Many WhatsApp users were surprised with the new read receipts feature of the messaging service that was quietly introduced into the app.

The read receipts feature allows users to see when a sent message has been received and read, not just when the message has been delivered.

Previously, WhatsApp showed one tick mark when a message has been sent, which would change to two grey tick marks when the massage has been successfully delivered.

With the update, the app now adds two blue tick marks to a message when it has been read by the recipient.

The feature was introduced into the app without any updates to the app itself, meaning that there were no included privacy settings that would disable the read receipts feature upon its launch.

The lack of the option to turn off the feature has drawn the ire of users that wish to retain the privacy of not allowing senders to know when their messages have been read.

Users can now get rid of the blue tick marks in the Android version of WhatsApp. While users will be able to disable the read receipts feature of the app, it will also disable the same feature for the user, meaning the user will also not be able to see if the people that the user has sent a message to have read it.

Only Android device owners can turn off the WhatsApp read notification for now, and will only work if the user manually updates that app through the website of WhatsApp. WhatsApp usually releases updates for its app through its website before rolling out the same update through the Google Play store of Android.

The first step is to obtain the latest APK for WhatsApp through the official website, which is version 2.11.444.

Once the latest version of WhatsApp has been downloaded, users should go to the Settings of their Android device, select Security, and then click on Unknown Sources to allow apps obtained from sources other than Google Play to be installed to the device. While the exact path to the option can vary between devices, the general idea is to allow the device to accept apps from outside sources.

The downloaded APK should then be accessed to install the latest WhatsApp version. After the installation has been finished, users should tap the icon with three dots in the app's top right corner. Users can then click on Settings, then on Account, then on Privacy.

From there, the read receipts feature can be disabled.