This short article explains how you can troubleshoot when read receipts feature for iMessage is not working on iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone 18 Pro Max. Several iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max users have noticed that read receipts are not always sending or are failing to deliver. For instance, some users have said that they stopped getting the notifications that their messages are read even though they know that read receipts are turned on.
When you receive a message, you can let the sender know whether or not you have read the message. This is a handy feature named Read Receipts. You can enable or disable “Send Read Receipts” in Messages on a per contact basis or for everyone who sends you text messages. If you turn this off, the sender will still see the “delivered” status indicating that your message successfully delivered to the recipient’s device (but it is not possible to know that the recipient has seen it). If you enable it, the sender will see the “read” status once the message is read. Here is what you can do if this is not working.
Please note that read receipts work with iMessage, and also with RCS. RCS is provided by your cellular carrier rather than by Apple, and it appears in green bubbles; Apple says RCS supports read receipts and typing indicators, so you may see them with some contacts who are not using iMessage.
Two things to know before you troubleshoot
- You can only turn read receipts on for yourself. Whether you see a “Read” status under a message you sent depends on the recipient having read receipts turned on, not on your own setting. If you have stopped seeing them from one person, ask that person to turn theirs on.
- A per-contact setting can override the general one. Apple notes that turning off Send Read Receipts in Settings affects only conversations with contacts whose read receipts you never turned on individually — so anyone you turned them on for, one person at a time, keeps getting them. You can also turn read receipts on or off for a single contact from the conversation. To check one contact, open the conversation and tap the contact icon at the top, then look at Send Read Receipts.
How to fix read receipts on your iPhone 18 Pro:
After you try each step below, please check to see if your problem is fixed.
Before you start doing anything, make sure that iMessage is on. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages and check this. If not toggle it on. Sometimes, iMessage may say “Waiting for activation.” If this is the case, just wait, it may take up to 24 hours to activate. If you are still seeing this, contact Apple.
Furthermore, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and verify that Send Read Receipts is enabled.
1-Restart your device. You can do so by going to Settings > General > Shut Down and then restart your device.
2-Make sure that your device has the latest version of iOS. You can do so by going to Settings > General > Software Update.
3-Go to Settings > Apps > Messages and disable Send Read Receipts and wait a few seconds and turn it back on.
4-Restart the Messages app. To do this, go to Home screen and swipe up and find the Messages app by swiping left or right and then swipe up on the Messages app and then reopen the app and try again.
5-Try the following:
- On your device, go to Settings > Apps > Messages and then disable iMessage
- Then restart your iPhone.
- Once your device is on, return to Settings > Apps > Messages and turn iMessage back on.
6-Are you using your phone number or your Apple account email for iMessage? If you are using your Apple account email, sign out of your Apple account and then sign in again. You can check this by going to Settings > Apps > Messages and find the “Send & Receive” option, tap that, and if it is your Apple account email (it can also be your phone number), sign out and then sign in.
7-On your device, go to Settings > General > Date & Time and make sure that your time zone is set correctly. You may want to Turn on Set Time Automatically.
8-Try to delete the entire chat conversation, and start a new conversation.
9-Reset your network settings. Note that this will reset your network settings like Wi-Fi passwords etc. To do this, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
