WhatsApp is one of the world’s most popular messaging applications, beloved by and used by millions all around the globe, every single day. It allows its users to communicate via voice, text, call, video, GIF or image, in individual person-to-person chat rooms, or in groups both large and small. What’s more, Meta (formerly Facebook) advertises its WhatsApp messaging service as end-to-end encrypted, and thus safe, secure, and private.
One of the most controversial features of WhatsApp, of course, is the ‘tick system’, which is applied to every message you send to a contact or group. The tick system tells you when a message has been sent, received, and read. But what does one tick on WhatsApp mean?
Read on to find out! And, if you want any other information, or have further questions, we recommend you check out our FAQ section at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
What does one grey tick on WhatsApp mean?
When you send a message on WhatsApp, you require an internet connection. Provided you have one, you’ll see a small grey tick appear to the bottom-right of the message’s speech-bubble soon after you’ve tapped send.
A single grey tick on a WhatsApp message indicates that your message has been successfully sent to its recipient(s).
What do two grey ticks on WhatsApp mean?
We might as well answer this question, too!
One grey tick means that your message has been successfully sent. Two grey ticks, on the other hand, mean that it has been successfully received. In other words, your recipient’s device is connected to the internet, and therefore their WhatsApp app has received your message.
Two grey ticks in a group chat may or may not indicate that the message has also been read, however, in an individual chat with a single contact, two grey ticks means that the message has been received, but not yet read.
What do two blue ticks on WhatsApp mean?
And last but not least… If your sent message has two blue ticks attached to it, then that means that your message has been successfully sent, received and read by the recipient. However, don’t be distressed if it isn’t replied to for a while – be patient and remember that not everyone uses WhatsApp the way you do. Some people spend very little time on their phones, and may not get back to you for a few hours, days, weeks, or even months.
FAQs
What tick are we referring to?
WhatsApp, the world’s premier messaging app, controlled and owned by Meta (formerly Facebook), has created a very specific system of ticks to allow its users to know how their messages are being received.
As we’ve explained above, different ‘ticks’ mean different things on WhatsApp – whether your message has been sent, delivered, or read. But what are these ticks and where will you find them?
The ticks (or check marks) are located in the bottom-right corner of every single message bubble that you send on WhatsApp. They are also found to the left of the message excerpt displayed next to chat thumbnails on the main ‘Chats’ screen, provided you were the last person to send that contact or group a message.
Go and take a look at your WhatsApp messages just now, and you’ll see them immediately. The colour and number of ticks can tell you everything you might want to know about your message.
How long will my messages stay on one tick on WhatsApp?
One tick, as we’ve detailed above, means that your message has been sent from your end (via your internet connection), but has not yet been received on the other end by your contact. This tells you that your contact does not have internet connection, or has their phone/device(s) turned off.
As such, your message could technically stay on ‘one tick’ indefinitely. The length of time it will remain on one tick depends entirely on how long it is until your chosen contact reconnects their device(s) to the internet.
When will I know my message has been read on WhatsApp?
The answer to this question is different depending on whether you have sent your message to a group chat, or an individual contact.
Typically, when your message’s tick turns to two blue ticks, this indicates that your message has not only been received, but also actively read by your contact(s) on WhatsApp. However, this is not always the case for group chat messages.
Since there are multiple participants in any group chat, two blue ticks on your message could only be applied once every member of the group has actively read your message. Depending on the size of your group, and the activity of its members, this could take a long time, or actually never happen.
With group chats, you’ll often find that your message is replied to whilst its tick-mark remains two grey ticks: indicating that it’s been delivered to the members of the group.
Can I turn off ticks on WhatsApp?
There are two types of people when it comes to WhatsApp users – those who love the tick system, since it allows them to keep very specific tabs on their messages and their online-relationships with their contacts, and those who feel the system is an invasion of their privacy (since they cannot help but alert their contacts to the fact they have read their message(s)).
Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off the tick system on WhatsApp. However you interact with a message, there will be a responding indication given to the original sender. Nonetheless, if you don’t want everyone knowing that you’ve read their messages, the best thing you can do is simply not to open the message(s) until you’re ready to reply.
