If you don't want someone to know if and when you've seen their message, you'll need to turn off read receipts. Fortunately, Apple makes it easy to disable read receipts in iMessage. We'll show you exactly what you need to do on your iPhone.

Turn Off iMessage Read Receipts for Everyone on Your iPhone

In most cases, you may want to turn off iMessage read receipts completely so nobody can see if you've read their texts.

To turn off read receipts on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Messages and scroll down to Send Read Receipts. Toggle the switch off to make sure that read receipts are deactivated.

When you turn off read receipts, you won't be able to tell if others have read your messages. The same applies if you disable read receipts on third-party apps like WhatsApp.

Turn Off iMessage Read Receipts for Specific iPhone Contacts

Apple's Messages app also gives you the option to turn off read receipts for specific conversations. So, if someone in particular is bothering you about not responding to texts quickly enough, you can disable read receipts for your iMessage thread with them.

Launch the Messages app and open a conversation with the individual you don't want to share read receipts with. If you don't have an existing conversation, you'll have to create one to access this feature. Then, tap the profile picture at the top of the screen and toggle off Send Read Receipts.

Do remember that there are other ways to read iMessage texts without alerting the sender besides disabling read receipts. For instance, you can go offline before viewing the messages or read them from the notification previews on your iPhone's Lock Screen or Notification Center.

Maintain Your Privacy While Using iMessage

Although useful in their own way, read receipts come at a cost to privacy. Thankfully, Apple's Messages app makes it easy to turn off read receipts for everybody or select individuals regardless of the device you use. From now on, you don't have to worry about responding to messages as soon as you've read them.