How to Stop Slack from Showing You as Active

Slack shows the green active dot whenever the app is open and you are using the device. You can set yourself away by hand; there is no permanent invisible mode, so the rest is knowing what turns the dot off.

Set yourself as away

Click your profile picture in the Slack desktop app and choose Set yourself as away. The dot turns hollow for everyone, and it stays that way, even while you keep using Slack, until you open the same menu and choose Set yourself as active. On the phone, tap You in the bottom bar and use the same option.

Pause notifications when the goal is silence

From the same menu, choose Pause notifications and pick a duration or a custom end time. A "z" badge appears on your avatar and messages stop alerting you. This does not change the active dot on its own, so combine it with the away setting if you want both.

Schedule quiet hours

Open Preferences, Notifications and set Allow notifications to the hours you work. Outside those hours notifications pause automatically every day. Slack does not offer a schedule for presence, only for notifications.

Let the app go idle or close it

Slack marks you away after about 30 minutes without any activity on the device, when you lock the computer, or when you quit the app. Minimizing the window is not enough while you keep using the computer. Closing Slack at the end of the day is the most reliable way to stay away overnight.

Use a status for context, not for presence

Set a status such as "Heads down" from the profile menu if you want people to know why you are slow to reply. Status text and emoji sit next to your name but do not change the dot; only the away setting and inactivity do.

On the phone. The mobile app marks you active only while it is open in the foreground. Switching to another app or locking the phone drops you to away within a few minutes, so an installed app on its own does not show you as active.

What others can see. Workspace admins see the same dot as everyone else. Slack does not expose last-seen times, typing activity outside a channel, or whether you have read a message.