Facebook Messenger Icons: What Do They Mean? 

Are you using Messenger for the first time and wondering what those symbols mean? This article guides you on how to start using it, and what those little symbols mean. Read on to learn more.

facebook messenger icons

Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular free messaging apps in the world, with over a billion users.

In 2011, Messenger was issued as a stand-alone app for iOS and Android operating systems, a successor to Facebook Chat.

It also lets you have phone conversations and video calls, both one-to-one and with groups, as well as messaging. And even though you’re not on Facebook, you can use it.

Facebook Messenger Icons

Facebook Messenger Icon

Open Blue Circle

The open blue circle Facebook Messenger icon means that your message is currently sending.

It’s best if you don’t navigate away from the message while the open blue circle is present as you may risk losing your message if you exit before it is fully sent.

Open Blue Circle + Checkmark

The open blue circle with a checkmark means that your message has been sent.

Facebook Messenger Icons

At this point, you should be able to navigate away from the message without any worries, but the person you are sending the message to may not be able to see it yet.

Note: You might have this message stay with this icon even if the recipient is connected to the internet if they are not on your friend list. It will reach their profile and be in a “message requests” queue until they open it there.

Facebook Messenger Icon: Filled Blue Circle + Check

A filled blue circle with a checkmark means that your message has been delivered.

Filled blue tick

While the person may not have seen your message yet, you can be confident that it’ll be available to them whenever they next check their phone, tablet, or computer.

Note: A recipient that is not on your friend list might continue to give you this icon (or the previous one) because their message is in the earlier named queue waiting for them to read it.

Friends might also have this icon last even when you are sure they saw the message because their phone allowed them to read it from their notifications on the phone rather than to open the Facebook app and alert them the message was read.

Facebook Messenger Icon: Red Triangle + Exclamation

A red triangle with an exclamation point should only appear if your message is not sent due to an internet connection outage. It is arguably the least common Messenger symbol.

caution sign

A message should appear alongside the red triangle that says “This message didn’t send. Check your internet connection and click to try again.”

Avoid navigating away from the page until your internet connection is working, or save a copy of your message offline to ensure your information is not lost.

How to Know if Someone Saw Your Facebook Message

Facebook message

If someone has seen your Facebook message on the Messenger app, a small, circular version of their profile picture should appear underneath the last message they read.

You’ll also see the word “Seen” displayed under a message that has been read, along with a timestamp to let you know when the recipient opened it.

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How to Hide that You’ve Read a Facebook Message

Facebook has a feature that allows you to mark messages as unread. This has led many people to think that they can read a message without the sender knowing it has been read.

Unfortunately, Facebook’s Mark as Unread option is just an inbox sorting tool and won’t retract the read receipt.

Aside from using third-party add-ons in browsers, the only way to avoid someone knowing you’ve seen their message is to not open it.

How to Delete Facebook Messages

Delete messages

There are four different ways to hide or delete messages on Facebook:

1. Archiving a conversation will move it out of your Inbox and into the Archived folder. The action is reversible.

2. Deleting a conversation will delete every message ever sent from your inbox, but not from the other person’s inbox. This is non-reversible.

3. Deleting Messages will allow you to select specific messages to permanently delete from your inbox. But not from the other person’s inbox.

4. Blocking Messages will prevent another person in the conversation from sending you any further messages. This action is reversible.

Can Strangers Send You Messages on Facebook?

Facebook has also changed how strangers can send you a message. Now, if someone you don’t know wants to contact you, three things will happen:

1. You will receive a notification that you have a message request.

2. You will have the option to either Ignore or Accept the message after reading it.

3. A notification will remain on Messenger to let you know that you are not friends with the other person in the message.

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