How to hide last seen in Instagram [Beginner’s Guide]

Some of the most popular social media and messaging apps available in the market right now are owned by Facebook. They are WhatsApp, Instagram, and of course, Facebook Messenger. While WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are instant messaging apps, Instagram, on the other hand, is a photo/video sharing network where the posts from the accounts you follow appear in your feed.

Apart from the Stories feature, what’s common between WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger is the last seen feature which shows when was the last time a user was online. Until now, this feature was only available on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, but, Instagram too has joined the club now as the company has started rolling out a feature called Activity Status since yesterday which shows when was the last time an Instagram user was active.

Well, without any doubt, this isn’t going to go down well with several Instagram users. Even we don’t like the addition of this feature on Instagram, however, the introduction of this on Instagram was inevitable, so we aren’t totally surprised. This Activity Status feature which shows the last seen of an Instagram user is turned on by default, but luckily, there’s a way you can hide last seen in Instagram. Don’t know how? Well, read on.

How to hide last seen in Instagram

Step 1: Open the Instagram app and then tap on your Profile picture located at the bottom-right corner of the screen. After that, tap on the three-dot menu button located at the top-right corner (on iOS, tap on the gear icon right next to the ‘Edit Profile’ option).

Step 2: Tapping on the three-dot menu button on your Profile will take you to the Options menu. Under the Options menu, scroll down till the Settings sub-menu appears. Under that, you will see a new option called ‘Show Activity Status‘ with a toggle button right next to it.

Like we already said, the Activity Status will be turned on by default. Hence, to hide last seen in Instagram, tap on the toggle button next to Show Activity Status. Doing so will disable the Activity Status feature which means your last seen in Instagram will remain hidden.

Step 3: However, turning off the Activity Status feature will not instantly hide last seen in Instagram if you are an Android user. After you have turned off this feature, remove the Instagram app from ‘recent apps’ and re-open it.

Well that’s it. That’s how you hide last seen in Instagram. Your activity status on Instagram is shown in the Instagram Direct Messages section, and, as you can see in the image above, once the Activity Status is turned off, the label which shows the last seen of a user will be replaced by the last message that was sent or received.

Remember this:

• The last seen is visible through Direct Messages (Inbox, eh) section which is accessed by tapping on the paper plane icon located at the top-right corner of your Instagram home screen.
• If you hide last seen in Instagram by turning off the Activity Status, you will not only prevent others from seeing when you were last active, but, you too will be prevented from seeing when they were last active.
• You can only see last seen in Instagram of those accounts that you are following, and, also the ones who have sent you a message.
• However, if you don’t follow an Instagram account but still have received a message from that account, you WILL be able to see the last seen of that account, provided it’s not disabled (which is pretty obvious).

Also Read: How to follow Instagram hashtags like regular accounts [Beginner’s Guide]

Well now that you know how to hide last seen in Instagram, share this article with your family and friends using Instagram so that they too can hide their activity.

Also Read: How to save WhatsApp Status photos and videos on your smartphone [Android Guide]

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