12 March 2023 , 19:04
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In a world where we're all in contact with each other all the time, sometimes it's impossible to reply to all messages straight away, no matter how much you may like the sender. Given that many people view being left 'on read' as a bit of a faux pas, the pressure piles on to reply as soon as you open a WhatsApp message.
For those who feel anxious as soon as those two little blue ticks pop up, there is an answer to your prayers, and it may buy you a bit of time before you need to formulate a response.
Many WhatsApp users may not be aware that they can read messages in full without opening them, alleviating some of the unnecessary stress.
An ideal hack for when you need some extra time to respond (NurPhoto via Getty Images)As per Android mobile device management solutions company AirDroid, you should, first of all, long-press your home screen, bringing up a menu page.
Then, you should tap Widgets, which will in turn show all available widgets. Find the '4 x 1 WhatsApp' widget and pull this onto any of your home pages, long-pressing it once added to enlarge it. Of course, you have to be careful, as tapping any chats will activate them, alerting senders.
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This hack is for Android users only, unfortunately. Although iPhone users can choose to disable read WhatsApp receipts in WhatsApp itself, preventing friends, family, and co-workers from spotting those ticks, this also means they won't be able to see when others have seen their messages in turn, which is less than ideal.
If you're an iPhone user who wants to disable receipts, you should tap 'More options' on WhatsApp, before clicking on 'Settings'. You should then head to 'Privacy', where you will be given the option to turn off read receipts.]
According to the WhatsApp website, this action, unfortunately, won't disable read receipts for group chats and neither will it play receipts for voice messages, as "there's no way to turn those settings off".
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