Today, most WhatsApp users are finding the double blue ticks/checks next to their messages, telling them that their message has been read. Currently, users have no control over this new feature.
As I wrote yesterday, and some of our commenters have expressed the same, being able to see when your message has been read has the potential to cause some people unnecessary stress. WhatsApp has until now been very good about user to user privacy – the ability to turn the time stamp on and off is a good example of this, something you can’t do on Facebook Messenger, for example.
Now, a German WhatsApp beta-tester based in California has said on Twitter that you will be able to disable the double blue check marks in the future. This is certainly good news for people who feel pressured to reply to messages. The blue ticks were activated without the necessity of an update to WhatsApp, but it’s likely that a new setting control like this will arrive in a future update that you’ll have to download.
Source: Ilhan Pektas
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