How To Turn Off Active Status on Instagram

Do you want to learn how to turn off active status on Instagram? We’ll share the process of how you can remove your active status while you’re online. 

It’s great for protecting your privacy and avoiding unwanted interactions, and you can turn it back on at any time. 

We’ll also share examples of other ways to improve your privacy on Instagram. For example, you can restrict users or block them altogether.

Can You Turn Your Active Status Off on Instagram?

Are you wondering if you can turn your active status off on Instagram? Yes, you can, and the process will take just a few minutes of your time. Here’s how to turn active status off on Instagram:

1. Press on the profile picture icon in the bottom right corner for the profile page. 
2. Click on the three horizontal line icons. 
3. Select Settings.
4. Tap How others can interact with you and uncheck the box for Show Activity Status

This process is reversible, and you can make the change to implement the effects immediately.

What Is Instagram Active Status?

Instagram’s active status shows when you are online so other people can see it. For example, You can see the status within the Instagram direct messages section. However, as you will see in this article, it’s possible to turn off the status, even when you’re online. 

Therefore, you can log into your Instagram account and appear as if you’re offline. There are a  4 number of reasons why you may set yourself as offline when you’re online:

• Harassment: There might be an Instagram user who is constantly trying to get in touch with you when you’re online. However, if you don’t want to block them, you can get your status to inactive. This may prevent them from bothering you when you log in. 
• Hide activity: Perhaps you don’t want others to know that you are using Instagram. Therefore, you can hide your activity by setting the status to permanently off. This allows you to log in and use Instagram without others noticing. However, once you start posting content, it might be obvious that you log in with the status set to off. 
• Disturbance: Do you have specific goals when you log into the Instagram account? Perhaps you want to publish content or only communicate with a specific person. You can reduce the disturbances by setting the status to offline. This allows you to focus on any work that you want to complete. 
• Reversible: Setting the Instagram activity status to off is reversible. Therefore, you can turn it back on at any time you wish. This means you can give the feature a try to see if it improves your use of Instagram. 

How To Turn On Active Status on Instagram?

Do you want to know how to turn on active status on Instagram? We’ll share the process for how to turn on active status when using an Android or iPhone.

1. Tap on your profile picture to navigate to the profile page. 
2. Now press the three horizontal line icons and choose Settings and privacy.
3. Underneath the section How others can interact with you, press Messages and story reply.
4. Choose Show activity status.
5. Toggle the icon for turning on and off for the option: Show when you’re active together.

Why You Should Turn on Active Status on Instagram

Now, let’s consider some of the top reasons why keeping the active status turned on is a great idea. This will give you some idea to consider if you ever have it turned off.

• Inform others: Making sure that your social circle is aware of your online presence boosts communication. They will know when to reach out and expect a faster response from you. Hence, keeping your active status on is a great idea when you want to interact with your Instagram followers more. 
• Customer support: When you are online, your customers will notice in the direct messages section. Therefore, they might be more prompted to ask you questions. Also, always appearing to be online reflects positively on your business. 
• Show activity: When you don’t post for a while, other users may feel that you are no longer active on Instagram. However, by keeping the active status on, you’ll inform users that you are active on the platform.

How To See If Someone Is Active on Instagram

Do you want to know different ways to see if someone is active on Instagram? In this section, we’ll outline 3 different ways that you can figure out when someone is active on Instagram. Then, you can decide out when to contact them and if they are still using the social media platform.

1. Profile Picture

Anywhere you can see the account’s profile, you’ll have the option to see a green icon indicating the user’s online status. However, when the green dot is not visible, it means the account user is not online. They might have selected the option to be offline. 

2. Messaging Inbox

Navigate to the messaging inbox and look at the chatlog of the person you want to inspect. Alongside their name, you’ll see information such as if they’re online now or information regarding when they were last online. However, keeping your status private removes this information. 

Also, you can see if they have read your message when you check your inbox. Simply look underneath your last message, and Seen will appear when they have read your direct message. 

3. Posts

An indirect way to notice if someone is active on Instagram is when an account publishes content. For example, if you see that someone has published a post in the last few minutes, it’s likely they’re online. 

However, that’s not always the case because the users may have Instagram post scheduling tools. This allows you to post content at a specified date and time automatically.

Additional Privacy Settings To Consider

Now, let’s look at some of the other privacy settings available to you as an Instagram user. You may want to take advantage of these when turning off your active status on Instagram is not enough.

Restrict Users on Instagram

You can restrict someone on Instagram in a variety of ways. This limits their ability to interact with your account. For example, you will no longer receive notifications when the person sends you a message. This is a great way to stop someone from harassing you. 

Also, you can restrict people from leaving comments on your posts. Here are some instances when you should use this option:

• Negative comments: When someone is leaving harmful or foul comments on your posts, you can restrict them. After all, you don’t want to have to deal with negative comments that are bordering on personal attacks. 
• Spam: Is a user spamming your Instagram posts with the same message? Then, you should consider blocking or restricting them from leaving more comments. This ensures that the spam will stop. 
• Advertisements: Some users may try to advertise in the comment section of your posts. They may also leave links to them to drive your audience to their pages. You can avoid this by restricting them from the comments section.

You should consider restricting users who are breaking the Instagram community guidelines. Reading them gives you an idea of the actions users should take when using the platform. 

Block Instagram Users

You can block Instagram users, which is more of a last-resort option. That’s because it cuts you off from all communication with the specific account. Here are some of the ways that blocking Instagram users affects your interactions:

• Direct messages: You can no longer send direct messages to the user in question, and they can’t message you. However, you can still view the chat log and delete it as you wish. That’s because Instagram never automatically deletes messages without your input. 
• Removed as a follower: They will automatically be removed as a follower when you block them. Also, you won’t be on their followers list if you follow their account. This means that neither user can view content like Instagram stories and other posts. 
• Cannot mention your username: Blocked Instagram users won’t have the option to mention your username or tag you in their posts. Therefore, blocking users is the right step when they have been including your name in their posts. All mentions of you will disappear from posts once blocked. Likewise, you cannot mention the blocked user in your content. 
• Can’t see your engagements: Blocked users cannot see if you liked or commented on other user’s posts. Therefore, your online footprint will essentially be invisible to them. 

Note that blocking Instagram users is a reversible process. However, some effects of blocking users are not reversible. For example, you will permanently remove any post tags of the user.

Also, blocked users can still view your content by using an IG viewer. These software solutions exist for a fee and can even be used to access your private content. 

Instagram Private Account

You can set your Instagram account to private. This allows you to place a number of automated restrictions. For example, only your followers will have access to view your posts. Also, IG users cannot automatically follow your account. They will need to get confirmation to see the private content. 

Making Instagram accounts private is a good step when you want to hide posts from public view. Instead, you can share content with a small social circle or people that you know in real life. 

How To Turn Off Active Status on Instagram

Learning how to turn off your active status on Instagram is a fast process. It provides several advantages, such as maintaining your privacy and avoiding harassment. Also, you can always reverse the process at any time. 

Now that you know how to turn off active status on Instagram, give it a try for yourself. You can complete the process on any mobile device or personal computer. Also, it takes effect right away and is permanent unless you toggle the option off. 

Are you looking for strategies to grow your Instagram account? Then, take advantage of the services provided here at Plixi. We provide a combination of an in-house algorithm and Instagram influencers to target specific audiences. So what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today.