LinkedIn does not send read receipts by default, but the person you message can see when you have read theirs

LinkedIn shows a read receipt — a notification that your message was opened — but only in one direction. When someone sends you a message, you can see whether they know you read it. When you send a message to someone else, they cannot see that you opened theirs unless you turn on a specific setting that broadcasts your activity.

This asymmetry confuses people because it feels like LinkedIn is hiding information from you. It is not. LinkedIn is actually showing you more than most messaging apps do. The confusion comes from mixing up two separate features: message read status and activity status.

Key Takeaways

  • LinkedIn shows read receipts on messages you receive, so you can see if someone opened your message, but only if they have not disabled their activity status.
  • The person who sent you a message cannot see that you read it unless you have turned on "Show when you're online" in your privacy settings.
  • Read receipts appear as a small "Seen" indicator below the message, not as a separate notification.
  • Turning off your activity status hides read receipts from others but also hides when you are online across LinkedIn.

How to see if someone read your message

When you send a message on LinkedIn, look directly below the message you sent. If the recipient has opened it, you will see the word "Seen" with a small timestamp showing when they read it. This appears only if the other person has not disabled their activity status in their privacy settings.

The read receipt shows up automatically — you do not need to do anything to enable it on your end. LinkedIn sends this information to you by default. The only way you would not see a read receipt is if the person who received your message turned off "Show when you're online" in their Settings & Privacy menu under the Visibility section.

How to control whether others see you read their messages

To stop others from seeing that you have read their messages, go to Settings & Privacy, then select Visibility. Find the option labeled "Show when you're online" and toggle it off. When this is disabled, your read receipts disappear from other people's view — they will not see "Seen" under their messages to you.

Turning off this setting also hides your online status from the rest of LinkedIn. People will not see a green dot next to your name, and they will not know what time you were last active. This is a full privacy toggle, not a message-specific one, so disabling it affects all your activity visibility across the platform.

The difference between read receipts and activity status

A read receipt is the "Seen" indicator that appears after someone opens a specific message. An activity status is the green dot that shows whether you are currently online or the timestamp showing when you were last active. These are related but separate features.

You can have read receipts enabled while hiding your activity status, but LinkedIn does not offer the reverse. If you turn off activity status, read receipts go away too. The platform treats them as one privacy setting because both reveal when you are using LinkedIn.

Why LinkedIn shows read receipts differently than text messaging

Most text messaging apps like iMessage or WhatsApp show read receipts symmetrically — if you can see that someone read your message, they can see that you read theirs. LinkedIn works differently because it is a professional network where people manage their visibility more carefully.

LinkedIn assumes that professionals want to know whether their outreach was seen, especially when networking or job hunting. At the same time, it gives people control over whether they broadcast their own activity. This creates the one-way read receipt system: you see when people read your messages, but they only see yours if they choose to share their activity status.

What happens when someone disables their activity status

If someone turns off "Show when you're online," you will not see read receipts from them. Their messages to you will not show "Seen," and you will not know if they opened your message. You also will not see when they were last active on LinkedIn.

This does not mean they did not read your message — it just means you have no way to know. Some people disable this setting for privacy reasons, others because they do not want the pressure of appearing responsive. Either way, the lack of a read receipt tells you nothing about whether they saw your message.

Read receipts on LinkedIn mobile versus desktop

Read receipts work the same way on LinkedIn's mobile app and desktop website. You will see "Seen" below your message on both platforms if the recipient has activity status enabled. The timing may vary slightly depending on when LinkedIn syncs between devices, but the feature itself behaves identically.

If you send a message on desktop and the recipient reads it on mobile, you will still see the read receipt on desktop. LinkedIn tracks read status across all devices, so the platform knows when a message was opened regardless of which device the person used.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I turn off read receipts for just one person?

No. LinkedIn's read receipt setting is all-or-nothing. When you disable "Show when you're online," everyone stops seeing your read receipts. You cannot hide your read status from one person while showing it to another.

Does LinkedIn notify someone when you read their message?

LinkedIn does not send a separate notification. The person will only know you read their message if they look at the conversation and see the "Seen" indicator. There is no alert or ping that tells them you just opened it.

What if someone reads my message but does not reply?

A read receipt means they opened the message, not that they read it carefully or plan to respond. People often open messages while busy and intend to reply later. A read receipt is just confirmation that the message reached them and they saw it exist.

Does LinkedIn show read receipts for voice messages or document attachments?

Read receipts explore to the entire message thread, not individual attachments. If someone opens the conversation, you see "Seen" whether they actually listened to a voice message or opened a document. LinkedIn does not track whether they interacted with specific files within the message.

Can I see read receipts on messages I sent months ago?

Yes. The "Seen" indicator stays on old messages as long as the other person has activity status enabled. If you scroll back through an old conversation, you can see when each message was read. If they later disable activity status, the read receipts disappear from view.