How to Turn Off Blue Tick in WhatsApp: Android, iPhone, and Web (2026)

Overview: Turning off the blue tick in WhatsApp means disabling Read Receipts in your Privacy settings. Once off, people will no longer see blue ticks when you read their messages, and you will no longer see theirs. The setting takes three taps on Android and three taps on iPhone. It applies automatically to WhatsApp Web and Desktop — no separate configuration needed. Group chats and voice messages are exceptions where blue ticks continue to appear regardless of your setting.

Before the steps: WhatsApp uses "blue tick" to mean two different things. The first is the verified business badge — a blue tick next to a business name that shows Meta has confirmed the account is authentic. The second, which this guide covers, is the read receipt mark that appears on messages to show they have been opened. These are completely separate features with completely separate settings. If you are looking to understand or apply for the business verification badge, that is a different process entirely. This guide is specifically about the read receipt tick in personal and business chat messages. For sending bulk campaigns to your contact list, a free WhatsApp bulk message sender tool handles outreach independently of your read receipt setting.

Every message in WhatsApp goes through three states, each shown by a different tick indicator. Understanding each state helps you interpret what you are seeing accurately before changing any settings.

The transition from grey to blue only happens when the recipient actively opens the chat. Reading a message in the notification preview, on the lock screen, or through a home screen widget does not trigger the blue tick. The message must be opened inside the WhatsApp app itself for the ticks to turn blue.

Two grey ticks with no blue does not mean you have been ignored or blocked. It most commonly means the recipient has not opened the chat yet, or has read receipts turned off.

Also Read: How to Get Blue Tick on WhatsApp Business: Official Steps for 2026

Turning off Read Receipts in WhatsApp Privacy settings is the official method to remove blue ticks. The change is immediate and applies in both directions.

These steps apply to all Android devices. The Privacy menu location is the same across Android versions.

1. Open WhatsApp on your Android device.
2. Tap the three dots in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Settings from the dropdown menu.
4. Tap Account.
5. Tap Privacy.
6. Scroll down to Read receipts.
7. Toggle the switch off. The toggle turns grey when the setting is disabled.

Once the toggle is off, your sent messages will stop turning blue for contacts, and you will no longer see blue ticks on messages others send you. The change applies immediately with no restart needed.

The iPhone navigation path differs slightly from Android because WhatsApp on iOS keeps Settings in the bottom menu bar.

1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone.
2. Tap Settings in the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Privacy.
4. Scroll to Read Receipts.
5. Toggle Read Receipts off. The toggle turns grey when disabled.

The setting takes effect immediately. You do not need to restart WhatsApp or log out.

WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp Desktop do not have a separate Read Receipts setting. The read receipt setting is controlled entirely by your phone.

When you turn off Read Receipts on your Android or iPhone, the change automatically applies to your WhatsApp Web and Desktop sessions as well. There is no additional configuration needed on the browser or desktop side. All linked devices share the same privacy setting from the phone.

For a full guide to how WhatsApp Web works, including how to connect your account via QR code and what settings carry over from your phone, logging in to WhatsApp Web from any browser covers the complete setup and what is controlled by your phone versus the browser.

Important: WhatsApp Web does not have its own Privacy menu for read receipts. If you see a Privacy section in WhatsApp Web settings, it shows other settings but not Read Receipts. The only way to change read receipts is through the phone app.

Even with Read Receipts turned off, blue ticks appear in two situations. These are built-in WhatsApp behaviours that the Read Receipts toggle does not override.

Group chats

Read receipts in group chats are always visible and cannot be disabled by individual members. When someone reads a message in a group, the sender can see who has read it by tapping on the message and checking the info panel. This behaviour applies to all group participants regardless of their individual read receipt setting.

If you have read receipts turned off for personal chats and join a group, your reads in that group are still visible to the message sender.

Voice messages

When a recipient listens to a voice message you have sent, WhatsApp marks it as played with blue ticks, even if that recipient has read receipts turned off. This is a WhatsApp-specific behaviour for audio messages that overrides the standard read receipt setting.

If you send a voice message and your recipient has read receipts off, you will still see when they have listened to it. The same applies in reverse: if you listen to a voice message someone sends, they will see it was played even if your read receipts are turned off.

Group chats and voice messages are the two exceptions where blue ticks appear regardless of your privacy setting. There is no way to disable read receipts in groups or for voice messages specifically.

If you want to read a specific message without triggering a blue tick, without permanently disabling read receipts for all conversations, these workarounds delay or prevent the read confirmation.

Notification preview

Reading a message from the notification banner or lock screen preview does not trigger a blue tick, because you have not opened the WhatsApp chat itself. This works for shorter messages where the full text is visible in the notification. Tapping the notification to open the chat will trigger the blue tick.

Airplane mode method

Turn on Airplane mode to disconnect from the internet. Open WhatsApp and read the message. Close WhatsApp completely before turning Airplane mode off and reconnecting. When this is done correctly, the blue tick is not sent because WhatsApp had no connection to report the read status when the message was opened.

This method is less reliable than it was previously, as some WhatsApp versions cache the read status and transmit it when the connection is restored even if the app is closed first. It is not a guaranteed method.

Widget preview (Android only)

Adding a WhatsApp widget to your Android home screen lets you scroll through recent messages in the widget preview without opening a chat. This does not trigger a blue tick. The workaround only shows a limited preview and is not practical for long messages or conversations that require scrolling.

In short: The only reliable, permanent way to stop sending blue ticks is the Read Receipts toggle in Privacy settings. The workarounds above handle individual messages but require manual steps each time.

Also Read: Best WhatsApp Marketing Tool in 2026

Turning read receipts back on uses the same path as disabling them. Follow the same steps and toggle Read Receipts back to on. The toggle turns green (Android) or white with the switch to the right (iPhone) when enabled.

When you turn read receipts back on, only future messages will show blue ticks. Past messages sent while read receipts were off do not retroactively show whether they were read.

For personal WhatsApp accounts and WhatsApp Business App accounts, the Read Receipts setting works identically. The toggle is in the same location and has the same effect.

For businesses running campaigns and bulk messaging, read receipts in individual chats are a separate consideration from campaign delivery tracking. Knowing whether a promotional message was read in a chat is different from knowing how many contacts in a campaign received and opened the message.

For businesses that send bulk outreach campaigns and want to understand delivery and response patterns across their full contact list, tools like Roklo provide campaign-level message activity tracking that goes beyond what the read receipt tick alone shows. Sending bulk WhatsApp messages covers how campaign delivery tracking works in practice, which gives a more complete picture of message reach than individual read receipt ticks.

For businesses that want to understand the full range of privacy settings available on a WhatsApp Business account, including linked device management, two-step verification, and chat security options, securing your WhatsApp Business chats covers all the relevant settings and what each one protects.

Turning off the blue tick in WhatsApp takes three taps on Android and three taps on iPhone. The Read Receipts toggle in Privacy settings removes blue ticks from all your personal chats immediately, across your phone, WhatsApp Web, and Desktop, without any additional configuration.

Two things do not change when the toggle is off: blue ticks in group chats still appear for all members, and voice messages still show as played when someone listens. The setting also removes your ability to see when others read your messages, not just their ability to see when you read theirs.

If you turn read receipts off and later decide you want them back, the same toggle reverses the change in seconds.

For businesses managing customer communication on WhatsApp and looking for a free bulk message sender that handles outreach campaigns from your browser without API approval, Roklo is the starting point. Your read receipt preference on your personal account does not affect how bulk campaigns are sent or tracked.