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Comment by rob | Hacker News Reader

FYI: double checkmarks means your message was successfully delivered to their phone [0], not that they necessarily read your message.

https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/20951546

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I was just about to comment this. Seems it's a pretty common misunderstanding.

AFAIK the only way to know if someone's read your message is to assume based on their last time online.

WHAT?! I was using it for over 2 years under that assumption! Thanks

Funny enough, Telegram (the open replacement for WhatsApp) works in the way you had expected (double check is read confirmation).

I always assumed that the first checkmark indicates "delivered" and the second one "read", since right after you post it it shows a clock-symbol. also interesting, that i assume with current network speeds sent=delivered.

First checkmark confirms it hit store and forward servers. I prefer second checkmark to indicate delivery, as I care less if someone read it and more if it just made it to their device.

How about the first checkmark indicates delivery and the second "read". do you guys care about the "it left the phone" state?

Definitely. You want confirmation it got to someplace same until delivered to the recipient. 1 check for got to server, 1 check for delivered to recipient device, and then "Read" underneath the furthest part of the conversation that has been read. Or I'm just crazy and niche.

I'd say: clock symbol till it left the phone, one checkmark for delivered, another one for read.

Perfect!

Personally "It left the phone" state is very important to me, esp., when I am travelling and network connectivity is intermittent.

Also "Message Read" is a very ambiguous state according to me - If the content of a message is read from the notification drop down, but user never opened whatsapp to read it - is it read, or not ?

User you are sending to could be underground/out of signal range/have 3G disabled. I like having a separate delivered confirmation and I would prefer not to have people see what I have read.

I think it works like this on the iPhone. Probably because the msg can't be delivered unless you start the app.

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