Some iPhone and iPad users are being plagued by a Messages bug that causes read receipts to be sent even when they are disabled. The problem seems to affect devices running iOS 15 or later.
There is no permanent fix for the issue yet, but there is one thing you can do that may eliminate the problem for a short time.
iOS 15 sends read receipts whenever it wants
Many iPhone and iPad users like to turn off read receipts. That way, it doesn’t look like they are ignoring messages they’ve seen but don’t have time to reply to right away. But thanks to an iOS 15 bug, that’s impossible for some.
Macworld reports that even after disabling read receipts in the Settings app, some devices are still sending them — along with a timestamp for when the message was seen. And there’s little you can do to fix it yourself.
“This problem has cropped up seemingly briefly with previous releases of iOS and iPadOS, but I see a spate of reports with iOS 15, including the latest updates,” reads the report. But there may be a temporary fix.
Try a restart
Some users report that restarting their iPhone or iPad temporarily eliminates the problem. Unfortunately, the behavior likely will reappear later on affected devices. At this point, a restart seems like the only thing you can do to solve the problem on your own.
Apple will need to roll out a permanent fix in a future software update. We asked the company if it’s aware of the bug, and we’ll update this article if we get a response.
