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What do Sent and Read mean under my messages?

Under your own last message in a chat, you will see either Sent or Read. Sent shows on every message you send, and it only ever means your own send worked — it says nothing about whether the other person has looked at their phone.

Read replaces it once the other person has opened the conversation and read that message — but only if you and they both have Read receipts turned on.

Read receipts are on by default once you are 18 or older. If you are 16 or 17, or have not told us your age group yet, they start off for you, and you can turn them on yourself any time — on iPhone in Settings, under Privacy; in the web app on the Profile tab, in the same card as Typing indicators.

Like typing indicators, Read receipts are reciprocal: you only see when someone has read your message if they can also see when you have read theirs. Turn yours off, and it stops for both of you immediately.

That default is the opposite of typing indicators, which start off for everyone regardless of age — worth knowing, since the two settings sit right next to each other.