If you feel that read receipts and typing indicators are more harmful than useful, we ‘ll show you how to hide them in Facebook Messenger .
How to Hide the Seen and Typing Icons in Desktop Messenger
There ‘s no built-in option for turning off “ typing ” or “ seen ” on the desktop version of Facebook Messenger. As a consequence, you need to turn to browser extensions to do the speculate .
You ‘ll find respective Chrome extensions that claim to disable the type and seen indicators in Messenger. unfortunately, these tend to come and go, and there ‘s no guarantee that an extension like this wo n’t be bought out by spammers. At the prison term of write, though, the keep up options are running .
We did n’t include Unseen for Facebook, another popular instrument, due to several reviews reporting that it hijacked search results .
This propagation allows you to disable respective Facebook Messenger features :
- The “message seen” icon
- Read receipts
- When you were last active
- The “typing…” indicator
You can besides choose to use the extension on messenger.com in addition to Facebook ‘s Messenger page. The app is well-reviewed and while it has n’t been updated since January 2019, during testing it functioned by rights .
MAKEUSEOF VIDEO OF THE DAY It does require access to all the data on every web site you visit, though, which is excessive. Our next choice is more privacy-conscious .
This is a less popular reference for the job, but it works equitable ampere well. rather of a list of options, Messenger Unread just disables read receipts and typing indicators. You can click the extension picture in your toolbar to toggle it on or off — -when it ‘s blue, understand receipts are disabled .
Messenger Unread was last update in February 2020, meaning it ‘s more current than some of the other choices. The instrument is besides open-source ; the developer advertises that it ‘s merely 30 lines of code. This means you can check the beginning for yourself to make sure there ‘s nothing fly-by-night going on .
In our test, the “ read ” index still appeared next to our own messages for the other person, but they did n’t know when we had seen their messages .
How to Appear Offline on Facebook Messenger
If you do n’t care about read receipts but want friends to think you ‘re offline on Messenger, you can toggle a set. Click the Gear icon at the top-left of the Facebook Messenger window. hera, you ‘ll see a luger labeled Show when you’re active .
Turn this murder, and friends wo n’t see if you ‘re on-line or not. Please note that to in full disappear you ‘ll need to disable it everywhere you use Facebook or Messenger, so you should turn it off on your telephone excessively. To do that, open the Messenger app, tap your profile movie in the top-left, choose Active Status, and toggle the slider Off .
How to Hide Read Receipts in Mobile Messenger
There are n’t any extensions like the above when using Facebook Messenger on Android or io. For that, you ‘ll need to employ a few tricks to check messages without showing that you have read them .
Use Notifications to Preview Messages
The first direction to peek at Facebook Messenger messages is using the notifications on your device. Both Android and iOS allow you to show banners for new notifications and review them at a late prison term .
Using these, you can see a preview of incoming messages without alerting the other party. The downside to this is that if a message is longer than a few lines, you ‘ll alone see the first share of it in the presentment .
first, in the Messenger app, tap your profile video at the top-left to access options. here, choice Notifications & Sounds and make certain you have notifications On and Notification previews enabled .
Image Gallery (2 Images)
From there, you can read a snip of incoming messages through your call ‘s notification list at any time. It will appear on your lock shield, equally well as by dragging down from the top of the screen to show your presentment tilt on both Android and iPhone .
If you want, you can further customize how notifications appear and whether they play a voice — -and on iPhone, if they persist until dismissed .
To change Android notification settings, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > See all X apps > Messenger > Notifications. hera you can change the individual presentment settings for the assorted types of alerts .
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On io, visit Settings, scroll down to Messenger, and choice Notifications to change io notification settings. You can choose to toggle the alerts on your lock riddle, telling center, or banners. Change the Banner Style to Persistent if you want it to stay until you dismiss it .
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Use Airplane Mode to Preview Messages
Another classic trick to read messages in secret is using airplane mode on your phone. This allows you to open the app and read the message while offline, sol Messenger does n’t know that you looked at it .
After you receive a message, you ‘ll want to turn on airplane mode on your earphone before accessing it. On Android, swipe down twice from the top of the riddle to access the Quick Settings dialog box and rap Airplane mode .
If you ‘re an iPhone drug user you can do this by opening Control Center and tapping the Airplane mode icon. On an iPhone with Face ID, swipe toss off from the top-right corner of the screen to access Control Center. If your iPhone has a physical Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen alternatively .
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once you ‘re in airplane mode, open Messenger and spirit at the message you want to read. After you ‘ve checked it out, you should force-close the app from the app switcher. This prevents the app from letting Facebook know that you ‘ve opened the message .
On Android, you can do this by swiping up from the bottom of the screen door and holding for a moment. If your call inactive uses the classic three-button navigation dodge, tap the Square icon on your navigation barricade. then swipe Messenger away to fully close it .
If you have an iPhone with Face ID, open the app switcher by swiping up from the bottomland of the screen door and holding in the middle for a moment. On iPhone models with a Home button, double-press the Home button to open the app switcher. then merely swipe away the Messenger app .
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After you close the app, you can disable airplane mode. You ‘ve successfully read the message without letting the other person know .
The Best Facebook Messenger Features
In this article we ‘ve looked at how to hide the “ seen ” and “ type ” messages in Facebook Messenger as best you can. So if you ca n’t see that person is typing in Messenger, the chances are that they used one of the above strategies to get around this function .
alternatively, they might have copied and pasted their message from another app to avoid the “ type ” index prove .
For more tips and tricks, check out the best Facebook Messenger features to try .
persona credit rating : Pathdoc/Shutterstock
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About The Author
Ben Stegner
( 1788 Articles Published )
Ben is the Editor in Chief at MakeUseOf. He left his IT job to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He ‘s been covering technical school tutorials, television game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over seven years.
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