“What is the meaning of blue ticks in WhatsApp?”, asked a friend of mine when suddenly her WhatsApp began to show two blue ticks in message bubbles.
“Why these WhatsApp double blue ticks appear only in some cases?”, asked another friend. Together, we did a few little experiments to find the answer.
Blue tick in WhatsApp is the answer to a long pending demand from WhatsApp users. These blue color ticks show that your message has been seen by the recipient. Earlier a large number of WhatsApp users thought that the gray color double tick icon indicates that the message has been read. That was a misconception. Gray colored double tick only meant that the message has been delivered on the mobile phone of the recipient. By the way, did you know that now you can actually use WhatsApp chat on your PC as well?
“Has been seen” or “has been read” receipt was a much sought after feature. Finally WhatsApp has begun to roll it out. As soon as you press SEND button in WhatsApp, the first icon that appears in the bottom right corner of your message bubble is the “clock icon”. The clock icon means that your message is still within your own mobile phone and has been queued for dispatch. In most cases, clock icon disappears even before you can see it. The second icon is single gray tick. It shows that your message has been dispatched from your mobile phone and it has landed on the WhatsApp server.
Read also: I know you love WhatsApp chat with your friends. You must be interested in sending some clever status messages to your friend. Moreover, if you want to attach a symbol with your messages, you should also learn the meaning of WhatsApp symbols aka emoji.
After single grey tick comes the double grey ticks icon; which indicates that your message has been delivered on the target mobile phone.
Meaning of WhatsApp Blue Ticks is that your message has been seen by the recipient.
It was great so far. But users also wanted to know if the message was read by the recipient. Newly introduced blue ticks mark is the answer. When double grey tick icon turn into blue tick icon, you can be sure that the message has been seen by your WhatsApp friend. This could be a privacy concern for many people. So, you will soon get a new version of app with an option of hiding WhatsApp blue ticks.
That’s an often asked question. You’ll notice that you see blue tick icon in WhatsApp conversation with some friends but not in other conversations.
Read also: How to stop a message sent to a wrong person!
These double blue tick marks appear only in those cases where both the parties have the updated version of WhatsApp. If you’ve seen blue tick icon in any of the WhatsApp conversation in your mobile, that means you already have an updated version. But if your friend is yet to update her WhatsApp version to the latest, then you’ll not get to see blue ticks in chat with her. Whenever she will update or WhatsApp will automatically update itself in her mobile phone, only then blue ticks begin to appear.
WhatsApp groups are meant for conference chatting. All group members participate in such a conversation.
In case of a WhatsApp group, you will see blue ticks only when all the members of the group have seen the message posted by you. Similarly, double grey tick will appear only when your message will have delivered to all the members. Before this you’ll see only single grey tick.
BONUS TIP: To know the status of your messages in WhatsApp, you can long press the message to select it. Then on top of the WhatsApp screen, you’ll see “info icon” ( letter i written inside a circle)… tap of this information icon and you will get the status of your message.
I hope this was useful information for you. Please feel free to ask should you have any questions on this topic. I will be happy to try and help you. Thank you for using TechWelkin!
I am confused too. I don’t think it makes a difference if someone sees or read with the double blue ticks. If I send someone a message, she might see and not read and still show the double clicks.
I see 2 grey check marks on msg sent but 2 blue on info screen.
Hi, I sent a few messages to a friend and they all showed blue tick marks. since I didn’t get any response, I spoke to him and he told me he hadn’t received any messages and that he hadn’t updated Whatsapp in a long while. Why did it show the messages as read then? Is this even possible?
Thanks!
please could you tell me what three circles mean beside the read section
Hi Lalit! I’ve a brain-teaser for you: I have privacy turned on (so I don’t expect double blue ticks), sent a message, person hasn’t blocked me (verified), shows *one* grey tick, yet when I swipe to see message info, delivered I get double grey tick, read double blue tick (but with no times)!! Is it a bug?? Cheers!
I also have noticed this and I also wondered how come WhatsApp can overlook such a simple thing! I don’t think it’s a bug in WhatsApp, it is probably just ignorance.
I am confused too. I don’t think it makes a difference if someone sees or read with the double blue ticks. If I send someone a message, she might see and not read and still show the double clicks.
Sometimes when I send a message it shows double tick in grey, but when i long press and check info it shows read status with 3 circles next to it. What does that mean? the receiver has read the message but time is not shown, whereas time is displayed next to delivered status.
Hope you got what i mean
I’m still confused about the double blue tick
Could you please elaborate what’s the confusion?
If a friend hides blue tick; is there any alternate option for a sender to know whether his message has been read by the receiver who has hidden the blue ticks?
You can long press a message to select it and then tap on the info icon.
Hi Lalit
Want to know…if i press the info icon and see “read” but it doesn’t show any time when the message was read. What does it mean?
Hi Ann, WhatsApp, at present, does not show the time when a message was read. It simply shows whether a message has been read.
Hi cant see my friend’s last seen and when I send messages only two grey ticks appear even read. So I am assuming that she has the old version of WhatsApp? Also when pressed on info of the sent message never gives me the info when read but only delivered (sometimes that’s same as when she reads it) bit confused. Many thanks!
Hi Sandy, yes, all these things point to the possibility that your friend is still using an older version of WhatsApp.
Hi lalit
Since its diwali time I received a msg from my friend with a link when I clicked it it showed a Chinese website and an image wherever we click a firework appears
Since the website is in a different language should we forward it
Is it safe?
Hi Rashi, if I were you, I would not forward such messages. It is better to send wishes as typed text or as images. Sending links is not a good practice.
Hi, I used to see blue ticks when I chat with one of my friends but now they are always grey, he reads and reply but they are still grey. How does it happen, I don’t understand.
You should have a latest version of WhatsApp installed in your phone. And then check the read receipt setting as explained in the article. If you have an older version of WhatsApp installed -you may not see the blue ticks.
Sometimes even recipient opens the conversation, only some messages shows blue ticks. For example, my yesterday’s messages got two gray ticks still whilst today’s messages shows blue ticks. Does it mean my other messages not read but as opens up to whole chat how can then only part of the message is read only?
Hope I made sense, thanks.
Hi Sandy, I understand what you mean. And you’re right that such a thing is logically incorrect. I am only guess that gray and blue ticks in the same WhatsApp conversation is just a result of problem in update. The gray ticks should be blue, but this information was not properly updated in your phone. If you’ve blue ticks on a WhatsApp message, it can be safely assume that all the previous messages were also read irrespective of what sort of ticks they are showing.