Instagram Activity Status – How to Shut It Off and Maintain Your Privacy
Instagram updated their mobile app to show users’ activity status. This means that Instagram users can now see when other users are active on Instagram. Your real time presence online (or not) is called your “activity status.” The idea to make chatting easier by showing friends that they are available to message directly. Active users are indicated with a green dot next to their profile photo when you look at them in Direct. This only works for Instagram users who are your friends who follow you or people a user has messaged in Instagram Direct messages. The update was announced on July 19.
To see who is online, go to your home screen on the Instagram app. Swipe left to reveal your contacts. A green dot [Figure 1] next to anyone’s name indicates they are connected to you and online, ready to chat.
There are a few ways to see when someone is logged in and active on the Instagram app:
- In your Direct inbox, users see a green dot next to another friend’s username and photo
- They see the green dot in other views of the users’ photo too
- Users will also see their friends’ most recent activity status (Example: Active 20m ago)
Great feature, right? Well, what if you don’t want your Instagram world to know you are online? Here’s how to save your privacy.
How to Shut Instagram Activity Status Off and Maintain Your Privacy!
You can easily go incognito on Instagram and shit off the activity status on your Instagram account. Users won’t see the green dot and jump you every time you post of photo of your lunch! In order to hide your what Instagram calls your “activity status,” you have to shut it off in your app settings.
To turn your Instagram activity status off follow these steps
- Tap your profile photo to go to your Instagram profile
- Tap the three dots to drop down your account settings
- Scroll down to the Privacy and Security settings
- Tap “Activity Status”
- Slide the toggle to the off position to stop your status from being shared
