How to turn off active status on Instagram

When it's on, people you follow and anyone you message can see when you were last active, or that you're active now. It only works when both of you have it turned on. It shows up in three places:

• A green dot or a timestamp next to your profile picture in messaging
• Your latest status in their inbox, such as Active 25 m ago, Active yesterday, Seen or Typing
• Activity inside an open chat, such as when you're in the chat or in the camera

Sources: Instagram Help Centre: Turn your Instagram Activity Status on or off, checked 15 October 2026; Instagram Help Centre: See who's active on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026

The trade-off: with it off, you won't see when your followers or the people you message are active, and you won't see anyone else's activity status. You can turn it back on at any time.

1. Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Tap Menu in the top right.
3. Below How others can interact with you, tap Messages and story replies.
4. Tap Show Activity Status.
5. Turn off the toggle next to Show Activity Status.

Source: Instagram Help Centre: Turn your Instagram Activity Status on or off, checked 15 October 2026

Read receipts are separate from Activity Status: they control whether people see that you've viewed their message. A setting you change in one chat isn't overridden by the account-wide setting. If you turn read receipts on in a chat and later turn them off for all chats, that chat keeps them on.

1. For one chat: tap Messages, open the conversation and tap the chat name at the top.
2. Tap Privacy and safety, then turn off Read receipts.
3. For all chats: go to your profile, tap Menu, then Messages and story replies below How others can interact with you.
4. Tap Show read receipts and turn off Read receipts.

Source: Instagram Help Centre: Manage read receipts for your chats on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026

In sleep mode, your activity status changes to In sleep mode and the green dot becomes a moon. People who message you get an auto-reply saying you won't be notified until it ends. You can still use Instagram and send messages. Turn it on in Menu, then Time management, then Sleep mode.

Source: Instagram Help Centre: Turn sleep mode on or off on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026

Shared activity lets you, and accounts you follow or that follow you, see the likes, comments and tags you've shared on each other's photos and reels, and when you followed each other. Open a profile, tap Options and choose See shared activity. You can remove or delete shared content from there.

Our advice for a business: leave Activity Status on if you answer messages quickly, since customers can see you're around. If you can't reply straight away, turning it off avoids the impression that you're ignoring them.

Source: Instagram Help Centre: How to see shared activity on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026

• Your own Activity Status is off. You can only see others' when yours is on
• They've turned theirs off
• You don't follow them and haven't messaged them
• They're in sleep mode, shown by a moon instead of a green dot
• There's no Seen. They may have turned off read receipts

Sources: Instagram Help Centre: See who's active on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026; Instagram Help Centre: Turn your Instagram Activity Status on or off, checked 15 October 2026; Instagram Help Centre: Turn sleep mode on or off on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026; Instagram Help Centre: Manage read receipts for your chats on Instagram, checked 15 October 2026

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