The WhatsApp trick to read messages without opening the chat and showing you are ‘online’

Sometimes, we receive a WhatsApp message and want to read it without the sender knowing we have seen it or without them seeing us online. It can be stressful to receive a message and feel pressured to reply immediately because the sender can see that you’re online. While WhatsApp does offer some options to change these settings, doing so may mean sacrificing other benefits. For example, if you turn off the read receipts that show when you’ve read a message, you won’t be able to see if others have read your messages.

However, there is one way these configuration issues can be avoided, and you can still protect your privacy without installing an additional app to take advantage of certain features.

How to read WhatsApp without opening the application or appearing ‘online’

There are several tricks, but our favorite is the Widget. This method is available on any mobile phone and is extremely easy to apply. Hold the home screen of your smartphone, and the option to add a Widget will appear. This option may vary depending on the model, but it is available on all phones. Look for the WhatsApp Widget and add it to your home or lock screen.

Once added, the Widget shows the number of unread messages and allows scrolling through them. This action does not mark messages as read or show you as Online. However, if you click on a message while scrolling, the chat will open, revealing your presence.