WhatsApp introduced Read Receipts in November 2014 to show when a message had been read. The feature became recognizable through the app’s check marks, especially the blue double check marks associated with opened messages.
Before Read Receipts, senders could generally tell that a message had been sent or delivered, but not necessarily that the recipient had opened it. The new signal answered a common question in digital messaging: has the other person actually seen what I wrote? That made chats more informative, but also created new social pressure around replying.
Read Receipts are not the same as delivery indicators. A message can be sent, delivered to a device, and then read—different stages represented by different check-mark states. WhatsApp also allows users to disable read receipts in privacy settings for many one-to-one chats, although group chats and some other situations follow different rules.
The feature is often confused with Status, Channels, or newer account-security tools such as passkeys. Those serve different purposes: Status is temporary sharing, Channels are broadcast-style updates, and passkeys help with authentication. Read Receipts specifically concern message-reading visibility.