You send a LinkedIn message and a small indicator shows up next to it. Later it changes. If you're looking for the colored check marks some old guides describe, here's the thing: LinkedIn moved on.
These days, the status of a message you've sent comes down to three plain states, plus a profile photo when it's been read. No gray-then-blue check mark sequence to decode.
Here's what each one actually means today, and how to stop people from seeing whether you've read theirs.
The three message states
LinkedIn shows the status of a message you've sent in three steps.
Sending. The message is on its way out. If it fails, you'll get an error asking you to try again. This is the only "in progress" state, and it usually lasts a fraction of a second.
Sent. The message went through and landed in the recipient's inbox. They have it. On LinkedIn, "sent" already means delivered. There's no separate delivery check mark to wait for.
Read. When the recipient opens your message, their small profile photo appears next to it. That's LinkedIn's read receipt. It means the message was opened, not that they read every word.
That's the whole system. Sending, sent, read.
Looking for the gray and blue check marks? Older articles describe a "gray check, blue check, double blue check" sequence. LinkedIn no longer works that way. Read status is now shown by the recipient's profile photo appearing on the message, and everything before that just reads as Sent.
The catch most people miss
Here's the part that trips up anyone watching for read status: if the recipient has turned their read receipts off, your message just shows as Sent, forever.
You can't tell the difference between a message that hasn't been opened and one that's been read by someone who keeps their receipts off. Both look identical. So before you read meaning into a message that "hasn't been read," remember it might have been read by someone who simply doesn't broadcast it.
Why the read status matters for outreach
If you're doing any kind of LinkedIn outreach, sales, recruiting, job hunting, the read receipt is the most useful signal you get, when it's available.
A message that's been read but not answered tells you something different from one that's still showing as Sent. That changes how you follow up.
Read, no reply. They've seen it. A second message ten minutes later won't help. Give it a day or two, then follow up with something that adds value, not just "did you see this?"
Still showing Sent. Either they haven't opened it, or they have read receipts off and you'll never know. Don't over-interpret it, and don't bump the thread on the assumption they're ignoring you.
Knowing the difference keeps you from the most common outreach mistake: reading rejection into a status that might just mean someone turned a setting off.
How to turn off read receipts on LinkedIn
Here's the part most guides get wrong, especially older ones: you can turn read receipts off. LinkedIn used to not allow this. It does now.
The catch is reciprocity. If you turn off your read receipts so people can't see when you've read their messages, you also lose the ability to see when they've read yours. When the setting is off, no one in the conversation, including you, can see read status or typing.
To turn it off on desktop:
- Click the Me icon at the top of LinkedIn
- Select Settings & Privacy
- Click Data privacy
- Under Messaging experience, click Delivery and typing indicators
- Toggle it off
The same toggle controls typing indicators, the little animation that shows you're writing a reply. Turn one off and you turn off both.
When you'd want read receipts off
You read messages on the go. If you open LinkedIn on your phone between meetings, every message you glance at gets marked read instantly, even if you can't reply yet. Turning receipts off buys you time to respond properly without looking like you're ignoring people.
You get a lot of cold outreach. Salespeople and recruiters watch read receipts to time their follow-ups. Turning yours off removes that signal and cuts down on the "just following up!" messages.
You'd rather not broadcast your habits. Read receipts quietly reveal when you're active and how fast you respond. Some people would rather keep that to themselves.
The trade-off is real: you give up seeing other people's read status too. If you depend on that signal for your own outreach, keep it on.
Two exceptions worth knowing
InMail. Read receipts and typing indicators don't appear on InMail messages, the paid messages you can send to people you're not connected to. If you're a recruiter or salesperson sending InMail, you won't get read confirmation on those, regardless of anyone's settings.
Message requests. If you message someone you're not connected to and it lands as a message request, read receipts only kick in after the recipient accepts the request. Until then, you won't see read status even if they've glanced at it.
The short version
Sending means it's on its way. Sent means it reached their inbox. A profile photo next to the message means it's been read. There's no gray-then-blue check mark sequence anymore.
And remember the blind spot: if someone has read receipts off, every message you send them just shows as Sent, whether they've read it or not. The status is useful information, but it's not the whole story.
Cleaning up your network? Read receipts tell you who's engaging with your messages. If you've got connections you've never messaged and never will, they're just noise in your network. Install Network Cleaner to review your connections and remove the ones who no longer fit your goals. If you're curious how LinkedIn's other messaging signals work, here's what the green dots mean.