Social media gives us almost too much access to each other and sometimes you just need to figure out how to turn off active status on Instagram to find some peace. Maybe you want to scroll mindlessly for a bit without someone looking at your activity status on Instagram to start a conversation. Maybe you want to learn how to hide online on Instagram because you have too many unopened messages waiting for you but your chi is not in the right place to answer them. Whatever the reason, it is quite easy to hide your active status on Instagram if you want.
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Wondering How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram? What Does Active Even Mean?
Instagram is notorious for constantly tweaking its features, moving things around, and introducing new features that no one really asked for. The activity status on Instagram is one of those things. Much like WhatsApp, Skype, and other platforms, the “Active” or “Online” status allows people to see if you are currently on the app. If you’re inactive, it also lets people know how long ago you checked your Instagram.
While it makes sense on more professional platforms where you need to constantly be in touch with each other to get your work done and message across, it can be fairly unnecessary on social media. Although to Instagram’s credit, it does not show your last active time on Instagram to all your followers, only those you have had a conversation with before. This does have some benefits it offers. For example, those who want to reach out to you but find that you’ve been away from the app can then contact you via a different method instead of waiting. So there are some benefits to consider before you decide to turn off your activity status. Once you make up your mind, it is quite easy to learn how to turn off active status on Instagram.
How Is the Activity Status on Instagram Shown?
Your Activity Status is shown as a green dot next to your profile picture, signaling that you are currently available. It also provides an “Active Now” status when someone looks at their chat with you. Instagram also has a “Show When We Are Active Together” feature that allows your followers to see when you are both active in the same chat. This is automatically turned off if you hide your activity status. You can also keep your activity status on and only hide your in-chat active presence.
Once you learn how to hide active status on Instagram however, remember that you will also be unable to see anyone else’s status when you are online. If this is not a problem for you, then let’s learn how to turn off active status on Instagram together.
Guide on How to Hide Active Status on Instagram
There are two ways we can recommend when you want to figure out how to turn off active status on Instagram. One is the longer method but it helps to be familiar with the app and its privacy features, just so you know what else you can do. With the way the app keeps evolving, things do get moved around quite a bit so always try and understand the privacy settings at least. The other is a much simplified new addition to Instagram’s settings page.
Method 1: How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram
In the first method, we will see how to navigate the settings page for those who want to know how to hide their online status on Instagram:
- Open up the Instagram app
- Look for your profile icon on the bottom right of your screen. It should take you to your own profile page
- Click on the menu icon in the top right corner. It should resemble three lines.
- Look for the “Settings and Privacy” option and tap on it
- Scroll to find the “How others can interact with you” category of settings
- Click on “Messages and story replies”
- Next, find and click on “Show activity status” and you should now be able to turn off active status on Instagram
- Click on “Show Active Status” and the toggle button should move to the left and turn it off
- If you only want to turn off the activity status for when you’re together in the chat, tap on “Show When You’re Active Together” and it should turn a faded gray
Method 2: How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram
This second method is much simpler and can help you turn off active status on Instagram without having to hunt for the setting.
- Open up the Instagram app
- Again, look for your profile icon on the bottom right of your screen and go to your profile page
- Click on the three-line menu icon in the top right corner
- You should see a search bar right at the top of the page
- Type “show activity status”. Any one of these three words will also work
- Click on the “Show activity status” option from the search results
- Turn off your activity status and that’s it!
Hopefully, you are now familiar with how to turn off active status on Instagram. Go check the privacy settings to see what else you can do with the app. Maybe you want to consider reviewing your own activity status on Instagram, making a close friends list, or even turning on advanced filtering for the content that is tailored for you, which are other interesting things that the social media app allows you to do.