Social media plays a vital role in our daily lives in this era. It is a hub for self-expression, communication, and keeping up to date with current events. Maintaining an online connection with peers has become relatively simple for people thanks to social media apps like Instagram which stands out as a visual platform for sharing photos, videos, and stories with your followers.
One of the key features of Instagram is the Active Status indicator. It is a small green dot that appears next to a user’s profile picture, indicating whether they are currently online on the app. However, the Active Status feature is not always a valid sign of someone’s online presence.
Instagram provides users the option to disable their Active Status to make it difficult for others to determine whether they are actively using the app or not. This can be particularly annoying when trying to assess the online availability of individuals you’re interested in connecting with.
This blog delves into the various methods to tell if someone has turned off their Active Status on Instagram.
Signs that Someone Has Turned Off Their Active Status on Instagram
A simple answer to whether you can check someone’s active status on Instagram is, unfortunately, NO. There is no such feature on Instagram that lets you straightforwardly determine someone’s active status if they have turned it off. Anyway, the good thing is, despite there being no direct feature to assess it, you can still do it conveniently. Further in the article, we discuss a few notable indicators to help you with it.
Recent Activity Timestamps
Analyzing recent activity timestamps can offer hints about a user’s presence on Instagram, even if their Active Status is hidden. You can check for recently posted Instagram stories, updates, or photos shared on their feed. These activities indicate that the user has opened the app within the past 24 hours.
However, keep in mind that timestamps can mislead you in some cases. For example, if a user schedules posts in advance or leaves the app open without actively using it, you might get the wrong information about their recent activity. To counter this issue to some extent, you can observe the user’s overall posting frequency and engagement patterns. Even if individual timestamps are not always reliable, consistent activity on the app suggests that the user is most likely logging into the app regularly. It’s also quite possible that if you initiate a chat or direct message with the person and you don’t get the message “Active X minutes ago” or a timestamp showing when they were last active, they have disabled their Active Status.
Consider observing the user’s activity on other social media apps as well. If they are active on other platforms, it is quite likely that they are also using Instagram, even if their Active Status is hidden.
The Absence of “Green Dot”
When someone is online, a green dot appears next to their profile picture. The absence of the green dot for a long time is a mysterious thing to occur. It indicates that the person has not been active for a long time. However, if you can see them posting stories and updates on their feed, it is obvious that they have disabled their Active Status on Instagram.
On another note, if your followers can see you online, it can impact your presence positively. It will not only enhance your engagement rate but also help you get more likes on instagram.
Message Read Receipts
Message read receipts, also referred to as “Seen” indicators, are also a practical tool for identifying hidden Active Status. Even if their Active Status is hidden, the “Seen” indicator shows up below your message when you send a direct message to someone’s inbox.
Similarly, you can see who has viewed each message in group conversations. However, it’s crucial to remember that message read receipts do have some limitations because users have the option to disable them too.
Moreover, if a message goes unresponded to for an extended period of time, it could mean three things. Either they have turned off their Active Status, they have not been active on the app for a long time, or they are obviously ignoring you.
How to Disable the Active Status on Instagram?
We have all come across some nosy people in our lives. Their occurence on Instagram is quite likely as well. Sometimes it can be daunting to be constantly seen online every time you open the app on your phone. You might just want to scroll reels after a long day at work and just enjoy the experience in peace when someone could take the opportunity and bug you with their messages.
It is very common if you are an influencer or a content creator, and you gain more Instagram followers, your inbox suddenly starts flooding with queries and other messages. The moment people find you online, they will start conversations, not knowing there are already so many lying around in the inbox.
In this case, turning off the Active Status can help you a lot. The process can be done following these super simple steps:
- Open the Instagram app and go to your profile by clicking on your display picture at the bottom right corner of your screen.
- On landing on your profile, you will see three horizontal lines at the top right corner leading to the Menu.
- Find Settings in the list of Menu and click on it.
- Scroll down and go to Privacy.
- Locate Activity Status in the Privacy Settings, and slide the toggle next to it to the left and turn it off.
Ta-da! It’s that simple!
You have learned how to turn your Active Status off on Instagram. Now you can easily avoid any interactions that bother you or disturb your privacy.
Summing Up
Disabling the Active Status on Instagram has its own pros and cons for users. Some choose to turn it off because it bothers them to be discovered online by other users whenever they are active on the app. While others may not have a problem with their Active Status being visible to others.
However, if someone turns it off, it becomes hard for others to track their activity but there is always a way out in this case. We have compiled some indicators in the article above that can be used to find out if someone has disabled their Activity Status. We hope you find this article helpful in answering your questions.