For those who tend to delay replying to messages, activating read receipts on messaging platforms is often a beneficial move for maintaining transparency with friends and colleagues.
Popular messaging apps, such as Signal and Facebook Messenger, have incorporated this feature, allowing users to know when their messages have been read by their contacts, and vice versa.
Google Messages, which has supported read receipts since the introduction of RCS (Rich Communication Services), recently updated the feature with new read receipt icons within chat bubbles.
Now, the app is set to bring these delivery status indicators to the conversation list, eliminating the need to open a message to determine if it has been viewed.
Within the conversation pane, Messages now displays read receipts to the left of a message. The presence of two checkmarks inside a circle indicates that the message has been delivered to the recipient, while a solid circle containing checkmarks signifies that the message has been read.
This enhancement allows users to easily identify unread messages and those that have been seen. Despite its usefulness, this update could result in a more cluttered conversation list due to the addition of two checkmarks alongside the “You:” label.
Furthermore, according to 9to5Google, Messages is testing a new counter for unread messages in users’ inboxes. These counters, which replace the dot next to the timestamp, will be displayed in the top right corner of an unopened message, indicating the number of unread messages in a conversation.
Currently available only on the beta channel, these updates are poised to become valuable additions to Messages, especially for users keen to break the habit of reading a text and then closing the message window without responding.
Read receipts serve as a useful reminder to avoid opening messages unless you are prepared to respond immediately.
As part of its efforts to bring RCS to a range of smartphones, Google has collaborated with numerous manufacturers and carriers, including Samsung, HUAWEI, and most US carriers.
While enabling read receipts on Google Messages allows others to see when you’ve read their messages, it does not guarantee that you can see when they’ve read yours.
This feature must be activated by the other user and is only available on select devices and carriers.
