Activity status in Instagram allows users to see if someone is online by simply looking at the green dot on their profile picture or the ‘Active Now’ status in chats. Although this feature is useful, at times, you may want to appear offline to maintain privacy or avoid the pressure of responding to messages immediately. So, in this step-by-step guide, I’ll show you how to turn off active status on Instagram on an iPhone or the web.
- How to turn off active status on Instagram on iPhone or web
- What happens when you turn off Instagram activity status?
How to turn off active status on Instagram on iPhone or web
Hiding the active status on Instagram is straightforward and can be done within a few seconds via the official app or website. Here’s how:
How to appear offline on Instagram on iPhone
- Launch the Instagram app on your iPhone.
- Tap your profile picture at the bottom-right corner.
- Tap the hamburger menu at the top-right to enter Settings and activity.
- Scroll down and select Messages and story replies.
- Pick Show activity status.
- Toggle off Show your active status.
How to turn off Instagram active status on web
To turn off your active status on Instagram from a web browser, you may follow these steps:
- Visit the official website and then log in to your account.
- Click the hamburger menu (More) in the bottom-left corner.
- From the context menu, go to Settings.
- Scroll down and pick Messages and story replies under How others can interact with you.
- Click Show activity status.
- Toggle off Show active status.
Please note that the steps may vary slightly if you try to do this from a smartphone browser. Instead of using the hamburger menu at the bottom left, you’ll have to tap the Settings (gear icon) at the top left. Everything else remains pretty much the same.
Additionally, once you turn off the activity status, there are a few advantages and a trade-off you’ll have to come to terms with. Let me take you through those.
What happens when you turn off Instagram activity status?
If you turn off your active status on Instagram, your followers, and others will no longer be able to see the green dot next to your profile picture, leaving them clueless about whether you’re currently active.
Additionally, they won’t see any ‘Last Active’ timestamps in direct messages that generally show when you were last active on Instagram.
However, these benefits come with a trade-off. Whenever you turn off the active status for your Instagram profile, you’ll also lose the ability to view if someone else is currently active or how long ago they were active. If this last bit doesn’t bother you, go ahead and happily stay offline (visibly, of course)!
No, you can’t hide your active status on Instagram from one person. But if you restrict someone on Instagram, they won’t be able to view your active status.
The ‘active now’ status on Instagram generally provides an accurate indication of when a user was last active and using the app. However, it is not a real-time indicator and only gives an approximation of a user’s last activity on Instagram.
Signing off…
Turning off activity status in Instagram gives you a permanent solution to stay in control of your availability when using Instagram. However, keep in mind that if you do this, you won’t be able to see if someone else is online on Instagram.
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