How to Turn Off Active Status on Instagram (iPhone, Android and PC)

How to turn it off on a computer

On instagram.com the path is almost the same:

1. Click More in the bottom left, then click Settings.
2. Below How others can interact with you, click Messages and story replies.
3. Click Show Activity Status.
4. Turn off the toggle.

Activity Status is a setting on your account, not on the device, so you don't need to repeat it on every phone or computer. If you use more than one Instagram account, check the toggle on each of them.

What turning off Activity Status hides

According to Instagram, when Activity Status is on, the people you follow and anyone you message can see when you were last active or whether you're active right now. Turning it off removes that signal. People in your chats no longer see the green dot or the "Active 5m ago" style timestamp next to your name.

There is a trade-off, and it surprises many people: it works both ways. Once your Activity Status is off, you also stop seeing when other accounts are active. That includes accounts that follow you, people you have direct conversations with, and anyone currently active in the same chat as you. Instagram does not let you hide your own status while still watching everyone else's.

What it does not hide

Turning off Activity Status only removes the online indicator. Several other things can still show that you're around:

• Read receipts. If someone sends you a message and you open it, they can still see "Seen" unless you turn read receipts off separately (see the next section).
• Story views. When you watch someone's story, your name appears in their viewer list. Activity Status has no effect on that.
• Likes, comments and new posts. Anything you do publicly is visible as usual, with its own timestamp.

So if your goal is to read DMs quietly, Activity Status alone is not enough. You'll want read receipts off too.

Turn off read receipts as well

Read receipts are a separate setting, and Instagram lets you control them for all chats or for one conversation at a time.

For all chats:

1. Go to your profile and tap the Menu icon in the top right.
2. Under How others can interact with you, tap Messages and story replies.
3. Tap Show read receipts.
4. Turn off the toggle next to Read receipts.

For a single chat:

1. Tap Messages, then open the conversation.
2. Tap the chat name at the top.
3. Tap Privacy & safety.
4. Turn off Read receipts.

One detail worth knowing: a choice you make inside an individual chat takes priority. If you turned read receipts on for one specific chat and later turn them off for all chats in settings, that one chat keeps them on. Check the conversations that matter most to you.

"Show when you're active together"

In the same menu you may also see Show when you're active together. This one is narrower. When it's on, you and the other people in a chat can see when you're both active in that same conversation at the same time.

Instagram only offers it while your Activity Status is on. If you want to keep your general status visible but stop people from noticing that you're sitting in their chat right now, you can turn off only this option and leave Activity Status on.

Can you hide your online status from one person only?

Activity Status is all or nothing: it's either visible to everyone who can see it or to no one. If there's one specific person you don't want watching, the tool for that is Restrict.

When you restrict someone, Instagram says they won't be able to see when you're online or whether you've read their messages. Their new comments on your posts also become visible only to them unless you approve them.

To restrict someone from a chat:

1. Open the chat with that person.
2. Tap their name at the top.
3. Tap Options in the top right, then tap Restrict, and confirm.

Restricting moves your chat with that person to Message Requests, and you can read their messages there without them knowing. It's a softer option than blocking, and it's useful when blocking would escalate a situation.

Troubleshooting: "I turned it off but people say I look active"

A few common causes:

• Someone saw you before the change. Timestamps that were already on their screen won't refresh until their app does.
• You're showing up in another way. A story view, a like, or a "Seen" receipt reveals activity even with the status off.
• You changed the wrong account. If you switch between accounts, the toggle applies to the account you were on when you changed it.
• Your app is out of date. Update Instagram and check the toggle again.

For creators: offline doesn't have to mean unreachable

If you run a public account, turning off active status is often less about hiding and more about boundaries. When followers can see you're online, they expect an instant reply, and the inbox starts deciding your day.

The fix is to give people a better way to reach you than waiting for a green dot. Put your real contact routes in one place: a booking link, a business email, a WhatsApp button, the form you actually check. On VISU, that's your VisuLink, a single page at visu.to/yourname that you can link from your Instagram bio. The free plan holds 5 links plus 5 social icons, which covers the essentials for most creators.

The same privacy logic applies to that page. In your VISU profile's privacy settings you can choose whether to show your city and whether visitors can see your followers and following lists, so your public page shares what helps people find your work and nothing about where you are right now. For a broader checklist of what to share and what to keep private, read our guide on safety, privacy and trust for creators, and to make the rest of your profile work harder, see the creator profile optimization playbook.

And if what you really need is a longer break, not just a quieter inbox, we explain the difference between deactivating and deleting Instagram and what to save before you do either.

Quick recap

• Hide your online status: Profile > Menu > Messages and story replies > Show activity status > turn it off.
• On a computer: More > Settings > Messages and story replies > Show Activity Status.
• The catch: you'll stop seeing other people's status too.
• Read messages quietly: also turn off read receipts, for all chats or per chat.
• Hide from one person: use Restrict.

Your status is yours to share or not. Set it once, and if you're a creator, make sure the people who need you know where to find you when you're offline. You can build that page for free at visu.to.