In 2012, Facebook decided to make life much harder and much easier for all of us, both at the same time.
It was in that very same year that Facebook’s Messenger app introduced a feature that lets a user know if the message he sent was already seen by its intended recipient.
This feature is always useful if you’re on the giving end. But when you’re the intended recipient, sometimes, it could be rather inconvenient.
Facebook Messenger’s seen feature works like a read receipt, which tells the sender that you’ve already seen their message, including the details of the exact time you’ve seen it.
The problem starts when you do not want to hurt the sender’s feelings by letting them know that you’ve read their message but chose to ignore it.
But Facebook Unseen is here to solve it.
Facebook Unseen is a browser extension especially designed for Google Chrome and was created specifically to help Facebook users pretend that they haven’t read their Facebook messages just yet.
The moment a Facebook user clicks on their unread message is the moment the clock starts ticking as the message’s sender awaits their reply. Facebook Unseen intends to eliminate that dilemma.
The browser extension was designed to block read receipts from being sent to Facebook.
So with the Facebook Unseen installed on your browser, a sender won’t be able to tell that you’ve already seen their message and you can take all the time in the world to answer.
This Chrome browser extension even has a feature that lets you manually mark your messages as ‘seen’, so you could let the senders know that you’ve seen their messages at the time of your choosing.
– Verify that the browser you are using is Google Chrome. Facebook Unseen is a browser extension that only works with Chrome, so if you’re using browsers other than Chrome, you’ll have to download Chrome first.
– Download Facebook Unseen browser extension from Google Chrome’s Web Store.
– Install the browser extension.
– Click on the Facebook Unseen icon on the top right part of your browser and it should start working. You may now read all your Facebook messages without worrying.
Apart from the Facebook Unseen browser extension, there’s also an app called Unseen, which can be used from within Facebook itself, that also gives you the same convenience that Facebook Unseen has to offer.
Unfortunately, these tricks can only be used on PCs. Facebook users who send and read their messages on Facebook’s Messenger app on their mobile phones as well as tablets do not have the option to pretend that they haven’t read their messages just yet.
I must say, I have noticed this Facebook feature, and found it to be irritating. It could also cause problems, where someone might have left his/her page and messenger open, but not actually be sitting at the computer. Someone else could see the message, the person might come back and not see the message, or the computer might update itself, and shut down/restart. I wouldn’t count something as seen simply because Facebook says it has been, but I know people who would make that assumption, and would then start drama with the recipient. Therefore, I love the idea of this extension.