I have read receipts from my WhatsApp to my dead relative.

[SomethingMorethanthis]

I have searched online, and cannot find the answer. Maybe somebody can explain this in a none supernatural, and logical way. My parent died over a year ago, their phone is deactivated, doesn't exist anymore, network informed, it is all completely shut down.
WhatsApp expired where my parent's picture disappeared, as it does when the account goes. I have our WhatsApp chain still on my phone, my parent's phone number ia still in my contacts. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to delete this.

I often send my parent messages, updating them about my life, and expressing my feelings. It sounds absolutely crazy! I know my parent is gone in every way, doesn't exist anymore. I don't believe in ghosts, heaven and believe that there is nothing after death. I send these messages because it helps me. There is obviously now always just one grey tick because these messages will never ever be delivered, or read.

Well today I clicked on info, which I haven't done before. All of the messages have 2 grey ticks for delivered with a little line under where the time usually is, and 2 blue ticks for read with a little line underneath where the time would be as well. On the outside, it has the usual one grey tick as you would expect.

Why is this occurring?

I have checked, and it showed this way the very day the WhatsApp network for my relative deactivated. So the number wouldn't have even been reallocated yet. I think as others say this is just what happens anyway.

Thank you for putting my mind at rest; I believe this is the answer.

He wants you out - have seen this exact scenario time and time again in law.

if he tries to put you on formal PIP raise a grievance or raise a grievance now anyway

start looking for other jobs there is no future at this firm

Wrong thread?

Not everyone uses WhatsApp.

I would hope if the number gets recycled that the person getting the messages would let people know though.

Going back to landlines, we expected BT to re-use numbers because when my second parent died, we specifically asked BT to withdraw the number which is a thing you could do.

(They'd had the number for over 50 years and it was almost like part of our DNA!)

I once had a recycled phone number that wasn’t actually recycled. In some weird glitch it had been recycled to me but never taken off the original owner. My alter ego was a guy in Leeds…we once actually managed to have a conversation because he rang his number from another phone and got me.

The funny part about all this was his nan rang and got me instead of him….i answered hello and she said hello love it’s your nan. My reply? I hope not my grandparents are all dead. She was mortified to begin with but we had a good laugh about it.

Can’t remember how it was sorted in the end, I think I had to ask for a new number.

It's just showing you tried to send it but nobody opened it or read it.
There's no time for either heading.

If it does turn out someone is now on that number that's just because they've reallocated it. As others say.

My number used to be owned by a nurse called Violet. I still occasionally get some calls for her.

Maybe if that happens you could write notes to your loved one instead, and put them in a special place where you used to go together or by their grave?
I'm sorry if this gave you false hope. X

It does happen. Friend of mine died and their number was reallocated. There is nothing to say they cannot do this. I’m not sure why you thought they couldn’t.

I often send my parent messages, updating them about my life, and expressing my feelings. It sounds absolutely crazy! I know my parent is gone in every way, doesn't exist anymore. I don't believe in ghosts, heaven and believe that there is nothing after death. I send these messages because it helps me.

I don’t think it’s crazy at all 🤗 I’ve heard of people doing this before.

They definitely do, my FILs number was in use again a couple of years after he died.

A not that close friend died and his number was recycled within months. I didn't know he had died and messaged him and got a reply back in capital letters that he'd died & this person had his new number , then a photo of some female glamour model type appeared. I managed to find out from her that my friend's son had rung her to inform her that his father had died but she might get still calls & messages from friend's contacts.

I don’t think this is true, at least not universally. I had my old work phone in my personal contacts and I spotted one day that an old colleague was showing up under that number (she’d obviously been allocated the phone).

You can get your WhatsApp messages on multiple devices, including a computer or a tablet with no phone number. All the phone number is used for is to verify your identity when you create an account or log in. I do 90% of my WhatsApp messages on a computer with a nice comfortable keyboard. It works even if my phone is turned off.

So there are several possibilities. Maybe your parent had an extra device and it is running somewhere. Maybe the number has been reassigned to someone else who no longer had the phone contract associated with it. Maybe "number not valid" is the network's way of saying you are blocked.

It is a known security issue with WhatsApp that they cannot distinguish between (a) one person getting a new phone with the same number (and maybe a new SIM card, if the previous phone was stolen) and (b) a new person taking over the number. That's the downside of the "cool" fact that you don't need an e-mail address or a password to use it.

Oh OP it's so hard isn't it.

My best friend died last year of a brian tumour. I'm the same as you - no belief in any afterlife, yet I also would message her little updates or just and I love you and miss you message.
About a month ago they stopped delivering. I looked at all our mutual group chats and it said Lou Left. That was brutal.
But it was just because her WhatsApp had now been disconnected as bill not paid.
It must be very confronting to see them being delivered, I'd feel exactly the same.
I do think it's a bit mean of the new owner of the number to just ignore and block you personally, but that's just me.

I know of at least 15,000 who have a phone number and not WhatsApp, as my work issues us all with a phone and SIM card but prevents WhatsApp being installed on those phones as it’s not an approved communication app for our company. So there’s not true.

Gosh I am so so sorry about your friend. She must have been young, that is terrible, and utterly heartbreaking. 💐

Dh said it is very unlikely the number would have been reallocated yet, because it has just been a year for the account to go. He also said it would have rang within this year, or shown as delivered at some point before there was even a chance to block. He has told me this is what happens with a deactivated number anyway. It shows the one grey tick and always has since the day the account closed if that makes sense, with the two blue and two grey without times in the info. He said the messages send to the server but don't go through because it's an inactive number, so they're neither read or deleted.

Yes it has been tough, I didn't expect to lose my parent in my 30s. I realise people lose them younger, but everyone I know has their parents still here; it sort of stings a bit. They had a beautiful soul. Life is so very cruel! It is difficult to comprehend that one day people are here, and the next, they're gone from the face of the universe.

Piffle. Of course they reissue numbers!

Ty yes they do, I didn't get much sleep and hadn't put my brain in gear when I made that comment.

Anyway thank you for all of your helpful comments.

I can solve this for you. When you click on info, it's showing what the various ticks mean, not what that particular message status is. One grey sent, 2 grey delivered 2 blue read. The only thing relevant is what you see when you look at the message sent ie one grey tick. Sent but not delivered.

Thank you for explaining this so well. It is good to know what this means. If I'm not the only idiot to ask it, maybe this thread may help somebody else as well! Losing two relatives within a year has taken its toll!

My dad's number was reallocated a few years after he died.

I deleted his number when I saw someone else's profile picture on the WA profile.

The people who block are probably doing the right thing even though it must feel quite brutal. Imagine finding out a stranger was just reading your messages? Could be a plot for a novel.

I'm so sorry that happened to you; that must have been a shock after a few years had passed, without anything. I expect this to happen eventually.

They certainly do otherwise we would run out of numbers to use.