Text read receipts can't be turned off

[applicious84]

Ever since installing iOS 18, my phone is sending read receipts. I never made that change, and I don't want it to send them.

Anyone else having this issue? I turned every text setting on and off on both my iPhone and mac. Send read receipts is off on both of them, but it still sends them. I don't think it's ever been turned on, but it sends them anyway.

Was hoping the latest update to iOS 18.2.1 would fix it, but it hasn't.

Has anyone else had this issue spontaneously appear and solved the problem? If so, how?!

 

[HouseLannister]

No issues here, but this is how I would troubleshoot it:

1. Turn iMessage off on all devices (don't forget iPads and Apple Watch too if you have them).
2. Restart all devices.
3. Deregister your number (https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage/) -- you shouldn't need to do this, but best to be thorough.
4. Wait 10-ish minutes just to make sure it takes. Restart devices again just to be safe.
5. Now setup iMessage only on the iPhone and test it.
6. If everything is okay, add iMessage back on the other devices one by one and test each time.

But if the issue persists, it might be a conversation thread itself that is bugged. Only thing you can do then is backup anything important and delete all your conversations and start new threads. If that doesn't appeal to you, wait for 18.3 before going nuclear on your chat history.