Instagram Testing New Feature To Disable Read Receipts In The DM

Instagram will now allow users to turn off read receipts in the DM.

Anyone who doesn’t want their admirers to know they actually see their messages can soon turn off their read notifications. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced this week that the feature is in its testing phase. The option to cut the read receipts off will be housed in settings under the “Privacy & Safety” tab. Once there, IG users will begin seeing an option that says “Read Receipts,” which can be turned off and on.

Apple devices have long offered this feature for iMessage, allowing device owners to decide whether or not they want people to know when they read their texts. As of now, it’s still being determined when the feature will be rolled out for everyone. It’s also yet to be determined if they’ll implement this on the Facebook Messenger App. However, there is already an option on both Instagram and Messenger to turn off their activity status, which prevents people from knowing when someone is online.

This is just the latest in several new Instagram updates. Threads, Instagram’s Twitter rival, will now allow users to delete their Threads profile without terminating their Instagram. When the extension of IG was first announced, many users who signed up were disappointed to learn that both apps were conjoined and couldn’t function without the other. Earlier this year, Meta as a whole rolled out additional parental controls as well.

Will you be turning those read receipts off moving forward?