How to see who has read a message

‘Did everyone see that?’ is a real question when you are running a rota or a team. In a group chat you can answer it properly, because every message tells you how many people have read it, and you can see exactly who.

Checking who has read a message

1. Open the group conversation in Chat.
2. Under a message you have sent, you will see something like Read by 2 of 20.
3. Tap it to see the list. Each person shows either the date they read it, or Not yet read. Leaders are marked with a Leader label.

You can also open the same list by tapping the member count under the group name at the top of the conversation.

One-to-one conversations

In a one-to-one conversation you get ticks beside your message instead, telling you it has been delivered and read. There is no list to open, because there is only one other person. See How to send a message.

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Good to know

• This is genuinely useful for anything with a deadline: a rota change, a venue change, a cancellation. You can chase the three people who have not seen it rather than messaging the whole group again.
• Use it kindly. Read receipts tell you whether a message has been opened, not whether someone had time to act on it, and a group that feels monitored stops being a group people enjoy.
• Somebody who has muted the conversation may not have been notified, so an unread message is not always someone ignoring you.
• For anything genuinely urgent, a Broadcast reaches people as a push notification whether or not they are in a chat group. See How Broadcasts work, and what your church controls, and Broadcasts, email or SMS: which to use when.
• If you need to settle a question rather than check it has been seen, a poll may serve you better. See How to use polls in a group chat.