Instagram adds WhatsApp-style “last seen” feature: Here’s how to turn it off

Alex Lee April 11, 2022

Just when you thought you were free from WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger’s invasive Last Active indicators, Instagram has itself quietly introduced the “feature” into its app.

Instagram adds WhatsApp-style “last seen” feature: Here’s how to turn it off

If you swipe through to Direct Messages, you’ll see some curious timestamps telling you when a follower you’ve chatted to recently last visited the app. Even worse is that Instagram has it turned on by default.

Thankfully, if you still want some semblance of privacy, it’s easy to turn off Instagram’s Last Seen feature, and here’s how to do it.

How to turn off Instagram Last Seen

Open Instagram and tap on your profile.
Tap the three horizontal lines at the top-right of the screen then select “Settings.”
Tap on Privacy.
Scroll down and locate “Activity Status.”
Toggle “Show Activity Status” to off.

Turning the activity toggle off means that while you get your privacy back, you won’t be able to see when other followers were last seen on the app.

The introduction of Instagram’s activity monitor is one feature in an ever-lengthening list of features which make the app look a lot like Facebook.

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Back in 2016, Instagram began organising feeds out of chronological order, and added live video the following year. Unsurprisingly, the company’s most well-received features haven’t been taken from Facebook. Instagram has previously introduced a sliew of features poached from Snapchat – the activity monitor not being one of them – like Instagram Stories and Instagram’s Snapchat-like filters.