WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the key features of WhatsApp is the ability to see when a message has been delivered and read by the recipient. This also applies to WhatsApp statuses, which allow users to share photos, videos and messages that disappear after 24 hours.
What are WhatsApp statuses?
WhatsApp status is a feature that allows users to share text, photos, videos and GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. Statuses are displayed at the top of the chat list, with the most recent updates from your contacts shown first. Tapping on a contact’s status opens their status update in full screen view.
Statuses automatically disappear after 24 hours and are replaced by new updates shared by your contacts. Unlike standard WhatsApp messages, statuses are broadcast publicly to all your contacts rather than sent privately to specific people. You can control who views your status updates by changing your privacy settings.
Do WhatsApp statuses show read receipts?
Yes, WhatsApp has read receipts for statuses that allow you to see which of your contacts have viewed your status updates. When you post a new status, the profile pictures of the contacts who have viewed your status will appear below it. These read receipts update in real-time as more contacts view your status.
By default, read receipts are turned on for statuses. However, you can disable them by going to Settings > Account > Privacy and toggling off ‘Read Receipts’. This will prevent contacts from knowing when you’ve viewed their status updates.
Who can see your WhatsApp status?
Your WhatsApp status is visible to all contacts who have your phone number saved in their address books. Your status is also visible to WhatsApp groups that you are a part of.
You can customize your status audience and select specific contacts who can view your status updates:
- Go to Settings > Account > Privacy
- Tap on ‘Status’ and select one of the following options:
- My Contacts: Your status will only be visible to your contacts
- My Contacts Except: Choose specific contacts to exclude
- Only Share With: Select individual contacts who can view your status
If you don’t want anyone to see your status, you can select ‘Nobody’ in the status privacy settings.
Read receipts vs. blue ticks
It’s important to understand the difference between read receipts and blue ticks on WhatsApp:
- Read receipts – Show exactly which contacts have opened and viewed your WhatsApp status updates
- Blue ticks – Indicate when a message has been successfully delivered and read. Blue ticks appear when recipients open the chat screen, not necessarily the message itself.
So while blue ticks show a message has been received, read receipts confirm your status has actually been viewed by specific people.
Who can see your read receipts?
By default, your contacts can see when you’ve viewed their WhatsApp status updates via read receipts. However, you can disable this in your privacy settings:
- Go to WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy
- Tap on ‘Read Receipts’ and toggle off the switch
This will prevent your contacts from knowing when you’ve viewed their status updates. The read receipts under their statuses will no longer display your profile icon.
Read receipts vs. disabling read receipts
| Read Receipts On | Read Receipts Off |
|---|---|
| Your contacts can see when you’ve viewed their status updates | Your contacts can NOT see when you’ve viewed their status updates |
| You can see which contacts have viewed your status updates | You can NOT see which contacts have viewed your status updates |
So disabling read receipts makes your status viewing private but also means you won’t know who views your status updates.
How to tell if someone has read your status
If read receipts are enabled, you can easily see if a contact has viewed your status by checking for their profile picture under your status. Their profile picture will appear as soon as they open your status.
The number of contacts who have viewed your status is also displayed – so if the number goes up, you know someone new has viewed it even if their picture hasn’t loaded yet.
Ways to tell if someone read your status but their picture doesn’t appear:
- The view counter has increased
- Their online/last seen status changes after you posted the status
- They liked or replied to the status
- They reference something you posted
If read receipts are off, the only way to know if someone viewed your status is if they interact with it somehow – like, comment or mention it in chat.
Read receipts for individual status updates
The read receipts shown under your status indicate who has viewed your current status. Previous status updates do not show read receipts separately.
So if you want to see who viewed a specific status you posted earlier, your only options are:
- Check immediately after posting to see the live read receipts
- Take a screenshot of the viewers just under your new status
- Remember who liked/commented on the status when it was live
There is no WhatsApp feature that lets you retroactively see read receipts for old statuses.
Troubleshooting missing read receipts
If you’ve posted a status but can’t see certain contacts’ profile pictures even though they should have seen it, here are some possible reasons:
- They have read receipts disabled in their privacy settings
- Their WhatsApp version is out of date and doesn’t support read receipts
- They opened your status notification from outside WhatsApp
- Poor internet connection or other technical issues
If someone is online but their profile picture still doesn’t show up, it likely means they have disabled read receipts for their privacy.
Limits to read receipts
While read receipts provide a useful indicator, it’s important to remember some limits:
- They only show the first time someone opens your status
- No record of how long they viewed or if they screenshotted
- People can disable read receipts in their settings
- Technical issues may prevent some read receipts from displaying
So while read receipts give a good sense of who has seen your status, they do not provide the full picture.
Conclusion
In summary, WhatsApp statuses have read receipts that let you see exactly which contacts have viewed your status updates in real-time. You can also disable read receipts for your own privacy if you don’t want contacts knowing when you’ve viewed their statuses.
While read receipts provide useful insight into who has seen your statuses, there are some limits to consider. Overall though, it remains a helpful feature to understand on WhatsApp’s platform.