How to Turn off Read Receipts on TikTok

Read receipts have become commonplace across a number of messaging apps and social media platforms. On TikTok, they refer specifically to the messaging feature of the app, where users can communicate directly with other users in private and group chats.

Read receipts can sometimes be a useful way to know if another user has seen and opened your message – however, they can lead to difficult conversations and awkward encounters when a seemingly important message is missed or ignored. As a result, many users are opting to switch off read receipts, preserving a little more privacy around how and when they access the app and their messages.

In this article, we’re sharing a quick guide on how to turn off read receipts.

5 Steps to Turn off Read Receipts

1. In the TikTok app, navigate to your profile page
2. Click on the menu button in the top right hand corner, indicated by the three horizontal lines
3. Select ‘Settings and Privacy’ and then ‘Privacy’ from the top block of the menu
4. Scroll down to the Interactions section of the Privacy menu, and select ‘Direct Messages’
5. Use the ‘Read Status’ toggle to control whether or not other users can see when you have opened and read a message. If the toggle is switched to ON, people can see when you have read their messages. So, if you want to turn read receipts off, you need to switch the toggle to the OFF position.

It’s as simple as that!