People are only just learning about a little-known trick on WhatsApp that allows you to read someone's full message without opening up the chat.
For better or for worse, everyone is constantly available to contact these days through social media and messaging apps.
And not replying to somebody as soon as you've opened their message is likely to make them feel a certain way, as getting "left on read" often has negative connotations.
A simple way around this would just be not to open any messages until you're ready to reply. But if you want to buy yourself some time to formulate a response, there's a simple trick that can be used on WhatsApp that helps you do just that.
The Mirror reports that many WhatsApp users may not be aware that they can read messages in full without opening them, alleviating some of the unnecessary stress.
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. Locate the '4 x 1 WhatsApp' widget and pull this onto any of your home pages, long-pressing it once it's added to make it bigger.
You'll need to be careful while doing this, as tapping any chats will activate them and alert the senders.
Unfortunately, this trick only works on Android phones.
However, iPhone users can choose to disable WhatsApp read receipts in the app itself, preventing friends, family, and co-workers from spotting those ticks.
But this also means they won't be able to see when others have seen their messages, which isn't always ideal.
If you're an iPhone user who wants to turn off read 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 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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