How can i be invisible on whatsapp


How to Hide Online Status on WhatsApp

  • You can hide online status on WhatsApp — known as Last Seen — in your Privacy settings. 
  • Choose whether only your contacts or nobody should see your Last Seen status.
  • You can also choose to exclude certain people from seeing your Last Seen status.

If you use WhatsApp regularly, chances are you've spotted the login status next to the name of some of your contacts. 

Though WhatsApp makes your online status visible to everyone by default, you can easily change it.

In fact, because WhatsApp has been known in the past for a variety of security and privacy issues, you may want to minimize your online footprint in the app. 

Quick tip: If you are looking for a messaging app that doesn't reveal your online status at all, consider trying Signal. For a direct comparison of Signal and WhatsApp, refer to our guide on these two apps. 

What is WhatsApp online status? 

WhatsApp online status allows users to see the last time their contacts were active on the platform and whether they are currently using the app.

When someone is online, it doesn't necessarily mean they've seen your message — it simply means they're currently using the app. 

Last Seen refers to the last time the person used WhatsApp and also doesn't mean that they have seen your most recent message. The only way to tell if someone has seen your message is the blue check marks beside the message.

If you don't want your WhatsApp contacts to know your Last Seen or online status, you can easily hide your status from everyone, make it available to only your contacts, or exclude certain contacts from seeing it through the app's settings.

Note: When you hide your own WhatsApp online status, you also can't view other people's statuses, though it's a more polite alternative to blocking someone outright.

The steps to hide your Last Seen or online status on WhatsApp are simple:

1. Start the WhatsApp app on your phone and go to Settings.

2. On the Privacy page, open Last Seen & Online.

3. Choose how you want to hide your Last Seen status.

Here's the full guide on how to hide your online status on WhatsApp:

How to hide WhatsApp online status 

1. Start WhatsApp and go to Settings. 

  • On iPhone, tap Settings (the gear icon) at the bottom.
Tap the gear icon to open WhatsApp's settings on iPhone. Dave Johnson/Insider
  • On Android, tap the More icon (the three vertical dots) at the top, and then select Settings in the menu.
Tap the three-dot menu to find Settings in WhatsApp for Android. Dave Johnson/Insider

2. On the Settings page, tap Privacy.

3. Tap Last Seen & Online to change your online status.

On the Privacy page, tap Last Seen & Online to control whether other people can see your online status. Dave Johnson/Insider

4. Everyone is probably already selected by default. Choose My Contacts, My Contacts Except, or Nobody to fine-tune who can see your status.

On this page, you can control when you were last see as well as who can see when you are actually online. Dave Johnson/Insider

My Contacts and Nobody is fairly self-explanatory; choose one of these to allow only your contacts or no one at all to see your online status. You can also choose My Contacts Except and select people who you don't want to see your "Last Seen" status. 

When you're finished, tap Done in the top right corner on iPhone or the check mark in the bottom right corner on Android. For a full overview of your options here, check out our guide to changing privacy settings in WhatsApp. 

Note: While hiding your Last Seen means people won't be able to see when you were last online, it will still show them when you're currently online. To tweak that setting, adjust the Who Can See When I'm Online option on the same page as Last Seen & Online.

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

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Four Easy Steps To Stay Hidden On The Messaging App

WhatsApp is a demanding mistress. You can't not have it these days, given that it's largely how everyone communicates. And if you have it, it sometimes chimes so much you just want it to shut the hell up. Well, there are a few options to do that.

The simplest thing of course would be to just put your phone on silent mode. But maybe WhatsApp is the only thing bothering you, and you want to be alerted to your calls and emails. That could be a problem then. 

But unlike other social media apps, WhatsApp doesn't have a 'Go Offline' or 'Busy' setting. You're either online or you're not. Luckily, there are some alternatives to the binary choice of deleting the app or the incessant chiming driving you insane.

1. Turn off  'Last Seen' and your 'Read Notifications'

The easiest way to tune out is to turn off your 'Read Notifications' from the Account tab of your WhatsApp settings menu. This stops people from receiving the blue tick that tells them when you've opened the app and seen a new message. Of course, this works best if you also turn off your 'Last Seen' setting from the same location. It's the simplest way to tell your friends you need some time to yourself. For those that can't take the hint, the next few ideas should work.

2. Disable notifications

This one is fairly simple, just go the 'Apps' section of your phone settings menu, select WhatsApp, and disable all notifications for it. Turn off the vibration and pop-up notifications, and select the 'None' ringtone. Now you won't feel compelled to check your phone every few seconds. At least, so long as your display remains off and you don't look at the blip on your app icon.

3. Turn off WhatsApp notification light

Once you've turned off your phone notifications, you're going to also want to turn off the notification LED that blinks when you get a message. To do that, go into your WhatsApp settings, enter the 'Notifications tab, and turn the light off. Presto, you are now officially dead to all its conversations.

Additionally, you can also remove the app icon from your Home screen. That way, with the notifications for the app turned off, there's no way to know what messages you've received until you manually open the app from the app drawer.

4. Turn off mobile data for WhatsApp

Or maybe that's not enough, maybe you don't want other people to know you're just ignoring your messages. To do that, you can just turn off your mobile data for WhatsApp. Go into the 'Apps' tab of your settings, and toggle on the 'Disable Wi-Fi' and 'Disable Data Usage' options. Alternatively, you can just force stop the app until you open it up again later. The problem here is people might just call you if they think you're not receiving their messages.

Happy disconnect!

How to make Whatsapp not see you online?