Whatsapp check mark means?

It's 2 AM on a Saturday night, you're all tucked up in bed because you're lame and didn't bother going out and now you're sending messages that everyone seems to be ignoring. You see the little check marks showing up in WhatsApp but no one is responding. Relax, before you start acting like Dexter and writing yourself a kill list, let us unravel the mystery of what the WhatsApp check marks actually mean. And loop you into a whole new kettle of fish too: message read notifications...WhatsApp is the source of much joy as well as much confusion and paranoia.
© WhatsApp

What do check marks in WhatsApp mean?

Until this point, it was actually really simple to understand: one tick meant your message had reached WhatsApp's server and two checks meant it had successfully been delivered to the recipient's phone. That's where the confusion arises though, the message has been delivered but not necessarily read: like a letter in your mail box, it's at its destination but it could sit there unread for days. But, you may ask, what's up with the blue check marks?

''Got it. Leaving now'' has been delivered, but not necessarily read. The most recent message has so far only reached WhatsApp's server, but not my friend's phone.

What do blue check marks in WhatsApp mean?

If you send voice messages with WhatsApp then you may have noticed that there's some color changes going on: from green to blue and from gray to blue. So what does that mean? When you send a short voice message with WhatsApp the message will show up in your conversation with one gray check mark when it hits WhatsApp's server and two gray check marks when it reaches your friend's phone. When they actually listen to it the check marks will turn blue.
When your friend sends you a short voice message they will see the same thing as above, but on your phone you'll see a green microphone icon in the corner of your friend's profile picture. This lets you know you have a voice message and that it hasn't been listened to yet. When you play the message your microphone icon will turn blue and on their phone the two check marks will turn blue too. So, if you can see when a voice message has been listened to, why not when a written message has actually been read?

From top to bottom: Loie has listened to my voice message; I have listened to Loie's voice message, Loie has received (but not listened to) my voice message; I have received (but not listened to) Loie's voice message. Make sense?

Message read notification in WhatsApp

Browsing through the code of the latest WhatsApp APK has revealed a few strings of note: namely that the code exists to change the double gray check marks for written messages to blue when the message has actually been read. This means that when this change is implemented you will actually know when your friends have really read your message and not just received it. It is not clear when or even if this code will be activated, but it will be a major change to the way we all stalk each other on WhatsApp if or when it is.

Is this a good thing or a scary thing?

Of course, we have no idea how this would work with the heads-up notifications that will be introduced with Android L or any number of other ''preview'' notifications you can get for WhatsApp messages, like in the notification shade, status bar or a ''chat head'' style notification popup. Facebook already indulges our cyber stalking by letting us know when our messages have been read, but considering the seriously bizarre amount of importance some people place on the ''Last Seen'' time stamp, this could usher in a whole new era of online paranoia.