How to Turn Off Activity Status on Instagram

Activity status shows a green dot or an "Active now" or "Active 2h ago" label next to your name in Direct messages. Turning it off hides that from everyone you message and everyone who follows you. The setting is in the app's own settings, not in Accounts Center.

Open Settings and activity

Open the Instagram app, tap your profile picture in the bottom right, tap the three horizontal lines in the top right, then tap Settings and activity.

Tap Messages and story replies

Scroll to How others can interact with you and tap Messages and story replies.

Tap Show activity status

Tap Show activity status. It sits in the list of message settings alongside message requests and story reply controls.

Turn the toggle off

Turn off the Show activity status toggle. The change is immediate. Your name stops showing a green dot and no longer shows when you were last active in anyone's inbox or in the sharing sheet when they forward a post.

Confirm from another account if you want

If you share a device with someone or have a second account, open the inbox from that account and look at your name. There should be no green dot and no "Active" label under it.

You lose it too. Activity status works both ways. When you turn yours off you also stop seeing when other people are online or last active. There is no way to hide your status while still seeing theirs. Turn the toggle back on any time from the same screen.

Linked Facebook accounts. If your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected in Accounts Center with message syncing turned on, Instagram may apply the same activity status choice to both apps and tell you so on the toggle screen. Check Facebook's own Active Status setting if the dot still appears there. On the website, click More, Settings, Messages and story replies, and turn off the same toggle.