WhatsApp is developing a feature for Android that would let users read incoming messages without opening the chat and without the sender knowing they have been seen.
According to a report published Thursday, users will be able to long-press a conversation in the chat list to open a preview window showing the most recent messages in that thread. Messages read in the preview will not be marked as read, so the sender’s double ticks will stay grey instead of turning blue. The preview is expected to support scrolling, allowing users to read several messages without entering the conversation itself.
iPhone users already have a similar option. Long-pressing a chat on iOS opens a preview of recent messages without sending read receipts, a feature WhatsApp restored last year after a bug briefly caused previews to mark messages as read.
For Android users, the change could solve a long-standing trade-off. Until now, the only way to read messages without the sender knowing was to turn off read receipts in the privacy settings. Doing so, however, also means losing the ability to see when others have read your own messages in private chats. With the new preview, users could keep read receipts on and still glance at incoming messages discreetly.
The feature was spotted in WhatsApp beta version 2.26.44.12 for Android. It is still in development and is not yet available to regular users, and no release date has been announced. It is one of several interface changes WhatsApp is testing to give users more control over how they use the app.
