Are you wondering why you can’t see when your friends were last active on Instagram? Although this is a popular feature, it doesn’t come without its share of bugs and problems. This guide will go over the most common reasons Instagram is not showing “Last Active” and ways you can resolve this issue.
Keep reading to learn how to see Instagram activity again.
How to Tell Who’s Active on Instagram
The “Last Active” feature means you can see when accounts you follow or have messaged recently were last active or are currently active on Instagram. There are several ways to know it’s working correctly:
- You can see a green dot next to their username and photo in your direct inbox.
- You can read their most current activity status in your direct inbox (for example, Active 2 hours ago, Seen, Typing…).
- You can see their activity when you open your conversation (for example: in the chat).
Why Is Instagram Not Showing Last Active
Whether you’ve never been able to see your friends’ activity status or you suddenly stopped seeing it, there are a few possible explanations.
They Are Not Following You
First, let’s cover the basics. Is the person whose activity status you can’t see following you? If your answer is no, you don’t need to read further.
Instagram only allows you to see when people you follow were last active, so the same goes the other way around.
You’ve Never Had a Private Conversation
This feature is only reserved for people you’ve recently chatted with in your direct inbox. If this isn’t the case, you won’t be able to see their activity status.
The 25-User Limitation
If you, however, did chat with the person you’re interested in, the keyword here is recent. The activity status is limited to the first 25 users on your direct message list, so if you haven’t texted that person in a while, you won’t be able to see when they were last active.
Their Last Activity Is Disabled
Perhaps the most straightforward reason for not seeing someone’s activity status is that they don’t want you or anyone else to see it. This means the user disabled the “Last Active” setting, and there is no way to bypass this.
Not everyone is particularly enthusiastic about this feature, so Instagram made turning it off quite simple. If you’d like to disable this feature, read along, and we’ll address it later.
Your Last Activity Is Disabled
It’s completely understandable if you don’t want anyone to see when you were last active on Instagram. But, we hate to break it to you – that is a two-way street. If they can’t see your activity status, you can’t see theirs.
Once you disable this feature, you no longer see anyone’s “Last Active” status, regardless of their chosen settings.
If your desire to peek into someone’s activity on Instagram outweighs the desire to keep this aura of mystery around you, read on. We’ll teach you how to turn on your activity status later in the article.
They Restricted Your Profile
If you’ve gone through the most common reasons above and none of them apply to your particular case, there is one more possibility. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but the user you want to know more about might have restricted your account.
Restricting is Blocking’s younger, more subtle sister. At its core, it protects you from unwanted interactions with other users without alerting them. If you restrict a profile, their comments and messages will be hidden from your profile unless you decide otherwise. The same goes for the activity status.
The person you restrict won’t be able to see when you were last using Instagram.
If you’re on the receiving end of a restriction, you won’t be able to see when the user in question was last active.
Click here to learn more about restricting an Instagram profile.
They Blocked You
The final reason for not seeing someone’s “Last Active” status is pretty hard to miss, as you can’t see anything they do. If you click on the user’s profile and it displays a “User Not Found” error, they might have blocked you.
To confirm the block, you can search for their username on Instagram. If nothing’s coming up, they probably blocked you. If you still want to double-check, look up their username from another profile. If it pops up, then they definitely blocked your primary account.
If this is the case, you might still be able to see them in your direct inbox, but you can’t see their activity status or message them anymore.
How to Fix Instagram Not Showing Last Active
We’ve established why you aren’t seeing when someone was last active on Instagram. Now, let’s go over how you can fix this issue.
Note that some of the mentioned problems can’t be fixed. If the person disabled their status, doesn’t follow you, restricted, or blocked you, there’s nothing you can do. You can always get them to reverse it, but that’s entirely up to you.
Troubleshoot App
With Instagram’s somewhat frequent bugs, troubleshooting the app is recommended. Here’s how to do it:
- Restart your Instagram app.
- Reboot your phone or tablet.
- Check for updates.
- Delete Instagram and reinstall it from the Play Store or App Store.
Enable Your Activity Status
If you’ve disabled your activity status, you can’t see other users’ status as well. To turn your activity status back to “On,” follow these steps:
- Go to your profile page by tapping your profile picture in the bottom right.
- Click on the three horizontal lines in the top right.
- Select Settings.
- Tap Privacy.
- Scroll down to Activity Status.
- Turn the Show activity status toggle on.
If, on the other hand, you’d like to disable your activity status, just slide the Show activity status button to Off.
Send Them a Message
When the user you’re interested in has gotten lost somewhere in your direct inbox, simply shoot them a message. This way, they’ll move to the top of your direct message list, and you’ll be able to see their activity status.
Logging Off
Whether by your choice, or another user, Instagram activity status won’t always be as easily accessible as everything else on the internet. When it’s your choice, the problem is easily fixed by turning your activity status back on. The other option requires some troubleshooting and maybe some negotiating.
Have you encountered Instagram not showing the last active status? How did you solve it? Let us know in the comment section below.
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