In a few days you have a very important verification and you should take all the time you have available to prepare yourself sufficiently; in short: no distraction is allowed. Punctually, a multitude of doubts assails you just as you try to memorize the topics to study. You have already tried to use the various instant messaging apps to ask for help and compare yourself with your best friend, however, as soon as you log in to them, your other acquaintances “attack” you with their messages full of funny videos and comic images.
Probably, you would be granted a “respite” if you used the aforementioned applications hiding your online status and, therefore, pretended to be “invisible”. How do you say? Have you thought about it too but, not being a big fan of chat and the like, you don’t have the slightest idea of how not to show that you are online ? Don’t worry: if you want, I can give you a hand; I assure you that you can achieve your intent in a handful of taps or clicks, depending on the device you use.
With a few exceptions, which I’ll tell you about shortly, all the popular social apps offer pretty similar options – and all of them easy to access – for setting the activity status to offline. Come on, then: take a few minutes of free time, read the instructions I am about to give you and you will see that, then, you will know how to use these apps like a real “ninja”, we bet?
Index
- How not to show that you are online on WhatsApp
- From smartphone
- From PC
- How not to show that you are online on Instagram
- From smartphones and tablets
- From PC
- How not to show that you are online on Facebook
- From smartphones and tablets
- From PC
- How not to show that you are online on Messenger
- From smartphones and tablets
- From PC
- How not to show that you are online on Telegram
- From smartphones and tablets
- From PC
How not to show that you are online on WhatsApp
At the time of writing, the WhatsApp app (available for Android , also on the official website as an APK , on iPhone and for computers ) does not have an option to hide your activity status . This essentially means that when you use this application your status is always visible to others as online . There are, however, steps you can take to minimize your status information. I’ll list them below.
From smartphone
Let’s first see how to proceed from a smartphone. The first solution to hide your activity status on WhatsApp is to completely close the messaging app in question; this way, you will be able to continue reading previews of messages that come to you in the notification area menu without being logged in. To do this, on an Android device , while using WhatsApp, press the Home button (the one at the bottom center) and then tap the button to access the applications open at the same time (usually it has a square icon or of two rectanglesand is placed at the bottom left or bottom right). Finally, locate the WhatsApp screen and drag it to the left or right to make it “exit” from the screen.
Do you want to repeat the same steps on the iPhone too ? Then do it this way: while you are using WhatsApp, if yours is an iPhone with Face ID , swipe from the bottom edge of the display upwards. Then swipe from the bottom to the center, locate the preview of the WhatsApp screen among the open ones and drag it upwards. If, on the other hand, you are using a model with the Home button , press the latter twice in a row.
The other trick you can take to make yourself “invisible” on WhatsApp is to hide the last access : in this way other users will not know when was the last time you used the app (be careful though: in this way neither you, reciprocally, will be able to know when the others connected last time).
In addition, you can also disable the read receipts , i.e. the blue ticks that appear under each message in the chat once the various messages are read (also in this case, however, by deactivating this function, in turn, you will not be able to receive the confirm that your messages have reached the recipient and read by the latter).
Finally, you can also hide your status from others , i.e. the post viewable on your profile for only 24 hours (similar to Instagram stories ). I show you below how to do all these operations on Android and iPhone.
- Android– open WhatsApp and go to ⁝> Settings> Accounts> Privacy> Last accessed . In this last screen, click on None . To deactivate the read receipts, stay on this last page and move the lever located next to the wording Read receipts to OFF . Finally, to not show your status to other users, click on Status ; from here, tap on the Share with item , do not select any contacts (or select the item My contacts except and then choose those to whom you do not want to show your status); finally press the tick icon placed at the bottom right;
- iPhone– open WhatsApp and go to Settings> Account> Privacy> Last accessed and, from here, press on the item None . To also disable the read receipts, stay in this last screen and tap on the switch related to the Read receipts item , to move the lever to OFF . To ensure that no other users see your status, tap on the Status item , then on the word Share with . At this point, do not select any contacts (or tap on the item My contacts except and choose the ones you do not want to make visible the status).
From PC
As for the computer versions of WhatsApp (i.e. the WhatsApp Desktop client , available for Windows and macOS and WhatsApp Web ), the online status will be shown while they are in use. To hide this state, therefore, you can minimize the client or the web application (you will still receive message previews via notification, if you have them enabled ).
For more details on these procedures or also to know how to block a user (another option to make yourself invisible to others) see my tutorial on how to deactivate the online status on WhatsApp .
How not to show that you are online on Instagram
The Instagram app (available on Android , including alternative stores , iPhone and PC) also has a handy feature to hide your activity status from your contacts . But be careful: by enabling it, you will not be able to view the activity status of your other contacts and check their last access. Find everything explained below.
From smartphones and tablets
If you want to make yourself invisible in the Instagram app for smartphones , start the latter and, once you have its home page in front of you, press on your profile photo located at the bottom right. Next, tap the ☰ button located at the top right and, from the menu that is shown at the bottom, select the Settings item .
At this point, press on the Privacy item , then scroll the page and tap on the Activity Status item . Finally, press on the switch related to the item Show activity status , to deactivate it. In this way, your contacts (the users you follow and those you have previously sent messages to) will no longer be able to see you online and will no longer be able to view the information relating to the date and time of your last access. Read more here .
From PC
Do you want to know how to proceed from PC, via the official Instagram site or its application for Windows 10 and later ? I’ll settle you immediately.
Once you have entered the main Instagram page (by logging in , if necessary ), click on your profile photo that you find at the top right. From here, press on the Settings item and then select the Privacy and security item in the menu on the left.
At this point you just have to remove the check from the box next to the item Show activity status by clicking on it. Child’s play, don’t you think? To learn more about what I have just shown you and about the alternatives to this procedure, I recommend reading my guide on how to remove the last access from Instagram .
How not to show that you are online on Facebook
Facebook , both through the app (available for Android , also on alternative stores , and iPhone / iPad ), and through the website or application for Windows PC , offers the possibility to set your status on offline : here are all the details about it.
From smartphones and tablets
Before explaining how to deactivate the online status on Facebook , I would like to point out that, if you decide to make yourself “invisible”, for your part, you will no longer be able to view the activity status of other users or the last time they connected . Furthermore, to be offline, you will have to repeat the same step that I am about to illustrate on each device on which you use Facebook or Messenger . All clear? Great! Then let’s go ahead.
If you use the Facebook app on a smartphone or tablet , therefore, once you have started the latter, press the ☰ button, then tap on the Settings and privacy item at the bottom of the page that opens. Press, then, on the words Settings and, subsequently, scroll the screen and tap on the item Activity status . Finally, press on the switch next to the item Show when you are active to disable it and tap on the item Disable to confirm.
Alternatively, you can also go online on Facebook by signing out of all active sessions (you’ll then redo the ‘ access on the devices on which you use Facebook to use the platform in question again). To do this, press the ☰ button and go to Settings and privacy> Settings> Password and protection .
At this point, click on the Show item located next to the wording Devices from which you are logged in ; then scroll down the list that is shown to you, press on the item Exit all sessions and confirm by pressing on the item Exit .
From PC
As for the Facebook site or its application for Windows , you can disable the activity status on the Messenger chat integrated in the latter.
Once you have opened the latter and, if necessary, you have logged in with your login credentials, press the icon of the balloon with the lightning bolt located at the top right. Then proceed by clicking on the … button located at the top, in the panel that has just opened and, from here, click on the item Disable the activity status .
Finally, click on the item Disable the activity status for all contacts or, alternatively, select the option Disable the activity status only for some contacts , then type in the field below the names of the users to whom you want to make yourself invisible and give confirm by pressing the Ok button .
In addition to the method I just showed you, you can go offline on Facebook, again, by logging out of all the sessions your profile is connected to. To do this, both from the site and from the computer application, press the ▼ button at the top right, then go to Settings and privacy> Settings> Security and access .
At this point, click on the item Show other mail in the box with the list of the last accesses made, finally, click on the item Exit all sessions and, then, on the Exit button.
Did you have any problems with the procedures outlined in this chapter you are reading? Do you want to know what are the other methods for not showing yourself online on the social network in question? Then check out my tutorial on going offline on Facebook .
How not to show that you are online on Messenger
You need to use Messenger , the popular Facebook chat app (available on Android , devices without access to Google services , iPhone, iPad , Windows , macOS, and in browser web app format ) without some users knowing that you are online ? I show you in the following chapters how to achieve this goal.
From smartphones and tablets
If you deactivate your activity status in the Messenger app , other users will no longer be able to see you online; however, in turn, you will no longer be able to view the activity status of your contacts. Furthermore, to be offline, you will need to change the activity status on all the devices on which you use Messenger or Facebook (to do this, simply repeat the procedure I am about to show you on each device).
First, therefore, start the aforementioned application on your smartphone or tablet; press on your profile photo , tap on the word Activity status and press the switch you see next to the item Show when you are active , in order to turn it OFF . Finally, confirm by pressing the Deactivate item . Read more here .
From PC
If you want to make yourself invisible on Messenger from the Web version of the chat, do this: after logging into your account , if necessary , click on the … button you see at the top left. Then proceed by clicking on the item Preferences and then click on the item Disable the activity status . Finally, choose whether to deactivate the activity status for all contacts or only some of them by pressing on the appropriate entries (in the second case, type the names of the contacts to whom you want to make yourself invisible). Finally, click on the Ok button .
If, instead, you use the Messenger client for Windows or macOS , start the latter and press on your profile photo at the top left. From the menu that opens, select the item Preferences and click on the item Activity status .
Finally, press on the switch located under the item Show activity status to disable it. See how easy it was? To find out what are the other methods to hide your status from others on the chat that I just told you about, read what I explained to you in my tutorial on how to be offline on Messenger .
