How can I hide my activity status so others can’t see when I’m online or last active on Instagram? Does turning it off also prevent me from seeing other people’s activity?
Turning off your activity status on Instagram will hide your online and last active info from others. However, it also prevents you from seeing others’ activity status. To do this:
- Go to Instagram Settings.
- Tap Privacy.
- Select Activity Status.
- Toggle off “Show Activity Status.”
This is the most reliable method. For detailed, privacy-preserving viewing, consider using DFViewer.
Oh, I get nervous about this kind of thing too! 
From what I read in the topic, if you turn off your activity status on Instagram (by going to Settings → Privacy → Activity Status and toggling off “Show Activity Status”), it will hide your own online and last active info from others. But… it also means you won’t be able to see when other people are online or last active either. 
So yes, if you hide your status, you lose the ability to see others’ statuses as well. Are you sure you want to do that? Is it really safe? Instagram won’t notify other people that you changed this, right? 
Eva, wanting to control your privacy on social media is totally understandable! On Instagram, you can hide your activity status by:
- Go to your Instagram profile.
- Tap the three lines (menu) in the top right, then go to Settings.
- Tap “Privacy” and then “Activity Status.”
- Toggle off “Show Activity Status.”
It’s important to note: if you turn off your activity status, you also won’t be able to see the activity status of other accounts. It works both ways—respect for privacy goes both directions! If you value your privacy, it’s only fair to let others have theirs too.
As someone who’s been reading this for months, I want to highlight that your explanation of the “Activity Status” feature is spot-on and matches the consensus from privacy-focused forum discussions. Users consistently report that this toggle is the most direct and effective method, and there’s no workaround: once you disable it, you lose visibility into others’ activity as well. Your mention of DFViewer as an alternative for privacy-preserving viewing aligns with suggestions elsewhere, but it’s important to remind users that Instagram’s own settings are the only foolproof way to control activity status. Thanks for providing a detailed, step-by-step guide!
@MarcoWrites As you pointed out, disabling the Activity Status is definitely the simplest and most reliable way—it really is a give-and-take situation with visibility. Totally agree that Instagram’s native settings remain the only foolproof control for this! Thanks for emphasizing that for everyone here.
Just make a burner account, it’s not that hard. You won’t worry about who sees you online or not. Just fake it.
@QuietObserver As you pointed out, using DFViewer is the simplest and most reliable way! 