Social media sites like Instagram make it a lot of fun to stay in touch with friends and family and watch them daily in reels, highlights, and daily stories, but it’s a bonus to fun and games with privacy risks, especially for kids. If constant notifications drive you nuts. And the situation worsens when your friend sees that you’re online and still aren’t answering. A green dot that shows when someone is online it’s probably already time to answer dramatic, emotional questions. But before that, change your active Instagram status so nobody else ruins your reel time! Do you know how to turn off active status on Instagram? If not, This guide will help hide the active status on Instagram and you can use it without letting your friends and family know about using it.
What is Instagram’s active status?
Like WhatsApp has an optional Last Seen status for the person you are chatting with in a conversation thread, Instagram tells you how long it’s been since a user was active if you are viewing messages from him or her in your direct inbox.
A green dot is displayed adjacent to their profile picture and name if the person is currently engaging with the app.
The green dot on your friend’s chat indicates when a person is online or when they were last active. The active dot feature is also a great way of letting your friends and followers know whether you can message or chat with them immediately.
But sometimes, for whatever reason, you may not want someone-or indeed anyone-to know how long since you last checked your social media. Both WhatsApp and Instagram are similar in terms of activity status within the app.
Does Instagram show when you’re active?
Yes, and it also shows the status of your activity to others. If you’re presently running the app, there will be a green dot above your profile, meaning you are logged in. Moreover, the service will sometimes notify you that you are active now or active 10 minutes ago, depending on when you last ran the application. This way, users can see at what time their contacts become available to chat with them.
Can everyone see your active status on Instagram?
Not everyone can see your active status on Instagram. Active status is only accessible to people who follow you and is mutual. It means both parties need to follow each other.
Why do individuals want to turn off activity status on Instagram?
There are some reasons why people want to turn off activity status on Instagram, let’s discuss them below.
Privacy issues: Many users don’t want to let others know what they are doing because of unwanted attention.
Parental control: The feature of turning off active status deactivates the status, and kids receive unwanted messages or connect with anyone.
Digital footprint management: Being in control of one’s footprint by minimizing exposure online is a good form of digital footprint management.
How to turn off active status on Instagram: Complete guide for your devices?
Thus, if you have already decided and wish to remove the active status on Instagram, then the following guide will walk you through the process both on mobile and on the desktop version of the application.
How to turn off active status on Instagram app?
The process of turning off the active status on your Instagram mobile app is very simple and the good thing is it is the same for Android and iPhone. If you want to disable activity status on Instagram app, follow these easy steps:
Step 1. Open the Instagram app from the mobile applications on your phone. Tap the profile icon, whether you’re on Android or iPhone.
Step 2. Tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner of the screen to bring up the menu. From the menu, tap on the Settings and Privacy option.
Step 3. Scroll down to find the Activity Status option.
Step 4. Toggle off the switch for Show Activity Status.
Once you do that, your followers and direct message contacts won’t be able to see if you’re active on the app.
How to change active status on Instagram from computer?
To turn off your active status on Instagram from a computer:
Step 1. Go to Instagram.com and log into your account. And tap on your profile icon on the top right.
Step 2. Click Settings from the dropdown menu.
Step 3. Go to Menu for the Privacy and Security option
Step 4. Scroll down to Activity Status and untick Show Activity Status.
This will hide your activity status which shows when you are online or the last time you were active on Instagram from everyone.
Can I hide active status on Instagram from one person?
Unfortunately, you can’t hide your active status from just one person on Instagram directly. However, you can use the Restrict feature to limit that person’s capability of seeing your activity status or even message you as well. This way, you can have much tighter control over privacy especially when you do not want it to be completely disabled.
How to see who’s active on Instagram?
You can see who’s active on Instagram in the following ways:
● Profile images
At the top of the DM page, you’ll see the profile pictures of your followers. In this section, if you see a small green dot at the lower right side of their profile picture, it means that the person is online.
● Chat list
As you scroll through your DM list, a green dot next to someone’s profile photo signals that they’re online. If they’re not actively chatting, it will show you the Seen X hours ago message, indicating when they were last active.
● Top of the chat
When you are texting someone, at the top of the chat you can see Active Now as soon as the other person opens the app and starts using it, whether they’re texting you back or scrolling through their feed.
Is it possible to stop seeing if someone is active on IG?
You can also disable the activity status of other people seeing whether the individual is online or not by turning off your own activity status. Once you have turned off your active status, you no longer see their status while online as well. It also gives you the same kind of privacy and control while being online.
Why is my Instagram activity status not working?
Many things might be behind it so that your activity status does not appear. It could be the account settings that wouldn’t let it appear or may be connectivity issues or app glitches. If your active status won’t show up, make sure your settings are on such that it would display and you are connected to internet services.
How to fix active status not showing on Instagram?
To get out of the problem of your activity status not showing, just follow these troubleshooting steps:
- Whether you have an enabled Activity Status in your Instagram settings
- Ensure your internet is on and so is your phone
- Logout from the Instagram account, log in again
- Clear the cache from the app and update it to the latest version
These are cases which if solved via these remedies, then you should contact support and get service.
Why parents choose to disable the kids’ activity status on Instagram?
Of course, turning off activity status for kids on Instagram keeps them away from unwanted exposure to inappropriate social contact. This is normally so because, more often than not, children are more vulnerable to unwanted attention or being targeted online. Disabling it keeps them safe. Apart from that, this will also ensure a kid’s activity becomes shared at the right time and in the right way, giving more control to the parents over the child’s online presence.
Maintain privacy: Allowing kids to engage with social media platforms with privacy.
Avoid disturbance: The activity status might be deactivated so that the child would not be diverted; thus, focusing his attention on the problems of study or other related issues.
Minimize cyberbullying: Digital well-being is one of the major concerns of parents, especially those whose kids spend a lot of time online on social media platforms. So parents want to make sure their kids are safe on social media platforms and away from cyberbullying.
More ways to shield kids from inappropriate social interactions online
Apart from turning off the activity status, there are some other ways by which parents can prevent their kids from being exposed to unnecessary social interactions. Here are some tips for that:
Download parental control apps: There are some apps that help parents protect their kids online. One such application is FlashGet Kids which traces the activities of the children when they go on the Internet. It provides tracking of activity and messages in real-time, along with many other useful features, which ensure that kids are safe online.
Enable privacy settings: Features like privacy settings on their social accounts also ensure the safety of your kids while surfing on social media sites.
Close friends posting: Instagram also lets you pick some close friends instead of sharing content with everyone who follows you. Parents can use this feature to keep their kid’s social media platforms more private and protected from unnecessary social interactions with strangers.
Alternatives to turning off your activity status
If you are your kids don’t want to turn off activity status on Instagram, thankfully there are some alternatives you can try. Here are some of them:
Limited account accessibility: On Instagram, there are private accounts and public accounts. To limit the account accessibility on your child’s profile, you can make their profile private so that only approved followers and friends can see their content.
Message and comment filters: Parents can also filter the comments and messages from their kid’s profile by turning on the privacy option which prevents strangers from sending them a message or comment on their post.
Hide offensive content: Enable the ‘Hide offensive content’ option on Instagram to keep the platform safe and harmless for kids.
Comparing Instagram active status to Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat
The only characteristic is that it is almost alike the rest of other social media applications, such as Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat. However, there also exists a minute difference in each one of them. For example, on Facebook, the activity status shows up in Messenger. Speaking of TikTok and Snapchat, they show whether you are online or off when talking with someone. Their status looks very much more transparent on Instagram than anywhere else. Still, TikTok gives other options when speaking of visibility settings.
Final thoughts
Knowing the reality of the shutdown in Instagram status can be pretty helpful for security and privacy, especially for kids. Due to this shutdown status, parents will keep their children away from unwanted attention as well as inappropriate interaction. Applications like FlashGet Kids may also be used for a safer experience with social media by helping children control things in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Instagram say active now when I’m not?
There could be a few reasons for that, it could be that your app is running in the background, or maybe there is a technical glitch on the app which is showing your online even when you are not.
How long does Instagram’s active status last?
When a user closes the app, the green dot which shows your activity status usually lasts a couple of minutes. If the app is running in the background, the activity status might still be on after 5-10 minutes.
Why can’t I see someone’s active status on Instagram?
If you cannot see the status of a person then probably they have deactivated it. You are not following them or directly messaging them.
