How to read a message in Facebook Messenger without being “seen”

Want to see the content of a message on Messenger without having to open the conversation? It’s possible, but it’s only on iPhone.

The situation is unfortunately as common as it is painful. You have just received a message on Messenger, Facebook’s instant messenger. You see the beginning of the text displayed in bold, but cannot see the entire text.

However, you know it very well: if you open the conversation, your interlocutor will know it immediately. A small “seen” bubble bearing the image of your profile photo will be lodged at the bottom right of the screen. The person opposite will no longer be able to ignore the fact that you read their message, but forgot to reply – or choose not to.

So, of course, the ideal would be to do away with those devilish features which only add additional stress to conversations which are, for the most part, very harmless. Even better: the human being could rise to the rank of mystical shaman, who would only make little bubbles of “seen” and would just open all the messages without worrying about the moral consequences. But since we are still far from reaching the wisdom of Yoda, it is time to be cunning.

It is by chance that the editorial staff of Numerama discovered, during a discussion, that it was extremely easy to preview the messages that we are sent. The catch (because there is always one), is that you must necessarily be on iPhone. Then, there is only one action to do, and if you did not know it so far, there is a chance that this tutorial will annoy you, it is so simple.

How to read a message on Messenger while leaving it “unread” on iPhone?

To read the contents of a Messenger conversation without having to open it, just open Messenger. You see that someone has sent you a new message.

But instead of a quick click on the chat, you will put your finger on it for half a second. AND THAT’S ALL ! There, a preview pop-up window will appear, and will allow you to see at least the last 5 messages sent by your crush. You can even choose to mute the conversation, without having to open the message. You can also ” mark as read The discussion – although that makes all this manipulation unnecessary.

Then close the preview without any sudden movement by clicking anywhere outside the window. The message will always be considered “unread” by Messenger, and by your interlocutor.

This whole maneuver works on recent iPhones and iPads.

Chat preview also works on WhatsApp

Additional discovery: the preview function on iPhone also works on other messaging applications. We tested it on WhatsApp with success, as well as iMessage and even Twitter. However, it does not work in private Instagram messages.

There you go, you now have the equivalent of a “superpower”, which gives you a definite advantage over ordinary people – or simply, people who have less of a brain than you. Make good use of it,

What about Android?

Small tip, if you are on Android, you can always just turn your smartphone horizontally in Messenger: it will not be as convincing, but you will get to see a little more of the content of the discussion without having to to open.