LinkedIn Read Receipts: How They Work and How to Turn Off
LinkedIn shows when a message has been read, unless one side turns read receipts off. Where the setting lives, why it is mutual, and what a read tells you.
LinkedIn read receipts are built into LinkedIn Messaging. When the person you wrote to opens the conversation, your message switches from Sent to Read, with no tracking pixel and no browser extension involved. The catch is that the feature depends on a setting on both sides, and it does not apply to every kind of message.
How do you know if someone read your LinkedIn message?
LinkedIn documents three statuses for a message you send: sending, sent, and read. Once the recipient opens the conversation, the status moves to read. In our experience it shows up as a small copy of their profile photo under your last message. Here is what each situation actually tells you.
| What you see | What it means | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Read | The conversation was opened | That the whole message was read carefully |
| Sent | Not opened yet, or read receipts are off on one side | Which of the two it is |
| Read, then silence | The person saw it and chose not to answer | That they simply forgot |
The third row is the one that matters when you prospect. A message that was read and left unanswered is not lost in a busy inbox. It is a decision, and sending the same pitch again will not change it.
An unread message deserves a follow-up. A read message with no reply deserves a different message.
When read receipts do not appear
- One side turned them off. If the recipient disabled the setting, LinkedIn keeps showing Sent, even after they read your message.
- InMail. Senders of InMail messages never see read receipts or typing indicators.
- Message requests. If you message someone you are not connected with, read receipts only start once they accept the request.
So if most of your outreach goes through InMail or message requests, a missing read receipt tells you nothing. The signal is reliable mainly with your connections, which is one more reason to get the invitation accepted before you pitch. If you are unsure what each connection level allows, see what 1st, 2nd and 3rd mean on LinkedIn.
How to turn off read receipts on LinkedIn
The steps below come from LinkedIn's help page on read receipts and typing indicators.
- On desktop, click the Me icon, then Settings & Privacy, then Data privacy in the left pane. Under Messaging experience, open the read receipts and typing indicators setting and switch the toggle.
- In the app, tap your profile photo, then Settings & Privacy, Data privacy, and the same option under Messaging experience.
- One toggle covers both read receipts and the typing indicator.
- The setting is mutual: when it is off, nobody in the conversation sees read status or typing activity, and that includes you.
Your posts already get people to react. Makelead invites them, writes the first message and follows up, within 200 invitations per rolling 7 days.
Should you turn off read receipts?
If you prospect on LinkedIn, keep them on
Knowing that a message was read and ignored saves you from sending several follow-ups that were never going to work. That information is worth more to a salesperson than keeping your own reading habits private.
If you receive a lot of pitches, maybe
Turning them off removes the pressure to reply quickly to every sender who can see you opened their message. That is the one case where giving up the signal on your side is a fair trade.
What to do with a read message that got no reply
Change the angle instead of pushing harder. Bring something new: a question about their situation, a short example, or an offer to come back at a better time, which lets them answer without committing. If you send follow-ups at volume, the guide on how to automate LinkedIn messages covers sequences that stop as soon as someone replies. Makelead writes the first message with AI from the prospect's first name, job title, company and location, then follows up, and it caps invitations at 200 over a rolling 7 days, as explained in the LinkedIn invitation limit guide.
One more check before you blame your message: if people open it and then visit your profile, the profile is part of the pitch. See how to view your LinkedIn profile as others see it.
Your posts already get people to react. Makelead invites them, writes the first message and follows up, within 200 invitations per rolling 7 days.