Instagram Gains Status Dots to Let You Know When Friends Are Online - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Instagram Gains Status Dots to Let You Know When Friends Are Online

by

Instagram today announced the launch of a new feature that's designed to let you know when your friends are active on the social network. When a friend is online, their profile picture will be accented with a green dot in various places within the app.

You'll see the green dot in the Direct inbox and in your friends list when you share a post from the feed. Dots will be displayed for friends who follow you or people you have previously spoken to in Direct.

instagramstatusdots
If desired, you can hide your own status and turn off the ability to see when your friends are active in the settings section of the Instagram app.

Instagram says this new update is meant to make it easier to connect with friends over direct messages for more realtime conversations. The dots are rolling out to Instagram users today.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

riverfreak Avatar
102 months ago

...
Instagram says this new update is meant to make it easier to connect with friends over direct messages for more realtime conversations. The dots are rolling out to Instagram users today.
... (https://www.geekwebguides.com/2018/07/19/instagram-online-status-indicator/)
Uh, right. No, it’s meant to increase user engagement and the opportunity for more ad placements by feeding a generalized sense of anxiety and FOMO.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
102 months ago
How to turn off this?
It literally tells you in the article.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
102 months ago
imagine paying a cto, president of engineering, vp of engineering, a bunch of product managers and engineers to build and deliver..... a colored status indicator.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
102 months ago
How to turn off this?

Edit: just found out that I have already turned off the 'feature', thanks.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
102 months ago
I’ve had this all year. I turned it off though, they were annoying.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Instagram Feature 2

PSA: Instagram Encrypted Messaging Ends on Friday, May 8

Tuesday May 5, 2026 8:24 am PDT by
Instagram will remove end-to-end encryption for direct messages between users from May 8, 2026. When the date comes around, Meta will potentially be able to see the contents of all messages between users on the social media platform. Encrypting messages has been an optional feature in Instagram since 2023, but in March of this year the social media platform quietly updated a help page to say ...
Instagram Feature 1

Warning: Instagram DMs Lose End-to-End Encryption Starting Today

Friday May 8, 2026 12:37 pm PDT by
As of today, end-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages is no longer available. DMs that you send to people on Instagram will no longer feature full encryption, and your conversations are not protected from Meta. Meta can potentially see what's in messages shared between users on Instagram, and that information can be shared with law enforcement agencies worldwide. End-to-end...
Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...