How to Tell if Someone Read Your Texts
Look for the "Read" status on a text. Read receipts let the other person know that you've read their message. If both you and the person you are texting with have read receipts enabled (and your texting apps are compatible), you'll both always know when the other person has opened a text message because you'll see a "Read" status on the text. Read receipts can be helpful to confirm that someone received an important text, but it can also create anxiety in people who don't want to feel pressure to immediately respond to texts they've obviously read. You can combat this drawback by specifying which contacts use read receipts on iPhone and Samsung phones. Enabling read receipts is a one-way action—if you turn it on and the other person does not, you won't know when they've read your texts. They also have to turn it on for you to see if they've read your message, which they can do by following the same steps on their phone.
Turning on Read Receipts on iPhone
Open Settings. It's the app icon that looks like a gear. You can enable RCS for iPhone this way, then users on Android who also have RCS enabled will be able to see Read Receipts. You can enable RCS in Settings > Apps > RCS Messaging by tapping the toggle to turn it on. If you only want to use read receipts with certain people, jump down to step 4.
Tap Apps. It's at the very bottom of your screen. If you're using an older version than iOS 18, you can skip this step.
Tap Messages. It's next to a green speech bubble icon.
Tap the toggle next to "Send Read Receipts" to turn it on. The switch will be green and pointing to the right if it's enabled. Instead of every text you send via iMessage just saying "Delivered," now you will see "Delivered" and "Read." You'll see "Delivered" until the person views the message, then it will change to "Read."
Turn on Read Receipts for a specific contact (optional). If you don't want to enable Read Receipts for everyone, you can turn the feature on for specific contacts. Here's how: Open Messages, which is the green speech bubble icon. Tap the name of the conversation at the top. It will either be their phone number or the name of the person you're communicating with. Tap the toggle next to "Send Read Receipts" to turn it on. The switch will be green and pointing to the right if it's enabled.
Turning on Read Receipts on Android (Google Messages)
Open the Google Messages app. It has a white icon with a blue speech bubble. Google Messages is the official Android texting app and comes preinstalled on most Androids. Some Android phone manufacturers, such as Samsung and Xiaomi, come with their own messaging apps preinstalled. If your phone does not have Google Messages, you can download it from the Google Play Store. To see read receipts in Google Messages, both you and the person you're texting must be using a texting app that supports RCS and have read receipts enabled. Read receipts require an internet connection, so you'll need to have Wi-Fi or cellular data enabled. You can enable RCS for all users, not individual chats.
Tap your profile picture. It's in the upper-right corner. If you have not uploaded a profile picture to your Google account, this icon will be a colored circle with your initial in the middle.
Tap Messages settings. It's near the bottom of the menu. Tapping this opens the Settings menu.
Tap RCS Chats. It's at the top of the Settings menu. This displays the RCS Chats settings.
Tap the switch next to "Turn on RCS chats" to turn it on. It's the first option at the top of the menu. If the toggle switch is blue and to the right, it is on. If it is not on, tap the toggle switch to turn it on. You've turned RCS on, but aren't done yet!
Tap the toggle switch next to "Send read receipts" to turn it on. This switch should be pointing to the right if it's on.
Turning on Read Receipts on Samsung Messages
Open the Messages app on your Samsung Galaxy phone. It's the light blue-green icon with a white outline of a chat bubble. Samsung Messages comes preinstalled on all Samsung Galaxy phones. After enabling read receipts with this method, you'll be able to see when another person using Samsung Messages or Android Messages (who has also enabled read receipts) has read your texts. If you only want to use read receipts with certain people, jump down to step 7.
Tap ⋮. It's the three vertical dots at the upper-right corner of your screen.
Tap Settings. Doing this displays your messaging settings.
Tap Chat Settings. This is where you'll find your advanced texting features, including the option to enable read receipts.
Toggle the switch next to "Share read status" to turn it on. This is the option that lets you know when the message is opened by the recipient (and vice versa). If you want to be able to see when the other person is typing (and vice-versa), you can also toggle on "Show typing indicators."
Send a text message while connected to the internet. When your friend (who also turned on read receipts) reads your message, you'll see the word "Read" and a time stamp beneath it. Your friend will see a similar thing when you've read their message. If you're not connected to the internet, your texts will be sent through SMS. SMS texts won't display read receipts. If you find that you are not seeing read receipts from people using Google Messages, try downloading Google Messages and using that instead. Samsung Messages and Google Messages are designed to work seamlessly together, but there could be hiccups here and there.
Turn off read receipts for one person (optional). If you don't want to send read receipts for a specific contact, you can disable read receipts for that contact. Here's how: Open the chat in Samsung Messages that you want to disable Read Receipts for. Tap ⋮ in the top right corner of the chat. Tap Send Read Confirmation. It will change to "Don't send read confirmation." Read receipts for that contact have been disabled. You can repeat this process to disable Read Receipts for multiple people.
Read Receipt Limitations & Alternatives
Not every phone will send RCS or read receipts smoothly. Although it's a very popular function, it does have some aches and pains. For example, getting RCS to work through Android and iPhone is supposed to work without issues, but that's not always how it works out. If you're running into trouble using iMessages on iPhone or Google Messages/Samsung Messages on Android, there are alternatives, including: WhatsApp Facebook Messenger Signal
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