When you open a DM (Direct Message) on Instagram, the user who sent you the message can see that you have opened it via a small “Read” notice underneath the post.
Of course, users do not always want other users to know whether they have opened a message or not – which brings us to a question: can you turn off read receipts on Instagram?
In short, no. There is no tool on Instagram which switches this reads notice off.
However, there are things you can do to ensure that Instagram does not monitor you opening the message – and it uses your devices airplane mode.
Using Airplane Mode to Hack Instagram’s Read Receipts
- Open your Instagram app and navigate to your message inbox, by clicking the paper airplane icon in the top right hand corner of the home page
- Once all your messages have loaded, use the shortcut to turn your device onto airplane mode
- Once in airplane mode, open the message that you want to read, without letting the user know that you have read their message
- Click out of the message back to your Instagram homepage, before turning your device out of airplane mode
By having your device in airplane mode while opening and reading the message, the app will not have been able t register your activity – and so will not send a read receipt to the other user.
You can then choose to open the message properly at another time, delete it, or leave it in your inbox (it will still appear in bold as an unread message until your device can track you opening it).
We hope this helps you to deal with unwanted messages!
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