How to turn on and off read receipts in iMessage

If you've got an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5 or higher or a Mac running OS X Mountain Lion, you can use iMessage to send free text, photo, and video messages to anyone else in the world as long as they're using an iMessage capable device as well. Read receipts allow your contact to see whether or not you've viewed a message yet. While some people may consider read receipts to be a bit stalker-ish, others may find them useful for work and business situations.

Regardless of why you need them, we can help you turn them on or off no matter what iOS device or Mac you're using.

How to turn read receipts on or off on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

1. Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

2. Scroll down and tap into the Messages section.
3. Tick the option for Send Read Receipts to On if you'd like contacts to know that you've read their messages. If you don't want contacts to know when or if you've read them, make sure the option is ticked to Off.

4. That's all there is to it. With read receipts on, your contacts will see a read status underneath your messages with a time stamp showing what time you read their message.

How to turn read receipts on or off in Mac OS X Mountain Lion

1. Launch the Messages app on your Mac running OS X Mountain Lion.

2. In the top navigation menu, click on Messages and then click on Preferences.

3. In the window that pops up, go to the Accounts tab and select your iMessage account in the left hand panel of accounts.
4. There is a tick mark box labeled Send read receipts. Make sure it is checked if you'd like your contacts to be able to view read receipts for any messages sent to you.