The short answer is – it depends. On WhatsApp, the ability for someone to know if you’ve viewed their status update depends on your privacy settings and whether you have their phone number saved in your contacts.
How WhatsApp Status Views Work
When someone posts a status update on WhatsApp, it is broadcasted to all of their contacts. If you are one of their contacts, you will see their status update at the top of your WhatsApp chats. Viewing someone’s status simply means opening or clicking on their status update.
By default, WhatsApp has privacy settings enabled such that your contacts can’t see when you’ve viewed their status. So if you open someone’s status when you have privacy settings enabled, they won’t get a view receipt and therefore won’t know you viewed it.
When Someone Can Tell You Viewed Their Status
There are two scenarios in which someone can tell if you’ve viewed their WhatsApp status:
- You have their phone number saved in your contacts
- You have disabled read receipts in your WhatsApp privacy settings
If someone has your number saved in their phone’s contacts, and you view their status, it will show as “seen” from their point of view. WhatsApp allows contacts to view basic read receipts for messages and statuses.
Additionally, if you have disabled read receipts in your WhatsApp settings, other users’ ability to see when you’ve viewed their status is also disabled. So if you view someone’s status who has your number saved, and you’ve disabled read receipts, they won’t know you’ve seen their status.
How to View a Status Privately
If you want to view someone’s status without them knowing, there are a couple of options:
- Enable WhatsApp privacy settings – this prevents read receipts from being sent. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy and enable “Read Receipts”.
- View status via notification – when you receive a status notification, you can view the status directly from the notification without opening WhatsApp. This doesn’t trigger the view receipt.
- Airplane mode – view the status with airplane mode enabled, then disable airplane mode. This prevents the view receipt from sending.
- Unpair mobile data – on Android, you can unpair mobile data which allows you to view statuses without sending receipts over mobile data.
- WhatsApp Web – view status updates via WhatsApp Web. View receipts are not sent when using WhatsApp Web.
Does Deleting a Status Update Remove Views?
No, deleting a status does not retroactively remove view data from contacts who have already seen it. So if 100 people viewed your status and you delete it, it does not erase the record of those views.
The number of views and list of viewers will remain intact. The only change is that the actual status content (photo, video, etc.) will be removed after you delete it.
Can You Tell if Someone Has Taken a Screenshot?
WhatsApp’s view receipts only track when a status has been opened. They do not track if someone takes a screenshot of your status.
There is no way to tell within WhatsApp if someone has taken a screenshot of your status update. The app does not send any kind of receipt or notification when a screenshot occurs.
However, if you have certain third party apps installed, they may be able to detect when a screenshot has occurred and then notify you. But there is no built-in WhatsApp feature that alerts you of screenshots.
Does Deleting Chats Remove View Receipts?
Deleting one-on-one chats does not remove view receipts that were previously sent and received in the chat. So if you delete a chat where view receipts are enabled, the other user will still see your past read receipts.
The receipts get stored in WhatsApp’s server logs and are not erased when you delete chat histories. You would have to disable read receipts in your settings to stop new receipts from being sent.
Can You View Someone’s Status Anonymously?
If you want to view someone’s status anonymously such that they won’t know you’ve seen it, the only way is if you don’t have each other’s phone numbers saved.
Without having someone saved as a contact, WhatsApp does not allow read receipts to be exchanged. So viewing statuses from non-contacts is anonymous.
If you do have each other’s numbers saved, your only option is to temporarily delete each other’s contact, view the status, then re-add the contact after. This prevents the view receipt from being sent during that period.
Third Party Apps for Anonymous Viewing
There are third party apps like WhatsApp Plus and GB WhatsApp that have modified versions of WhatsApp with additional features. Some of them allow anonymous status viewing between contacts.
However, these third party apps violate WhatsApp’s terms of service and use of them can result in your account being banned. So they should be avoided unless you are willing to risk your account getting blocked.
Status Privacy Considerations
Since statuses broadcast to all your contacts, you generally want to be mindful of what type of updates you share publicly. Posting sensitive personal information in a status leaves you vulnerable.
Also keep in mind that even if view receipts are disabled, people can still take screenshots of your status which you won’t be notified about. So that’s another factor to consider when posting statuses.
In Summary
- By default, your contacts can’t see when you view their WhatsApp status
- If someone has your number saved, they will get a view receipt when you see their status
- Disable read receipts and use other privacy tricks to view statuses anonymously
- Deleting statuses does not remove record of previous views
- You cannot detect if someone takes a screenshot of your status
WhatsApp statuses allow you to share ephemeral photos, videos, and updates with all your contacts. But the app provides tools to control how much viewing information is shared back and forth. Understanding these options helps ensure your privacy is configured based on your preferences.