How to mark an iMessage text unread

Hello jceze,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities! We understand you want to mark an iMessage as unread. We're happy to provide information on this.

This feature isn't available, however you can turn off the setting that allows others to see that you have read their messages. You can do this by navigating to Settings> Messages> Send Read Receipts. Make sure this is turned off.

Feel free to provide feedback to about about this feature: Product Feedback - Apple

Best Regards.

jceze wrote:

Curious if this feature will become available in the future.

—You can mark only select text messages unread and not for all.

Currently, you can't mark any messages unread.

No one here would be able to tell you what Apple's plans for the future are. But, I strongly encourage you to submit feedback using the link bailier provided above.

I’ve been wanting this feature since the iPhone 3G. Been hoping they would come out with it by now. Seems fairly simple. We have that option with email.

What I’ve done to get around it is to use the Peek feature to view a message without opening it. That way I can view it later when I have time to reply. To peek at a message, just give a soft press on their message. But if you give it a hard press, it will pop into the message just like tapping on it.

You’re welcome! Also, you can view the message in the Notification Center by swiping down from the top left of your screen. It helps to use both methods if someone sent a long message. This view shows the beginning of the message whereas the soft press of the message aka “peeking” at the message shows the end.

Just from any screen, you should be able to swipe down from the top left to see notifications. If you have an older iOS, you swipe up from the bottom of the screen.