Sent vs Delivered Message: How Are Both Different

Whether it be emails, Facebook messages, or WhatsApp messages, when labeled as sent, it means the message has left your device and is on its way to your network, but it doesn’t mean it has reached your contact's device yet.

When the message is marked as delivered, it has reached the receiver, but that doesn’t mean they have seen it. When your receiver opens and reads your messages, it gets labeled with read on the sender device.

When you type your message and press the send option in your messaging platform, your network service provider receives it. From there, it travels through various networks or grids until it reaches the recipient’s network provider. Finally, the receiver service provider delivers the message to their devices.

Poor network signal and device settings can affect the whole message-sending process and the status of your message. The “sent,” “delivered,” and “read” status denotes the entire process.

To know whether your SMS has been sent, you can check the status indicator in your messaging platform. If it shows as “sent,” your message has successfully left your device and has reached the recipient’s network. However, this doesn’t confirm the delivery of your message to the receiver’s device.

You can check the delivery of your messages from the messaging platforms you’ve used to send them. If the status shows delivered, it confirms that your message has reached your recipient's device.

If your message is marked as “delivered,” it has reached the recipient’s device. But if the receiver blocks you, your messages might still show as “sent,” and the status won’t change to “delivered.” In such cases, when you send an SMS, the recipient will not get notified of the messages on their device.

Understanding what “sent” and “delivered” messages are can help you manage your communications better. While “sent” shows that your SMS has left your device, “delivered” means it has reached the recipient. But even a “delivered” message doesn’t guarantee that the person has read it until the status shows as read.

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If a text is “sent” but not “delivered,” it could mean the recipient’s device is off, in Airplane mode, or out of network range. It could also mean that your number is blocked.

“Delivered” is better as it indicates the message has reached the recipient’s device, whereas “Sent” means the message is on its way and the recipient has not received it yet.

This depends on the recipient's device status, such as being turned off or out of service; the message will stay as “sent.” Once their device is back online, the status will change to “delivered.”

“Delivered” means the message has successfully reached the recipient. However, it doesn’t confirm that they have read the SMS unless you have read receipts enabled or the message status changes to “read.”