WhatsApp Ticks – What Do They Mean?

Have you started using WhatsApp or WhatsApp Web recently? Have you sent your first message? If yes, I’m sure you must’ve noticed one or two WhatsApp ticks we are talking about here. Did you? Do you know what those ticks stand for? Let me tell you.

When Do I See One Tick?

When you send a message and if it leaves your mobile i.e. if your internet connection is working properly, the message gets uploaded to the WhatsApp server. When a message successfully leaves your mobile, you see one tick. This doesn’t mean that the message was delivered nor does it mean that the message was seen by the receiver.

whatsapp 1 tick

A single tick simply means that the message was sent from your mobile, but the receiver hasn’t received it so far.

When Do I See Two Ticks?

When the message is delivered to the receiver’s phone, you receive another tick. This doesn’t mean that the receiver has read your message.  The second tick is just to say that the message was delivered to the receiver’s device and he may read it anytime soon. You can confirm that the receiver has read the message only by judging the receiver’s last seen time. If you receive both the ticks and if the receiver’s last seen time is after you’ve sent the message, it means that he has read your message. This may not be true always due to some bugs which’ve been there in WhatsApp since it was launched, but usually it is true!

whatsapp 2 ticks

Two ticks signify that the message was sent from your mobile phone and it was successfully received by the receiver‘s mobile phone.

When Do I See No Ticks But a Clock Icon?

When you try sending a message, but it doesn’t leave your mobile i.e. it doesn’t get sent, you see a clock icon. When this happens you need to check your internet connection if it’s still working. The clock icon denotes that the message has been scheduled and will be sent once internet is turned on.

No ticks denote that there’s some problem with your internet connection which needs to be addressed ASAP to avoid delay in sending and receiving messages.

If images explain you better, here’s a graphical representation of whatever I’ve said above.

whatsapp ticks

90 Responses

  1. Manish Devgan

    Hi Saksham !!
    I have been experiencing this single tick problem fr all my whatsapp contacts .
    please help me to get rid of this problem.Any solution will be appericiated!!

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Do you mean, you get only a single tick when you send someone a message? There could be two reasons.
      1. Either the person has blocked you (if you don’t see that person’s last seen time to whom you sent the message but you can see others last seen then you’re blocked or the person is hiding his last seen(rare)). In this case you will only see one tick.
      2. If you can see the person’s last seen time then the only reason is that the person hasn’t turned on internet connection on his mobile phone and that’s why your messages are being sent but he is not getting them.

      Reply
      • fanny

        Hello what if I sent the msg yesterday for example and its still one tick today and the last seen of the person is today so he has connection but didn’t receive. What does this mean? Thank you

      • yashas

        this shows she/he does not want to see ua msg unless and untill she/he see’s it there wil be only one tick………….i think she has succesfully got the msg but she/he does not want to open ua msg

  2. Christobel Kimberly

    Hey, I need help on whatsapp. You see, when I send a message to my friend on whatsapp it only shows one tick and I can see her last seen. When I tried send message to other person on my whatsapp, it shows double click and last seen. The problem is, she said she never recevied message from me and she had always on her mobile data. And the other problem is, I cant seem to received her messages.

    Reply
  3. cagatay

    Hi I sent user a message and ı see only one tick. I can see the user is online or last seen time but only receive one tick. what does it mean? ıf ı am blocked is it possible to see is user online or last seen time ? because ı can see

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      You are not blocked… probably! There’s a bug with WhatsApp I guess. Sometimes I see only one tick even when the other person is online and has received / read my message.

      Reply
  4. Katie

    Hi Saksham!
    I sent a message to someone then I blocked him immediately, and only one green tick appeared. Does that mean that the person received my message or read it?
    Or I must have waited for the second tick before blocking to make sure that the message was delivered or received?

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Next time you want to block a person, send him a message -> wait for both the WhatsApp tick s to appear and then block him.

      Reply
      • laura

        If I send a message then block immediately will the other person still receive the message?

      • Saksham Talwar

        Wait before you see two ticks and then block the person.

  5. Curtly

    Hey when I switch my phone and restart it my whatsapp sometimes give slot of trouble to connect. Sometimes it never connects and I have to start my phone all over again. Help anyone?

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      I don’t think that’s a problem with WhatsApp. I guess your internet connection faces some problems. Which phone do you use anyway?

      Reply
  6. Angel

    Hi! It says on the whatsapp icon that i have received 6 messages but when i open it i only received 2 messages. What’s going on?

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Did you try navigating to the bottom of the screen? Sometimes messages go to bottom (some bug).

      Reply
  7. manjot

    Hi saksham.on my whatsapp it show single tick and last seen is also not showing…..plz help me

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      The other person may have blocked you or may be he has hidden his last seen time and has his internet connection turned off in which case he isn’t receiving messages from anyone.

      Reply
      • Gretchen Rodrigues

        The whatsapp messages I send to my daughter receive only 1 tick since the last two days. She is not receiving my messages and I don’t receive messages sent by her. The internet and wifi connections are on at both ends because messages sent by facebook by the same phone go through. I can send messages to all other whatsapp contacts. Kindly advise what I should do since neither of us has blocked the other. Thank you.

  8. Bryan

    Hello Saksham. I was wondering why when I send a message on Whatsapp to a friend, sometimes there is a delay to get that second checkmark, And sometimes there isn’t? For instance, when I send a message, I get the 2nd in like a second and other times it takes about 10 minutes? I was questioning whether it means the other person is either online using anither app or on the phone? Therefore, his phone is not sleeping? And other times, the phone could be not active when it takes 10 minutes? Or is this just simply because the whatsapp server can sometimes have a delay? I don’t think it’s the ladder because when I’m chatting with someone, the second checkmarks displays in an instant.

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Well you get to see the second tick-mark when the person on the other end receives your message (doesn’t mean he has seen it). Sometimes delays occur (you see the second tick late) when the person whom you sent the message has turned WiFi or data network off and thus he doesn’t receive your message. WhatsApp server issues are rare.

      Reply
  9. cheryl

    My friend said she deleted whatsapp as she preferred not to use it. A couple of weks later I sent her a message via Whatsapp because next to her name in my contacts i can still see the whatsapp icon. The message i sent showed two ticks. I sent another message a couple of days later and it now shows only one tick. Last seen doesn’t show and status shows ‘no status’……………has my friend blocked me? If she had deleted the app would i still still the icon and see two ticks?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      If she has deleted WhatsApp you’d see the icon but not two ticks. So she has probably blocked you.

      Reply
  10. Carol

    Hi

    I sent a couple of messages recently to a friend one tick is all thats appeared. His last seen is still appearing same as what it did with two ticks about a month ago. Has he blocked me??

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Well I don’t think he has blocked you. He has probably not used WhatsApp since two months.

      Reply
  11. Jayesh

    Hi Saksham,

    In whatsapp one of my contact reflects in “Chats” list but I have never send a message nor he has sent a message to me, why he shows in my ” Chats” list instead of “favorites” when I try to show our conversation it shows blank,
    does any body can help me ? its very Important to me.

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Did someone probably misuse your phone to send the contact a message and later delete it? This could be the only possible reason I suppose.

      Reply
  12. lorri rieck

    Hi!! My messages have not been sending all day…all i get is the clock icon….haven’t been blocked, and i know my internet is ok….have been using facebook and that has been ok…is frustrating as that i my main way to communicate with family in switzerland and up to now has been very reliable….any hints? I have restarted my phone and not an improvement…is a Nokia 920…Thank you

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Are your facing the problem only today If yes, you have nothing to worry about. WhatsApp is facing downtime (check WhatsApp Status from Help in your phone). The problem should be solved in couple of hours.

      Reply
  13. David Petty

    I have same problem just keep getting the CLOCK ICON when trying to send a message. It is very annoying as i can’t get in touch with family who live is Spain. What is the issue please when will things be running fine? As it’s been like this for hours for me now and my Internet is fine

    Reply
  14. Joshua

    Hi Saksham, I need your help. Because I don’t really use much on whatsapp, and I’ve only been contacting with 1 friend of mine using whatsapp. She replied me, yet the last seen time is totally different and it isn’t updating at all. And I’m not being blocked, because I still can send message to her and she replies. What can I do to fix that problem? Its been few days, sometimes she reply me, yet the last seen time doesn’t change, and sometimes, it shows her online and offline right after the second I message her again.

    Reply
  15. Ama

    Hello,

    I sent a friend a message , which revealed two ticks. However, the “last seen” stamp no longer appears and his status has reverted to an old one suddenly (I say suddenly because the status I’ve been seeing up until now has been used to promote his business ) could I be blocked? I know the hints of knowing whether you’ve been blocked can be a bit ambiguous for privacy protection..

    Thanks

    Reply
  16. Akash

    My friend sent some stupid message on the group though my phone wasn’t connected to the wifi it didn’t get delivered and had a clock sign .. Later I deleted my whatsapp now I am scared that if I download it again the same message would be delivered is there anyway to undo the message delivery (its in a group)

    Reply
  17. leipzig

    If 2 ticks are showing and the last connection time of the person is showing, does this mean for sure i havnt been blocked?

    Reply
  18. THAKUR TAWSEEF

    IS THERE ANY APP FOR FAKE WHATSAPP CONVERSATION OR CHAT IF YES PLEASE PROVIDE ME THE LINK FOR THAT……

    Reply
  19. ash

    hi i sent a friend a message it had one tick straight away i deleted the message would he have seen my message ?

    Reply
  20. amrik

    hey, saksham, i am looking for a trick to get into my friend’s whatsapp messages(kind of hacking)-just like we do in facebok by providing new phone number or new email to get a new password and to use it after 24 hours…….if you know what i am trying to say….
    Is there any trick by which i can access my friend’s account….
    thanks

    Reply
  21. bella

    i,ve send my friend a couple whtsap.. the sign shows me a single tick. if i delete those whtsap text.. does it still send to my friend?

    Reply
  22. Ebony

    Hi there.
    I would just like to know if you can help..i was wondering why i am not able to see updated profile pics on some of my watsapp contact list.?..they have not blocked me..
    Secondly a few numbers on my general phone book of galaxy s3 phone are not being shown as a watsapp number…why is this…very confusing.
    Thank you in advance.

    Reply
  23. Emma

    hi i cant see one of my friends online status but if i send her messages two ticks appear. does this mean she is getting my messages? or has she blocked me? but her online status doesnt appear on another of.my friends whatsapp either. could she just of hidden her online status?

    Reply
  24. Emma

    on one of my friends i cant see her online status but if i send a message it shows 2 ticks. does this mean she gets my messages or has she blocked me? other people say they cant see online/last time either.

    Reply
  25. CoderW@ll

    Hi Saksham,

    Sometimes I can’t see last seen or online status on what’sApp but sometime
    I can. Reason could be followings:

    He might blocked me but it is not true because each and every message is
    getting delivered in real time.

    “There are a couple of indicators that you may be blocked by one or more of
    your WhatsApp contacts:

    1. You can no longer see this contact’s “last seen at..” or “online” status
    in the Chat window.

    2. Any messages sent to a contact who has blocked you will always show one
    check mark (message sent), and never show a second check mark (message
    delivered).”

    In my case, I cannot see his online and last seen status but i got always
    second check mark at the time of message delivering.

    Just curious to know, Is this new feature or something had happened to my
    whatsApp 🙁

    Reply
  26. Anathi

    My boyfriend sent me a picture on my whatsapp and I opened it and I replied. A second later I was chatting with my friend but for some reason I saw the same picture that was sent by boyfriend to my friends whatsapp and it showed as if I sent it at 8am and this was 17:00. How is that possible?

    Reply
  27. callum

    I sent a message and its on one tick but my internet connection is fine so could it be because of the other persons internet connection?

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Yeah, it’s probably because his internet connection is turned off.

      Reply
  28. laura

    Sending a friend messages on whatsapp…it goes to one tick but never two???? I can still see when he’s been online….what’s going on?

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Might be another Whatsapp bug. I don’t think you’ve been blocked or something.

      Reply
      • Natalia

        Hi Saksham, I have a question, I just noticed that the last time seen on a friend status has dissapeared. I sent a couple of messages and got to ticks.! Have I been blocked?

  29. saurabh luthra

    hi Saksham,

    m using iphone 4 and i am not able to type messages in whats app when i m on no connection mode ie no wifi and no mobile data the send button just vanishes and it only comes when phone is connected to some service

    can this be solved ?

    Reply
  30. Nitish Vishwakarma

    Kindly answer my query….its really urgent!!!

    I m Nitish Vishwakarma R/o Delhi ,India.
    I have some queries regarding whatsapp account.

    1. When I sent one message to somebody who has deleted their account permanently, then it was showing single tick mark on the right side of message.
    (which means message is sent from mobile handset)

    2. But after two days it showed double tick marks on the same message for the same person whom I tried sending msgs. ( It means message delivered to the receiver mobile handset ? )

    My first question : Is this mean that the person have created the account again ? or not?

    What could be reason for this phenomena?

    My second question: Is it possible that “double tick marks” appeared without account formation ?

    Kindly reply immediately it is really urgent !!!

    Reply
    • Saksham Talwar

      Well the person may have created the account again is the only possible reason I can think of right now. Well I don’t think you see two tick marks without account formation. The receiver simply doesn’t receive a message if he doesn’t have a WhatsApp account.

      Reply
      • Nitish Vishwakarma

        I want to ask one more thing regarding this matter
        Is it also possible that somebody else is making account from other phone?

  31. YA

    Hey very helpful blog! I have a question about the status message..the line that comes under the name, in the whatsapp contacts. what if it is blank? And what if it says “…no status…” also saying 0sec ago. does this mean the other perosn has blocked me?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  32. saurabh luthra

    hi Saksham,

    m using iphone 4 and i am not able to type messages in whats app when i m on no connection mode ie no wifi and no mobile data the send button just vanishes and it only comes when phone is connected to some service

    can this be solved ?

    Reply
  33. Adele

    Hi there, please can you help me? I recently send a message on whatsapp that I now regret doing. He hasn’t seen the message yet so I am just wondering is it possible to delete this message although it is showing two ticks? I know he hasn’t seen it yet because I sent it after the last time he was seen on the app. Is it possible to delete this message now it has been sent to Him?

    Reply
  34. Stephanie Smith

    Good day,
    Please respond. It has been puzzling me. I have always been able to see the last seen of all my friends on whatssap. I blocked a few friends within a whatsapp group…not all…including the administrator…for a few hours once but since unblocking them I can see all the “last seen at” for all except three of them. However if I message them I get two ticks and they respond. Once they are online I can see. If not I cant see their last seen.
    1 is it possible they could have known I blocked them
    2 whats happening? doesn’t seem like im blocked.
    Anxiously awaiting your reply

    Reply
  35. Elina

    Hi there!

    I sent a message, it received one tick and the person was last seen 7 hours earlier. I then deleted the specific message I sent and blocked her. When I saw that she came back online (her last seen was minutes before), I then unblocked her. Did she get the message or was the deletion successful?…

    Reply
  36. Elina

    Hi there!

    I sent a message to a friend ‘last seen’ 7 hours earlier and it had one check mark. Then, I deleted the specific message in our chat. After I deleted it, I blocked the her .When she was online again, I unblocked her (after a few minutes). Will she still receive the message or has it been deleted since I blocked her in that time period? I am unable to know because I deleted the message so I can’t recover it and see one or two ticks. Thanks!

    Reply
  37. MMH

    Hi there,
    i am only experiencing issues with one contact on whatsapp, i have sent messages and for all of them there are two ticks, but i cannot see the persons last seen time. Though, when I go onto their profile I can see that they have changed their name/status recently?

    What does this mean?

    Reply
    • Ri

      Hello! This mean that on their profile they have changed the private settings , so not everyone can see when they were online last time. =] hope this helps;)

      Reply
  38. Francisco

    Hey. I sent a message to the wrong person. Those messages has two ticks. But she has not read the messages because she has not been (online) or last seen after the messages were sent. I deleted the messages that I sent to her. Do you think its already on her phone? Notifying her on her screen? Because it has two ticks but she hasnt read it. Please respond to me as soon as possible.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  39. Sakshi Sharma

    Hi Saksham,

    i need to know can i still send messages to a person who has blocked me…if yes..how??Can you help…

    Reply
  40. Rebecca

    Hi , am unable to see the last seen or status or profile of a friend on whatsapp. When I send a msg I see one tick . However after a long time I get two ticks. Am I blocked? Even if am blocked why do i see two ticks

    Reply
    • Michelle

      Once there is two ticks the person has received your message which means your not blocked. When you dont see their last seen this means they turned off their last seen in settings that way no one will know when they were last online.

      Reply
  41. Mehvish

    I have been sending messages to my friend since two days i get always one tick and i cant see the last seen time or either he / she is online or not . Is it so there network error or something else

    Reply
  42. brad

    I can see the “last seen date and time” although from 2 days ago and I can see their status….but when I send a message I only get 1 tick mark. Even a day after the message is sent, only 1 tick mark, but last seen and status are visable. Am I blockked?

    Reply
    • Batman

      Simply, no. But the status is not always true because it is manuely updated, meaning I could say that my status right now is [BEING BATMAN]

      Reply
  43. Toyin

    I sent my boyfriend a message on whatsapp and saw two ticks then deleted the app. Can I be sure the message has been received even tho i deleted it??

    Reply
  44. TripFlip

    O.K. when you see someone’s status as online within your chat section. You send him/her a message and you receive a single check. Couldn’t that just mean that the person is chatting to someone else and hasn’t opened your chat window to receive the text in order to get the double tick?

    Or does the double tick happen right away even if that person is not in your chat session because it’s been delivered to their phone? Just curious.

    Reply
  45. suman

    hi i sent a friend a message it had one tick straight away i deleted the message would he have seen my message ?

    Reply
    • Ram

      Sure, he’ll get it… You can undo it as long as the clock icon appears.

      Reply
  46. Ron

    I can see last seen time and my messages that I sent only have one tick ??

    Reply
  47. Joel

    I’ve got a confusing situation I have not seen online. I am sending my message, and before my wife listens to it, double blue check marks appear almost instantly. I have not seen anyone else with this issue while googling for this. Any ideas?

    Reply
    • Batman

      This is because your wife’s phone has received the message even if she has not viewed it yet

      Reply
  48. Sithara

    In my friend’s mobile it always shows only double ticks even after reading the message…what is the problem in it??

    Reply
    • J

      Maybe they have turned off read receipts. Which means, that the person can’t be able to know if the reciever has read it or not. (The blue ticks thing)

      Reply
  49. alice clove

    backup conservation earlier but still there is no back up and i also tried back up my conversation with the help of backup text for whatsapp but it is showing no messages how can i get back my whatsapp

    Reply
  50. Penguin Girl

    Mine are doing the single tick but are not doing the double tick. For example I sent a message to my friend at 11:30 am on the 11/3/2016 and it still hasn’t sent and it is now 8:51 am 12/3/2016. What is happening?

    Reply
    • Penguin Girl

      Mine are doing the single tick but are not doing the double tick. For example I sent a message to my friend at 11:30 am on the 11/3/2017 and it still hasn’t sent and it is now 8:51 am 12/3/2017. What is happening?

      Reply
  51. Sanya

    I sent a whatsapp it got one tick and after 5 to 6mins it got double. So does this mean the person saw the text from notification bar or it simply means due to their connection it got delivered a little late?

    Reply
  52. Gerry

    How do I know if I’ve been blocked. I was getting 2 ticks and time message delivered and read but now have sent several messages and no time read or delivered.

    Reply
  53. AVI

    I sent message to my friend , it shows single tick but after checking in info button, it shows as read and delivered, how it is possible?

    Reply
  54. Rosh

    Hey Saksham, the person unblocked me a day ago, and all I can see is them being online, and can view their profile picture too,along with their description, but my messages still remain with single ticks

    Reply

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