Sometimes, you don’t want everyone to know that you’re online and you want to scroll endlessly without being disturbed. A new feature on Instagram threatens that by telling your followers when you’re online. So you can be left in peace, here’s how to hide and switch off active status on Instagram. Plus, we’ll explain a recent glitch some users have been experiencing.
There have been a lot of changes on Instagram over the last year. We’ve had Instagram notes, candid stories and now the addition of an activity status. Though some will love the idea of everyone knowing when they’re online, for others it’s not their cup of tea. If you just want to be left alone whilst perusing Reels and Stories, then you can switch off your active status easily.
How To Hide Active Status On Instagram
If you have an updated version of the app, then it’s likely your active status will automatically be turned on. You can check this by seeing if there is a green dot next to your profile picture in Instagram DMs. If you’ve only recently been inactive, then they’ll be a time stamp next to your name instead.
Don’t worry, turning it off is as easy as accidentally spending hours scrolling through your social media feed.
Simply head to your profile and click the three horizontal lines in the top corner. Select the cog icon to go into Instagram’s settings. Click Privacy and Security and then toggle off ‘Show activity status.’
After that, you should have turned off your Instagram active status. If you ever want to switch it back on again, you just repeat the process but toggle it on.
Bear in mind that by hiding your activity status, you won’t be able to see anybody else’s either.
Users Face Instagram Active Status Glitch
Even though it’s not been around particularly long, users have found a couple of issues with the new feature.
Before, it’s hidden everyone’s active status even if you’ve decided to have it switched on. Though that was fixed, recently users have reported another glitch where the app shows the green circle and a time stamp. This has been confusing, as people don’t know if their friends are online or not.
Luckily, there are a couple of fixes you can try to help solve the issues on your end.
First, ensure you have the latest version of the app. A recent update may have fixed any larger bug issues, so check this as this is a simple fix. You can also try deleting and reinstalling the app, or even just turning your device on and off to help solve any small bugs.
If you haven’t cleared your cache in a while, then this could be causing an old version of the app to be running instead of a newer one.
Once you’ve tried all that, at least you can know you’ve done all you can to fix it. Especially if it’s turned on the feature when you specifically turned it off.
Despite a couple of Instagram active status glitches, you can now rest easy knowing you won’t be bothered when minding your own business on the app.