready to respond to right away.

You can easily enable and disable read receipts on a global basis, or on a person-by-person basis. The global setting affects all interactions with iMessage, including messages you send to contacts in the iMessage app.

It’s also a good idea to turn off read receipts for individual conversations, so that other people can’t see if you’ve read their message. That’s especially helpful when you have sensitive or private information that you don’t want anyone to see.

To do this, scroll down to Messages on an iPhone or iPad. Then, tap the Messages tab to enable or disable read receipts.

3. Tap the Messages tab

Read receipts are the Apple equivalent of WhatsApp’s blue checkmarks that show someone on iMessage that you have viewed their message. This feature can be a little annoying, but it’s easy to turn off or only disable them for specific contacts.

To turn on read receipts on an iPhone, tap the Messages tab and then scroll down to Send Read Receipts. This will show you a list of all of your messages, with a toggle that lets you switch on or off the read receipts feature for each.

When you turn on read receipts, it will display the words “Read” and the time the message was read next to your messages in a blue text bubble. You can also hide this feature on a conversation by tapping the info icon in the top-right corner of the conversation.

4. Scroll down to Send Read Receipts

Read receipts are a handy feature in iMessage that lets recipients know when you’ve read their messages. This can come in handy if you have a time-sensitive response that you want to make sure your friend has seen.

However, there are times when it doesn’t make sense to have them enabled. For example, if you have a business or need to protect your privacy.

Thankfully, Apple makes it easy to turn them on or off. To do so, all you have to do is scroll down to Send Read Receipts in your iPhone’s Settings app.

Then, tap the toggle switch to turn them on or off depending on your preference. In iOS 11, you can even toggle it on a per-contact basis, so you can selectively enable or disable them for certain people.

While read receipts can be a lifesaver, they can also cause some people angst. If you’re the kind of person who gets a little bit upset whenever a friend reads a message you sent, then this is a feature that you should turn off.

5. Tap the switch to turn it on

Read receipts are a useful feature for sending time-sensitive messages. However, you may want to turn them off for certain situations or people in your life.

You can do this on an iPhone. Just open up Messages and tap a conversation to enable or disable the Send Read Receipts switch.

When this switch is on, other people will see that you’ve read their messages and when you’ve done so. This can be a little annoying if you’re not ready to respond or don’t want to reply to something.

If you’re worried about other people knowing that you’ve read their messages, you can turn off read receipts for all contacts or on a per-contact basis. To do this, open up Messages and tap on a conversation to toggle it on or off for each person.

Android phones also support read receipts, although they don’t work in group texts. You can turn them on or off in Google Messages and RCS-enabled messaging apps like Signal.

6. Tap the switch to turn it off

A read receipt on iMessage shows that you have seen the message and is useful for time-sensitive messages. However, you may not want to have them enabled all the time.

To turn off read receipts on an iPhone, go to Settings. Then, scroll down to Messages.

Then, you can choose to enable or disable read receipts for all conversations or for a specific person. You can also turn them on for some contacts and off for others.

When you have your switches set up, select the switch type – either Screen, Camera, Back Tap, or Sound – and then choose the action that you want it to perform. You can also add a long press to a switch so it only responds when you hold the switch down for a specific amount of time.

7. Tap Done

If you’re using an iPhone, you can turn on read receipts to see if other people have viewed your text. These are similar to WhatsApp’s blue checkmarks, but they’re built into Apple’s iMessage app.

This feature lets you know if other people have read your message and when they did so. It can be a handy feature to have, especially if you’re sending something that may need to be responded to quickly.

However, they can be a nuisance, too. If you’re not ready to respond to someone’s message, or if you don’t want to reply at all, having your phone tell them that you have read it could make you feel a little uncomfortable.

There are a few ways to turn on read receipts on an iPhone, but there’s one important thing to keep in mind: You can only use this feature with iMessage. That’s because SMS messages don’t support this feature.