When it comes to any platform with messaging or any form of contact is involved, sometimes you run into a person or two you want to mute, but not necessarily block. WhatsApp isn’t any different in that department.
You have two choices to make. Do you want to mute the person for a while or outright block them forever? Each has its uses and ones you should be aware of. Not only that, but you’ll also learn how to spot when someone has muted you when you have become “that guy.”
The Differences Between Muting and Blocking
There are key differences that make muting and blocking two separate tools. Muting is, essentially, playing the Silent Game, giving someone the cold shoulder or pretending they aren’t there. Blocking is outright silencing them from ever contacting you again. You may not want to associate with that person, unlike someone who’s muted for reasons that are less severe. Perhaps you still want to speak with them, just not right at that moment.
If Someone Muted You on WhatsApp Can You See When They Are Online
When you get muted on WhatsApp, a user’s online visibility will never change to reflect that you have been muted. Their online status is still visible even if they muted you. When they mute you, there’s no indication to you that you’ve been muted. That’s the whole point of muting. It allows the person who muted you to get less of you without you ever knowing.
If you can no longer see when someone is online, they’ve probably disabled their activity status. It doesn’t mean that you’ve been muted when you can’t see their activity status. You’ll have no idea you’ve been muted if you have.
How to Know If Someone Muted You on WhatsApp
WhatsApp handles the delivery of messages with several status icons, three to be specific. You have a single grey checkmark, two grey checkmarks and, lastly, two blue checkmarks. Each one represents the status of a message you send.
Here’s a breakdown of what each status icon means:
- Single grey checkmark: The message was sent, but not delivered. Imagine telling a mailman, “Hey, give that person over there this letter.” You have now sent the letter. However, if you see the mailman just standing there, refusing to move towards the other person and it nevers makes it there, your message was not delivered.
- Two grey checkmarks: Your message was sent and also delivered. The mailman you gave the letter to has made it to the person’s house.
- Two blue checkmarks: Your message was sent, delivered and then read by the other person.
The above status icons change depending on whether or not you’re just muted or outright blocked by the other person. For example, if you send them a message and the icon appears as a single grey checkmark, then you are most likely blocked or you’re having network connection issues.
If you are only muted when a message is sent, you’ll see two grey checkmarks with the possibility of it turning to two blue checkmarks if the other person just so happens to see the message. The other person won’t get a notification if you send them a message; you are muted. When you’re blocked, they’ll never have the option to view your message because it was never delivered in the first place, after all, you are blocked.
The information you see on a person’s profile can be a big indicator on which list you fall under. For example, you can’t see anything on a person’s profile if you’re blocked; you can’t view their status, nor their profile picture and your messages always appear as a single checkmark. Those are clear signs you were blocked. However, when it comes to being muted, that information is still open to you.
1. Ask Them
Another thing that you can do if you can’t figure out if someone muted you on WhatsApp is to simply ask them. If you’re close to them, then ask them if they saw your status for example and if they say no, ask why. Or you can straight up ask them if they muted you.
2. Their Name Doesn’t Appear in the Name of People That Viewed Your Status
Whatsapp does not send you notifications when people view your status, but you can still find out who viewed them. You should select My Status from the status section to see who viewed them. If any are available, it will show your Whatsapp Statuses that you’ve uploaded in the last 24 hours. It will then be possible for you to check how many people have seen each of your Whatsapp Statuses. When you tap on a specific Status, you will be able to see the names of all of the individuals who have viewed your Status so far. If a name that is usually on the list of people who viewed it suddenly stops appearing, there’s a chance that they muted you.
3. They Don’t Reply to Your Messages Straight Away
When someone mutes you on Whatsapp, the messages they send you don’t pop up like every other message. It will mean it takes longer for the person to reply to your messages. The only reason someone may not receive a message on Whatsapp is if they have no internet connection. Other than that, Whatsapp messages always get delivered, and people reply within a short time. If you don’t respond to messages straight away and take your time, a friend may start to think that they are muted because of your late responses.
4. They Used to Watch Your Status, But They Suddenly Stopped
When you mute someone on Whatsapp, you are essentially telling the algorithm that you are not interested in the Statuses that they post. If you rarely ever send messages between the two of you, the algorithm will not prioritize that person when it comes to your Statuses. It will affect how your Statuses show up on their page. When someone mutes you, your Statuses will not be prioritized by the algorithm, and they won’t appear at the top. If a person decides to check your messages, they will have to look for them at the end of the Status list. Unfortunately, because of all the exciting Statuses on Whatsapp, people forget to check Statuses that they muted. If you notice that someone used to watch your messages, but they no longer do, your Statuses have been muted.
How to Know Someone Muted You on WhatsApp Status
It isn’t possible to know when someone has muted you on WhatsApp status. There are no signals or signs that the individual has muted you. However, you will only be able to discover this information based on your instinct. If the person is still on your status list, chances are they didn’t mute your WhatsApp status. Muting allows people to send you messages, and if you choose, you can still view their Statuses; they won’t know that you muted them.
If You Mute Someone on Whatsapp, Will They Know?
Your friends will never know that you have muted them, and you will still be able to watch their Statuses by scrolling to the end of the Status list. Apps like Whatsapp can be a minefield to navigate. Being able to mute Statuses on Whatsapp is an excellent feature since it allows you to keep space between people without causing any inconvenience to others. Muting someone’s Status means their profile will no longer display at the top of your Statuses list when they publish new ones. The advantages are that you never have to delete someone to stop watching their Statuses, and you and your friends may continue communicating as usual.
If You Always Take Long to Reply to Their Messages
Most people usually have their phones in their hands, and they often have notifications on for the different apps they use. Most Whatsapp users enable push notifications so that they never miss messages, especially to main their streaks. Replying to Whatsapp messages has become easy as one can receive them on their push notifications and see them when they use the app. It is suspicious when someone takes a long to reply to messages because most Whatsapp users visit the app many times a day. A friend may think they are on mute because of the time it takes you to reply to messages, as it doesn’t take that long to see and answer a message.
If You Never Watch Their Statuses
You can tap to skip through certain sections of a Status or swipe to move through the rest of a person’s Status completely. With the millions of people using Whatsapp, you may find that you have many people that you know on the app. If you never watch the Statuses the person posts, it might leave them thinking that they are on mute. Although they never receive notifications when you put them on mute, never watching their Statuses becomes the hint that their Statuses are on mute.
You Used to Watch Their Statuses, But You’ve Stopped All of a Sudden
We all have friends that we communicate with regularly on Whatsapp. It may be sharing memories or sending memes and messages that you both find funny. You may even watch their message religiously and respond to everything they post. Once you mute a friend, they will not show up at the top of the status list, and you will stop watching them. When you stop watching their messages, they may get suspicious and think you muted their Statuses.
Can Someone See When You Mute Their Status on Whatsapp?
Whatsapp will not notify a person once you mute their Status. They do not get a notification, and life goes on as usual on their side. For you, the messages are never at the top, and you need to look for them at the end if ever you want to watch or respond to them. They will not see if you mute their Status, but they may suspect they are muted because of no responses to their messages. Since muting a Status moves it from the top, you may forget about the person’s messages, making them suspicious if you talk regularly.
Muted Vs Blocked on Whatsapp
You should know that the person can also block you, which is different from muting. Muting still allows them to interact with their posts and respond to their messages. If you’re blocked, then you won’t see their profile picture and status. If these things happen, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve been blocked. They may have deleted Whatsapp. If they’ve deleted Whatsapp, then every message that you send will be pending.
If someone has muted you or blocked you, don’t be too offended. Sometimes, you don’t know why they’ve blocked or muted you. Maybe they’re taking a social media refresher, so they muted a few people. Maybe they blocked you for something that happened with a mutual acquaintance and it doesn’t exactly have anything to do with you. Either way, you can move on and still live your best life while they’ve blocked or muted you. The people who have you on WhatsApp are the ones who you should be focusing on.
How to Know If They Muted Your WhatsApp Status
If someone has muted you on WhatsApp, they simply won’t be shown in the list of users that the status was viewable to. Although they could’ve just missed it and not seen it, if they always see your status updates and they recently haven’t been seeing them, chances are they muted you.
One thing you can do if you can’t figure out if someone muted you on WhatsApp is to simply ask them. If you’re close to them, then asking them if they saw your Status for example and if they say no, ask why. Or you can straight up ask them if they muted you.
How to Mute Someone on WhatsApp
1. Locate and launch WhatsApp.
2. Open the conversation with a person you want to mute.
3. In the top right corner of the screen, you’ll see three vertical dots. Select it. Doing so will open a drop down menu.
4. In the drop down menu, choose Mute notifications near the middle of the list. It will prompt a small window.
5. In the window, you’ll see you have three choices to choose from. You can mute someone for 8 hours or 1 week or an entire year. When you’ve chosen the length of time, tap OK.
If you select “Show notifications,” you can get a notification, but you won’t hear a sound.
The Takeaway
Consider the following scenario: you have a friend or family member whose Statuses you do not enjoy or are not interested in. Even though you don’t want to delete them from your contact list, you don’t want to see their statuses. Although it is possible to ignore the status manually, it is possible that when viewing other Statuses, the status from this particular individual will come up at some point. In these types of instances, it is possible to mute. All of the Statuses associated with that contact will get put at the end of your Status list. The Statuses of that individual will not appear in the Status list, either.