Unsplash The activity status is enabled by default, but you can turn it off whenever you want. When enabled, it’s easier to know whenever a user is active or last active. Nonetheless, not everyone is comfortable with sharing their online status. There are users who would pretty much prefer to hide it.
Privacy Matters
Aside from personal preference, disabling the active status will certainly come in handy especially when you simply want to browse the app peacefully. You can browse for photos and videos without feeling the need to immediately reply to a direct message simply because they know you are online. Privacy is another good reason why you should consider hiding your active status. Doing so prevents certain nosy and intrusive users from knowing whenever you are online or recently active.
It Goes Both Ways
Here’s another thing to keep in mind. When you turn off your active status on Instagram, it goes both ways: if others can’t see your activity status, then you also won’t be able to see theirs. Nonetheless, if you’ve already made up your mind in preventing others from constantly keeping track of your active status, all you need to do is follow the steps listed below.
Turn Off Your Active Status in the Instagram App (iOS and Android)
That’s it! The changes that you’ve made will be automatically applied and people will no longer be able to see your activity status.
Turning off Your Active Status in Instagram (Web/Desktop)
Once you’ve turned off your active status on the Instagram app, it’s time to turn it off on the web version as well. To do that, you must do the following steps: All done!
A Few Notes to Keep in Mind
Even when not disabled, Instagram already limits showing your activity status to the first 25 users on your direct message list. Nonetheless, you may still need to turn off your activity status to avoid getting seen by people that you frequently message or get in touch with. It is also important to note that the changes you’ve made to your active status may revert to default when you update or reinstall your Instagram app. When this happens, you can simply hide your active status again by repeating the steps above. Keep in mind that while you may have turned off your active status on the app, you may still appear active in other places where you have your Instagram on. For example, if you are logged in to Instagram on both phone and desktop, then you need to turn your active status off in both places.
How to Know If Someone Turned Off Their Activity Status on Instagram
One way to find out if someone has turned off their activity status is to track their latest activity such as their posts and stories. Another way to find out whether they’re appearing offline is to send them a direct message and see if they read it. You can also check out their other social media and messaging accounts to see if they’re online there. Chances are if they are online or active on their other accounts, then they’re probably just hiding their active status on Instagram. Besides, it’s pretty easy to tell when someone (whose activity status isn’t turned off) is online on Instagram. Just go to your inbox and see if there’s a green dot beside their photo.
At the End of the Day
The option to disable your “last seen” or “recently active” status may help you restrict your visibility on Instagram to a certain extent. Still, there are other ways to find out whether someone has opted to hide their active status. Therefore, this is no guarantee that you can completely go invisible while using the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app. If your goal is to avoid a certain person or user from bothering you, it would be best to consider restricting or blocking that user instead. This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters. © 2021 Kent Peligrino
