WhatsApp has become one of the most popular means of instant messaging for people using smartphones.
Users can send texts, voice or video messages, make voice and video calls and share images, and documents both individually and in groups on the system, which is owned by Meta.
But knowing whether your message has been received or read requires getting to grips with its tick terminology.
We take a look at what the different tick symbols mean when you send messages on WhatsApp.
What does one tick mean on WhatsApp?
Ticks appear next to a message once it has been sent. A single grey tick indicates the message has been successfully sent.
Two grey ticks mean the message has been delivered to the recipient’s phone or any of their linked devices. The second grey tick will appear when a message is delivered to any of the recipient’s linked devices, even if their phone is off.
In a group chat, the second tick appears when all participants have received the message.
Two blue ticks show the recipient has read the message. And in a group chat, two blue ticks will only appear when all participants have read the message.
When a message is edited, the read receipts reset so the sender can see who has viewed the updates.
What is the message info screen?
If you want to find out more detail about when the message was received and read, users can go to the message info screen.
The message info screen can be found by:
- Opening an individual or group chat
- Tapping and hold the message you sent
- Tapping on info
The message info screen will show when the message was delivered and when it was read and seen.
What happens if read receipts appear to be missing?
There are a number of reasons why the two blue ticks (or a blue microphone or opened label) may not appear on a message.
The recipient might not have opened the conversation yet or their may be connection issues for sender or recipient.
If the recipient has blocked the sender on WhatsApp, then read receipts will not appear.
Users can also disable read receipts in the WhatsApp privacy settings, which would mean they would not appear.
