Why Does My Message Only Have One Tick In WhatsApp?

If you’re new to WhatsApp, you may be confused by all these grey and blue ticks. WhatsApp uses that system to let you know whether your message is delivered and whether the other person has read it or not. Once you understand how the system works, you’ll be able to track what’s happening with your message.

This feature makes communication easier and it was introduced in order to avoid potential misunderstandings. In this article, you’re going to learn everything about WhatsApp ticks and finally understand what a single tick means.

Why Does My Message Have Only One Tick?

You’ve decided to text your friend via WhatsApp. It’s an easy way to send a message or photo, without paying a dime. Maybe your friend went abroad and this is the easiest way to stay in touch. As soon as you send the message (if you have a good internet connection), one grey tick will appear below your text.

You may have noticed that sometimes the gray tick turns into two gray ticks immediately, but sometimes it takes a while. If your message has had only one tick for hours, you may think that you’ve done something wrong. But that’s not the case.

One gray tick means that the message is successfully sent but it hasn’t been delivered yet. That’s not your fault. It simply means that the other person has their phone turned off or that they’re not using the Internet at the moment. They also might be having network issues.

If you’ve been waiting for hours, but there’s still only one tick, that doesn’t mean that the other person is ignoring you. They might be busy or haven’t had the chance to go online. At this point, they’re still not aware that you’ve sent them a message. In short, they’ll have to connect their phone to the Internet in order to get a notification.

What Do Two Ticks Mean?

While one tick is always gray, two ticks can have different colors. Two gray ticks mean that the message has been successfully delivered to the other person’s phone, but they still haven’t opened it. When these ticks turn into two blue ticks, it means that the recipient has opened and read your message.

Can I Turn Off the Ticks?

There are two types of WhatsApp users. The first type adores this feature because they always know what’s happening with their message. This gives us a certain level of control and it can reassure us that we’re not being ignored.

The other type doesn’t care about ticks and might think that they’re a violation of privacy. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to turn off all ticks. That’s how WhatsApp works and you may have to choose another platform if you want to completely avoid them.

However, it’s possible to turn off the blue ticks. That way, the other person will know that the message is delivered to you but he won’t know whether you’ve opened it or not. You can turn off blue ticks by entering Settings, then tapping on Account and then on Privacy.

In the Privacy section, you’ll see a sign that says Read Receipts. When you turn off that option, people will no longer be able to see whether you’ve read their message or not. Bear in mind that once you do this, you also won’t be able to see whether other people have read your messages. It’s a two-way street.

Of course, you can always turn blue ticks on again, if you wish to check whether someone has read your message.

However, when it comes to group chats, you won’t be able to hide that you’ve read the message. The sender is always able to see the names of the people who’ve read their message. If you’ve sent a message to the group chat, blue ticks will appear only when all of the participants have opened your message.

Mastering WhatsApp Ticks

You now know everything about WhatsApp ticks and can use them to your advantage. The next time you see only one tick, you’ll know that it’s not a reason to panic. One tick basically means that the other person isn’t ignoring you, the message just hasn’t been delivered to them yet.

What do you think about WhatsApp ticks? Do you find them useful? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments section below.