What Does The Green Dot Mean In Instagram

Instagram users with green dots are online. They may be browsing their feed, publishing, or communicating. The active user's profile and direct message will have a green dot.

By Amily Smith Last updated Mar 22, 2023

Instagram is a platform where millions of people share images, videos, and thoughts. Since it was first presented in 2010, it has undergone many changes. One of the significant updates that made it possible to contact another user directly is Direct Messaging.

Instagram’s direct messaging system has evolved significantly over time, and its most recent addition is a tiny green dot that sits next to some users. Similar features to this one are already common on Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, and are now also a part of Instagram.

Know When Your Friends are Using Instagram

The activity status update included a small green dot on Instagram. It is intended to facilitate communication between users and their friends by alerting them when a friend is online. Both the friend list and the inbox for direct messages show the dot.

But unlike Facebook, Instagram’s green dot functions a little differently, which makes users of this social network very confused.

For instance, while some users always have a green dot, others never seem to be online. This is so that people can understand when someone is active on Instagram, which requires a little more than just a following.

How to Get the Green Dot Working?

You won’t be able to see the little green dot that indicates when someone is online on Instagram, even if you follow them. That’s because for it to work, both parties need to follow one another.

But wait, that’s not all; in order to view someone’s online status, you also need to have spoken to them a few times via message. Users disagree over whether the feature, which was introduced in mid-July 2018, is more confusing than helpful.

The Good

This method of communication might not seem to make much sense, but it does. Everyone, including celebrities, uses the Instagram platform. Think about the stress they would experience if others knew when they were using the app.

The dot only activates when the platform determines that both parties are familiar with one another, which is helpful if you’re a famous person or a business owner. It’s a strategy for ranking your friends in order of importance while pushing the other, lesser-valued followers to the bottom.

The Bad

You and all of your friends will be able to keep track of who is online thanks to this new activity feature. Although it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it could be if some of your friends use it to stalk you.

The fact that you won’t be able to postpone a response because the other side already knows that you are active is another potential drawback of the green dot. Saying that your phone was charging at the time won’t get you out of that one without a little more work.

The Idea Behind the Little Green Dot

It’s not a particularly novel feature because we’ve seen it before on other social network platforms. The way it functions, however, is unique. The green dot feature has been helpful in Instagram’s efforts to entice users to use the app more frequently.

Now, when an Instagram user logs in, they can browse their conversations to find friends who are online and available for a chat. Spending more time on this social network is almost a given when the priority system is included. What happens then if you want to remain anonymous from prying eyes? We’re happy to inform you that Instagram now allows you to completely disable the activity status.

Staying Invisible is Also an Option

Let’s be honest. Instead of chatting with friends on Instagram, some of us prefer to look at pictures or products. Of course, since its modest beginnings, Instagram has come a long way. Direct messaging, live broadcasts, and stories are just a few of the best features it offers over other social networks, but what if some users prefer it without all the updates?

So, if you don’t want to be interrupted in chat, you can disable the green dot feature by going to settings and manually turning off the activity status. You can completely avoid using this feature because even if you are online, you won’t be visible.

Follow these steps to turn off this feature.

Open Instagram and tap on your profile picture in the lower right-hand corner. Then, click on the three-line menu in the upper right-hand corner.

Next, tap on Settings and then Privacy.

Here, you’ll find the Activity Status option. Tap on it.

Toggle the Show Activity Status switch off.

Conclusion

Overall, the ability to see someone’s activity status is a fantastic feature that makes it simple to initiate conversation with someone you know is online at the time. You will receive a response right away, and it will be simpler to keep track of all significant conversations. You may need to think of some ingenious explanations if you have a tendency to either ignore messages or respond to them later.