Disable sending read receipts?

[Tiny Clanger]

I believe read receipts are a gross violation of privacy, and never allow them to be sent.

Now that they've been added to AquaMail, I've looked through the settings and can't find a way to permanently disable them. Could someone please tell me where this setting lives? (If there isn't one, please could it be added?)

Thanks

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Are you asking about read receipts in your incoming messages?

Yeah, I hate them too. If you sent me mail and it didn't bounce, just wait for a reply (and I may not reply at all, depending...)

There is no setting, but Aqua does not send read receipts automatically. It shows a small panel which the user has to tap to confirm first.

[Tiny Clanger]

Sorry for the delay in replying to this!

The reason I asked about a setting is that I don't really want the confirmation panel appearing and getting in the way — ideally, I want to configure Aqua Mail to not show the panel as I'm never going to be sending read receipts.

That said, it'll probably only be an issue on my work account as my home mail server is configured to strip those headers out before any clients can even see the mail

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Well, the panel scrolls together with message content, so it gets out of the way quickly...

And the next update, 1.5.9 (maybe not too long before I start posting -dev builds again) also scrolls the message header (from / to / subject) as well, giving more room to message content.

[Tiny Clanger]

Ah, getting out of the way quickly is fine

Thanks!

[pantelis]

Hi Kostya.

Any chance for adding a setting that disables that panel?
Despite the cancel/never/send confirmation after you press the panel, my sister ("not so good at computers" as she describes herself) pressed the panel and then confirmed with send, a receipt in a message we both preferred she didn't!

A setting to permanently hide the panel or make it non clickable or add a different non clickable flag/icon would be nice.

Thank you!

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Ouch.

I cringe every time someone proposes a new setting... I really do.

[pantelis]

  ok Kostya!

I agree with OP though. Receipts are an invasion of privacy for most people, and since email is all about that, maybe it deserves an extra setting.

Greetings from Greece!

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Well, delivery reports are a privacy violation -- since they're automatic. Fortunately, AquaMail doesn't support it

With read receipts it's up to you to click or not -- but I do understand the OP's case.

I could, in theory, change the current setting for "send without prompting" (which someone wanted, true!) -- to a three-state including "don't even show them", but:

Every setting change also needs translation updates, and also breaks things for existing users who are already using the non-default value.

---

But I do agree -- read receipts are annoying and selfish, it's like the sender shouting "me, me, me, I'm the most important person in the world, you have to respond".

[StR]

Kostya, I agree with what you wrote above.
As for selfishness, - I agree that it looks that way. But in many cases, it comes from people not thinking about the consequences. "If I can do this, why shouldn't I?" And unless specifically told, some people don't even expect it can be a nuisance for others. Large portion of those (half?) would stop if they knew.

I've observed people feeling embarrassed when they learned that issuing a "recall" in Outlook after they accidentally sent a message to a large distribution list sent yet another message to the entire list (for those who are outside of the "Exchange" ecosystem).

[gadgetfreak]

Someone in my office just came to me asking me why I read his e-mail at 3 AM. Forgetting the reason , I am wondering if AM or Nine sent him a read receipt. It was 3 AM so I may have opened both apps. I do NOT want to send them out. I don't see a global option in Nine and found this thread about AM. At 3 AM, it is possible I clicked a button to allow the read receipt to be sent but a global option to turn that off would be great.

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: wondering if AM or Nine sent him a read receipt

In AquaMail, the default is to NOT send read receipts automatically, but rather the prompt panel.

Can't speak for Nine.

This of course assumes it was a read receipt -- and not a delivery receipt which are sent by mail systems (your Exchange server) automatically.

[gadgetfreak]

Thank you for your reply. I just tested this with a colleague and can confirm that AM sends out a read receipt without any prompting. My colleague sent me a test e-mail requesting a read receipt. I opened it in AM. There was no option to send or not send. And he received the following e-mail back:

Your message

   To:
   Subject: Test Read
   Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2016 6:24:39 PM (UTC) Monrovia, Reykjavik

 was read on Thursday, May 19, 2016 6:24:35 PM (UTC) Monrovia, Reykjavik

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: can confirm that AM sends out a read receipt without any prompting

I just tested and it doesn't -- unless the user enables the setting to do so, which is off by default.

However...

My test was with an Internet mail type account, not Exchange.

Exchange *servers* send "read receipts" automatically as soon as a message is marked as read.

This is independent of a mail app, it's a "side effect", additional processing done by Exchange server, when it sees a mail app mark a message as read.


The wording in "read receipts" sent by AquaMail itself is different too:

Subject: Return Receipt - <original subject>

This is a Return Receipt for the mail that you sent to <your address>

[mikeone]

Please check if the following option is disabled:
> Menu (three dots button) > Settings > Message view > scroll to the end of the first section "General": disable "Send read receipts"