Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
If you send someone a message on WhatsApp, you would obviously like to know if the person looked at the message. One way to tell if the recipient is online and checking their messages is by viewing their WhatsApp last seen status. But what does “last seen” mean, and how can you hide it if you want to conceal your online presence?
Read more: How to use WhatsApp — a step-by-step beginner’s guide
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“Last seen" on WhatsApp is when someone last logged onto WhatsApp to send or read a message. You can easily switch this off if you are the privacy-conscious type. Doing so, however, will disable the two blue checkmarks seen on read messages to other people.
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When you send a WhatsApp message to someone and you don’t get an immediate reply, it’s natural to wonder if they received it or not. The checkmarks next to each message help, of course, but you can also see at a glance when that person has last logged onto WhatsApp to view or send messages. If you haven’t received the two blue checkmarks indicating the message has been read, the last seen status will tell you if they are even checking WhatsApp at all at the moment.
The last seen status consists of the full date and time they were last seen on WhatsApp. In the screenshot above, my friend was “last seen today at 11:23.” For reference, WhatsApp uses a 24-hour clock.
However, if you are privacy-conscious or maybe trying to hide from someone for some reason, you may want to know how to switch this feature off. That’s what we’ll cover next.
Hiding your last seen status on your WhatsApp mobile app is very easy. First, go into your Settings and select Account.
In the Account section, choose Privacy.
At the top of the Privacy section, you’ll see the option to change your Last Seen status settings. Tap Last Seen, and select either Everybody, My Contacts, or Nobody.
To hide your last seen status on the desktop, go to the Settings section. Once there, click Privacy.
In the Privacy section, click Last seen.
Now choose who can see your last seen status — Everyone, My contacts, or Nobody.
No. If you enable the feature preventing others from seeing your last seen status, you lose the option to see other people’s. It’s only fair!
The function is not available in the official WhatsApp app. However, if you Google ‘fake last seen WhatsApp,’ there’s a link to an Android app that describes itself as a ‘modified version of WhatsApp.
’ If you use this, you can apparently fake the last seen status. However, since this app is not in the Play Store (it is only an APK file on a file-sharing site), we cannot recommend you use it, as it could contain malicious code. If you decide to use it, it is at your own risk.
Plenty of websites and apps have "last seen" features, and they all serve a similar purpose: To let you know who's an active user, and who hasn't thought about the app in months.
What 'last seen' means on WhatsAppIf you're in a one-on-one conversation with someone on WhatsApp, you might see a message at the top of the screen that says last seen at.
This message shows you the last time that the person you're chatting with logged into WhatsApp.
If they've logged on within the past day, it'll tell you the exact time they last used WhatsApp. If it's been longer than that, it'll give you the full date.
You’ll find the status underneath their name. Meta; William Antonelli/InsiderOn the other hand, if it just says Online, it means that user is logged into WhatsApp right at that moment. And if it says Typing, it means that they're writing a message to you.
While this feature is useful for keeping tabs on your friends, it might also be more information than you're comfortable sharing.
If that's the case, you can turn your own "last seen" status off.
These settings will change who's allowed to see your "last seen" status. Just note that if you disable your own "last seen" status, you won't be able to see other users' statuses either. You have to share your own status to see anyone else's.
1. Open WhatsApp and tap Settings in the bottom-right corner (iPhone) or tap the three dots in the top-right and select Settings (Android).
2. Tap Account, and then Privacy.
3. Select the Last Seen option and pick who's allowed to see your status: Everyone, My Contacts, or Nobody.
Tap “Last Seen” at the top.
Meta; William Antonelli/Insider It'll save as soon as you pick an option.
William Antonelli
Tech Reporter for Insider Reviews
William Antonelli (he/she/they) is a writer, editor, and organizer based in New York City. As a founding member of the Reference team, he helped grow Tech Reference (now part of Insider Reviews) from humble beginnings into a juggernaut that attracts over 20 million visits a month. Outside of Insider, his writing has appeared in publications like Polygon, The Outline, Kotaku, and more.
He's also a go-to source for tech analysis on channels like Newsy, Cheddar, and NewsNation. You can find him on Twitter @DubsRewatcher, or reach him by email at [email protected].
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WhatsApp is the most popular messenger with over a billion monthly users, which means that almost everyone you know uses the platform. Now you may find yourself in a very strange position where you feel like your messages to a friend or family just aren't getting through. If so, then most likely you are blocked.
If you get blocked, WhatsApp won't come out and say so. However, there are several ways to find out if this is actually the case. We are going to discuss what to do to find out if someone has blocked you on WhatsApp. Just note that there is nothing you can do to unblock yourself unless the other party is willing. nine0003
One surefire way to find out if someone has blocked you is to send them a message.
If the message only shows one check mark instead of two, then either you're blocked or the other party doesn't have an internet connection.
When it comes to the call route, this option is not very clear. You see, WhatsApp will still allow users to hear the ringtone whenever a call is made to the account that blocked them. nine0003
If you think the other person is just not answering, but in fact you are probably blocked.
A person's contact details say a lot, which is why you should always look to see if you're blocked or not. On the web version of WhatsApp, open a chat and click on your profile photo. If after that you don't see the profile picture and when the person was last seen, you might be blocked. nine0003
However, the person may have simply disabled their last activity, so this is not always a sure way to find out.
If you want the surest sign that you have been blocked, then we suggest adding the contact in question to the group.
To do this via WhatsApp Web, press the Menu button and select New Group. From there you have to select the contact or contacts to add to the group, click the button with the green arrow at the bottom. nine0003
Finally, add a topic for the group, press the green checkmark button, and that's it, the group is created.
Now, if the contact you added is missing or WhatsApp tells you that it is not possible to add this person, then you are definitely blocked.
Open the conversation windows and look at the timestamp under the person's name.
If you see "Last seen" then you are NOT blocked. If nothing appears here, you may be banned. nine0003
But, as I mentioned earlier, a person could simply disable their last activity, so that's not always the right way to find out.
Do you see the person's profile picture? If so, you are probably not banned. If you can't, then you could be blocked.
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Showing the time of the last visit is disabled free of charge in the regular settings of the messenger.
However, in this case, you lose the right to see the time of visiting other users of the service.
Another important point is that by hiding the time, you will not turn off the display of the Online and Printing statuses.
Where to go and what to change to turn off the time in the messenger on Android:
Expand the first block with "Account" parameters.
Click on the first line "Account"Go to the section to configure privacy.
Go to the "Privacy" blockClick on the parameter "Visiting time".
Expand the "Time of visit" item to change the default valueIn the new small box, highlight the desired value: "My contacts" or "No one". In the first case, the time and date of your last visit will be visible to people from your phone book. In the second, the information will not be shown to any user. nine0003 Set either "My contacts" or "Nobody"
The WhatsApp interface for Android and iOS is different, so for Apple phones will have a separate instruction:
Open the first menu "Privacy". nine0003 Click on the first item "Privacy"
Tap on the line "Visiting time".
Expand the Visit time parameterCheck the box to the right of My Contacts or Nobody.
Click on the third value "Nobody"In the "Privacy" menu, you can at the same time deactivate read reports - the interlocutors will not see that you have read their message.
You can optionally turn off read receipts so users don't know if you've read their messages or notIf you are basically not going to communicate with a person and do not want him to follow your visits « Vastapa", add it to the black list. This method disables the display of time pointwise - for certain users of the service. In this case, you will see information from other users, but you will not be able to contact the contact that you have blocked through this messenger until you remove it from the black list. nine0003
The user will not receive any notification that you have blocked them. He will be able to guess about the bath only by indirect signs.
A blocked contact has no right to know when you last logged into WhatsAppHow to ban a contact in the messenger on Android:
The list may already show some users that you have previously blacklisted. Click on the profile with a plus at the top right. Select the contact you want to block from the list.
Click on the plus at the top to add a contact from the address book to the black listOr, directly in the dialogue with the user, tap on the icon with three dots at the top right and give the command "Block" in the menu.
You can ban a person directly from the chat menuHow to add a person to the black list on iOS:
Click on the "Add new" link.
Tap on "Add new" and find the desired contact in the list In the list of your contacts, find and select the person to whom you do not want to show the time of your last visit. If the person is not in your address book on your phone, tap on the phone number in the correspondence with the contact and on the next page click on "Block".
