Here's how to disable the feature nobody asked for

Sep 9, 2016 21:10 GMT  ·  By

Twitter announced three new goodies for its DM feature, namely ithe ability to send and receive read receipts, to show typing indicators, and display preview thumbs underneath web links.

The features upgrade the service's ability to compete with existing instant messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or iMessage, all much more adequate than Twitter's DM when it comes to quickly exchanging messages with users.

The company has come a long way after a few years back it was blocking links in private messages (DMs). Not only does the app now show a preview of the link, but since August 2015, users can exchange up to 10,000 characters per DM, 71 times more than the previous limit of 140 characters, the same as its tweets.

While users had nothing to say about the addition of this feature, they sure did about the last two, typing indicators and read receipts.

Many users disable these two features in IM clients that allow it. Most users feel pressured to answer messages if they know the other person saw they read the text.

Unlike Facebook, which doesn't allow turning this feature off, to the dismay and anger of its users, Twitter does. Here are the steps needed to disable read receipts.

For Android and iOS devices:

Step 1: Open the Twitter app. Step 2: Go to the Settings section. Step 3: Choose Privacy and Content. Step 4: Remove the checkmark from the option that reads Send/Receive Read Receipts

For Twitter.com web users:

Step 1: Click your icon to open the drop-down menu. Step 2: Choose the Settings option. Step 3: Choose the Security and Privacy option from the side menu. Step 4: In the bottom half of the page, in the Privacy section, remove the checkmark from the option that reads Send/Receive Read Receipts (see photo below).

Read receipt settings on twitter.com
Read receipt settings on twitter.com
 

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Read receipt settings on Android
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