How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram In 2025

Discover the simple steps to disable active status on Instagram. Get educated on how to turn off Active Status on Instagram from this quick and easy guide:

Most social media platforms today have a feature that shows when a user was last online or active on the platform. This new feature has become an invaluable highlight of sorts for many popular social media channels out there, and Instagram is no exception.

You could easily hop into a user’s DM and learn how long it’s been since they were last active on the platform.

If they are currently online, you’ll see a green dot right next to their username at the very top. As someone who values his privacy online, I can understand why this feature would annoy some.

Table of Contents:

Quick Steps to Disable Active Status on Instagram
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
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Quick Steps to Disable Active Status on Instagram

Steps to turn off Active Status on Instagram

Sometimes you just don’t want anybody to know when you were last online. Fortunately, this isn’t as big of an issue on Instagram as the platform allows you to hide your activity status from others easily.

Consider this article your guide on how to turn off active status on Instagram.

So, without much further ado, let’s get started.

Instagram’s Active Mode

Simply put, Instagram has a feature allowing all your followers to see whether you are active on the platform. You’ll only be able to see a profile’s active status if you mutually follow each other on Instagram.

Further Reading => Explore How to Check Who Unfollowed You on Instagram

There are two distinct ways to find out whether a person is online:

#1) The Green Dot: The best way to determine whether someone is active on the platform is to check their main profile photo immediately. If you see a tiny green dot on the lower-right corner of their profile picture, it means they are online.

#2) The DM (Direct Messages) List: Another way to find out whether someone is online is to check your DM list. This list contains profiles with whom you’ve had a chat recently on the platform. If you see a green dot on the lower-right corner of this picture, it means they are online. You’ll also see the words “Active Now” on the chat header, which signifies that the person is currently online.

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How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram?

Although Active Status is quite significant in adding to the experience on Instagram, not everyone is a fan of this feature. Luckily, Instagram allows you to easily turn it off. I’ll be sharing a step-by-step guide on how to turn off active status on Instagram simply and quickly.

Steps to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram on iPhone and Android

Although I am using an Android device for this guide, the process will be similar to the iOS device as well. Whatever device you use, simply follow the below steps to quickly turn off your Instagram’s active status:

#1) Open Instagram on your phone.

#2) Tap on your profile pic, which you’ll find on the bottom-left-hand side of your screen.

#3) Now tap on the three horizontal lines you see on the top right-hand corner of your screen.

#4) Select Settings -> Privacy -> Activity Status.

#5) You’ll see “Show Activity Status”, which will be turned on. Switch the toggle off.

The process is also similar on Desktop. Open your Instagram on your desktop, tap on your profile pic, tap on the three horizontal lines to open “Settings”, navigate to the “Privacy” option and find the “Activity Status” header. Switch the “Show Activity Status” off and you are done.

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What Does Turning off Activity Status Mean for Your Instagram Experience

Now that you’ve turned off your activity status on Instagram, nobody following you will know when you are online. However, this is a double-edged sword. Turning off activity status will also render you unable to check other people’s status online. This means that you won’t see the green dot or the “Active Now” notification on other people’s accounts as well.

You’ll no longer see who among your friends is active online when you open your DM page. The only thing you will see in the DMs is the last message you shared and when that message was read.

If you wish to stop one person from seeing your activity status on the platform, it wouldn’t be wise to turn off the Activity Status of your page. Instead, you can try restricting interactions with a single account.

How to Restrict Interactions With a User

Follow these steps:

Open that user’s Instagram page.
Tap on “Following”, you’ll find this at the top of their profile’s photo grid.
In the opening menu, select “Restrict”.

By hitting the “Restrict” button, you’ll significantly limit interactions with that particular account.

They won’t see when you are online or when you’ve read their messages. You can find their messages in Message Requests. When they try to tag or mention you, they’ll be greeted with a prompt that says you don’t let everyone do this. Their comments on your posts will be visible only after your approval.

Alternatives to Turning off Activity Status on Instagram

If you wish to take a break from all the notifications but still want to check whether your friends are online from time to time, then turning off Instagram’s activity status feature might not be the best option.

However, there are a couple of other options you can consider that might be more effective as solutions. They are:

#1) Muting Users

Muting users allows you to temporarily pause notifications from a particular profile. By muting someone, you won’t see any content from them. You won’t see the posts or stories of the person you’ve muted.

The person you mute will never know that they’ve been muted. Plus, the muted person will be able to message you and see everything you post. This makes the “Mute” feature ideal for folks who wish to temporarily stop seeing content from someone but don’t wish to offend or insult them.

Here’s how you mute someone on Instagram:

Open Instagram and tap on the profile you wish to mute.
Tap on the “Following” button at the top of that profile’s photo grid.
From the opening menu, select “Mute”.
You’ll now have the option to separately mute posts, stories, and notes from this profile.

Switch the toggle on against the type of posts you’d like to stop seeing from this profile.

Further Reading => How to Mute or Unmute People on Instagram

#2) Adjust your Instagram Notification Settings

Instagram is quite flexible in adjusting the notifications you receive from the platform. You can choose to pause all notifications with a single click. You can also choose to stop getting notified of the likes, comments, or mention requests you receive on posts.

You can adjust notifications for almost all types of interactions and engagement on the platform. From messages to follower requests, you can choose to take a break from these alerts by navigating to your Navigation settings and fiddling with the toggle there.

#3) Quiet Mode

Quiet Mode is yet another interesting feature that lets you take a breather from notifications on Instagram. With Quiet Mode, you choose to automatically mute notifications for a specific period, on a particular day or set of days, as per your wish.

You can set the start and end time between which all notifications to you will be paused. You’ll get a reminder 10 minutes before this feature is triggered. You can access Quiet Mode under the “Notifications” section.

#4) Blocking Users

Blocking users is something I recommend in the most extreme circumstances. Perhaps you had a falling out with someone on Instagram or a particular profile has been sending you offensive or threatening messages.

You can easily choose to block them on the platform. Doing so will ensure that the blocked account isn’t able to find your profile again, completely shutting down any form of interaction with it.

Here are the steps you can follow to block someone on Instagram:

Open the profile page you wish to block.
Click on the three dots you’ll find on the top right corner of your screen.
In the opening menu, select “Block”.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you tell if someone has turned off their Activity Status on Instagram?

The purpose of turning off “Activity Status” is to keep one’s activity online in the dark. So there is no good way of knowing whether someone has switched their “Activity Status” off.
If someone was occasionally chatting with you but hasn’t done so recently and you haven’t seen an “Active Now” or greet dot on their profile for a while, you can suspect that they’ve switched off their “Activity Status”.

2. Is the Active Status shown on Instagram accurate?

It is assumed that the “Active Now” status and the green dot on a profile remain in place for five minutes after the user has logged off. This means that you may see someone as active on the platform, even though they are not.

3. What triggers the active status on Instagram?

If you are logged into Instagram and browsing through your feed, exploring other posts, messaging someone, or creating a post, Instagram will show you as active. This active status is indicated by a green dot, which your followers will see in the lower right-hand corner of your profile picture.

4. Can you see who views your Instagram profile?

No, you cannot see who has checked out your Instagram profile. However, you can tell if someone has viewed your story. You could try switching to a business account. Although this won’t show you who has seen your profile, you will get the metrics that show how many people viewed your profile.

5. Is restricting someone on Instagram the same as disabling your Active Status?

In some ways, yes. Restricting a user will help you hide your activity status from that particular user on the platform. However, when you switch off your Instagram “Active Status”, no one on your list will know when you are online or active on the platform.
I recommend disabling your page’s “Active Status” if you wish to hide yourself online from all your followers. If you wish to limit interactions with one or a few people online, simply restrict those accounts.

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Conclusion

Disabling your “Active Status” is just one way to protect and enhance your privacy on Instagram. This feature essentially allows you to browse and use the platform incognito. Nobody will know that you are active or online, lending you some much-needed breather on a social media platform that can get a tad bit busy and chaotic, especially if you have a massive page with a lot of followers.

Before you choose to disable your “Active Status”, just know that doing so will also prevent you from seeing other people’s statuses on the platform. There are other ways to limit interactions on the platform. You could try restricting or muting a particular profile on the platform. Alternatively, you could also try adjusting your notification settings.

If you must disable the “Active Status” on your Instagram, simply stick to the guide I’ve shared above.

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