How to Tell If Your Instagram Message Was Read

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Understand how read receipts work on Instagram DMs

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Candace Gasper

Last Updated: January 19, 2026 Fact Checked

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See If Someone Read Your Message

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Enable or Disable Read Receipts

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FAQ

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Tips

Because Instagram read receipts are enabled automatically, you can tell whether someone has read your DM by looking for "seen" below the last message you sent to the conversation. However, if the person you're chatting with has turned off read receipts, you won't know whether they've opened your message until they reply. This wikiHow guide will teach you how to tell if someone has read your Instagram DM, explain how the "seen" feature works, and show you how to enable or disable read receipts on your Android, iPhone, or iPad.

Check If Someone Read Your DM

If someone opened your DM on Instagram, you'll see the word "seen" below the last message you sent. If you don't see "seen," the person may not have read your message, or they could have disabled read receipts.

Section 1 of 3:

See If Someone Read Your Instagram Message

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Tap the Inbox icon on your Instagram feed. It's the paper airplane icon at the bottom of the screen. This displays your DM inbox, where you'll find all of your messages.
- If you don't see this icon, tap the Home tab first.
- Read receipts are enabled for all messages in Instagram by default. To learn how to change whether people can tell you've opened their messages, jump to Enabling & Disabling Read Receipts.
This opens the direct message conversation.

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Look for "Seen" at the bottom of the message. If the other person has read your message but hasn't sent a reply, the word "Seen" will be visible just above the typing area at the bottom-right corner.^{[1]
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- If the message is a group chat, you'll see the names of everyone who has read your message next to "Seen."
- "Seen" will disappear once the person replies to your message.
- If the conversation is an end-to-end encrypted chat, read receipts will not work.
- If the person you're chatting with has disabled read receipts, or if the conversation is an end-to-end encrypted chat, you won't see "seen" when they've opened your message.

Section 2 of 3:

Enable or Disable Read Receipts on Instagram

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Turn read receipts on or off for a specific conversation Read receipts are enabled by default, which means both you and the person you're chatting with can see whether you've viewed each other's messages. To turn read receipts on or off:^{[2]
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- Open a DM in Instagram.
- Tap the name of the person you're chatting with at the top. If you're chatting in a group message, tap the name of the group.
- Tap Privacy & safety.
- If you want others to see when you've read their messages, toggle "Read receipts" to the On position. If you want to hide "seen" on Instagram, toggle "Read receipts" off.
- Optionally, you can turn "Typing indicator" on or off to control whether others can see when you're typing a reply to the message.
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Turn read receipts on or off for all conversations Read receipts are turned on for all conversations by default. If you've turned the feature off, you can easily turn it back on. Or, if you don't want anyone to see "Seen" when you've opened their messages, you can toggle the feature off. Here's how:
- Tap your profile icon at the bottom-right corner of Instagram.
- Tap the three-line menu at the top ☰.
- Tap Messages and story replies under "How others can interact with you."
- Tap Show read receipts.
- If the switch is enabled, others can see when you've opened their messages. To turn the feature off, tap the switch.

Section 3 of 3:

FAQ

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What does Seen mean on Instagram? When someone you DM opens your message, you'll see "Seen" at the bottom. "Seen" only shows up if the person actually opens the message–it will not appear if they received a notification but did not actually open the message.^{[3]
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- "Seen" will also not appear if the person you're messaging has turned off read receipts or if the conversation has end-to-end encryption. In this case, you will only know they've opened your message if they react or reply to it.
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Can you read an Instagram message without them knowing? Yes, you can hide the "seen" status by turning off read receipts. If you turn off read receipts for all conversations, nobody will know when you've opened their messages. To do this, tap the menu, go to Messages and story replies > Show read receipts, then tap the switch to turn it off.
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How do you check direct messages on Instagram? Tap the paper airplane icon at the bottom of the Instagram app to open your inbox. Here, you'll find all your DMs and group chats, with the most recent message at the top.
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Can you tell who stalks your Instagram? There's no feature that tells you when people view your Instagram photos and video reels, but you can see who viewed your story. Just open the story and swipe up for a list of everyone who has seen it.^{[4]
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