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How to hide last time online on whatsapp


How to Hide Your Online Status on WhatsApp

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Users are becoming more aware of how exposed their privacy is on WhatsApp. You appear online to your contacts by simply opening a message, and it can give people the false impression you’re available for a chat every time you use the app. But a little trick that can help is turning off your online status on WhatsApp.

If you’ve been looking for ways to hide your online status on WhatsApp, you’ve come to the right place. This article will offer all you need to know about this trick, whether you’re accessing WhatsApp on a PC, iPhone, or Android user.

How to Hide Your Last Seen Status in WhatsApp on an iPhone

WhatsApp’s “Last Seen” status lets users see the most recent time other people were online on the app and whether they’re currently using the platform. As convenient as this may be for some users, it’s a major privacy concern for others. Disabling your online status is the first logical step to protecting your privacy.

However, note that after disabling your “Last Seen” status, you also won’t be able to see your contacts’ online status.

 If you’re an iPhone user and would like to hide your online status on the app, follow the steps below.

  1. Launch WhatsApp on your iPhone.
  2. Tap on the Settings button in the bottom menu.
  3. Navigate to the Account section.
  4. Tap on the Privacy button from the options list.
  5. A new options list will appear where you can change who can see your personal information. Tap on Last Seen to tweak your online status settings.
  6. Hide your Last Seen status by tapping on Nobody. You can select My Contacts if you want only your contacts to see your status or Everybody for everyone to see your Last Seen status.

How to Hide Your Last Seen Status in WhatsApp on an Android Device

People often want to hide their online status to keep a bit of privacy for themselves. If you’re better off texting on WhatsApp incognito, you can do so on your Android device. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Launch WhatsApp on your Android device.
  2. Tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
  3. Select Settings and navigate to the Account section.
  4. Go to Privacy.
  5. Tap on Last seen and select Nobody if you want to hide your online status completely. Tap My contacts if you only want your contacts to see your online status.

How to Hide Your Online Status in WhatsApp from a PC

If you use WhatsApp on your PC, you’re probably on the WhatsApp Web version. This version doesn’t allow tweaking online status through the settings page like the smartphone.

Instead, you need to install plugins for your browser. Assuming you use Chrome, there are two plugins you can use. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Navigate to Google Chrome’s Web Store and search for the “WAIncognito” extension.
  2. Install the extension to use WhatsApp without appearing online.
  3. Tap on the extension to tweak the settings. You can check the box next to the Don’t send “Last Seen” updates option to hide your online status.

You can also install a plugin called WA Web Plus. Just add the plugin to your Chrome, access the WhatsApp Web as usual, and follow the steps below:

  1. With the WhatsApp Web open, tap on the WA Web Plus plugin.
  2. Check the box next to Hide online status to hide your online status from your contacts.
  3. If the changes don’t apply right away, simply reload the WhatsApp Web app.

Additional FAQs

Here are some more helpful answers to your questions about WhatsApp privacy.

Can I chat while appearing offline on WhatsApp?

Yes! You can use two handy tricks to read and reply to messages on WhatsApp and still appear offline.

The first is the more direct one, and it involves replying to a message via the notification panel:

– For iPhone users, simply slide the message from your notifications panel to the left, select the view option, and reply.

– For Android, tap the message on your Notifications panel, select the Reply button, and send the message.

If you accidentally removed the message preview, you can pull down from your screen top to see unread notifications, hold the chat in question, and hit the Reply button.

The second method to answer a message while appearing offline involves Airplane Mode. You turn on Airplane Mode, and it lets you read a message without appearing online. This way, your last recorded online time on WhatsApp is the one before you turned on Airplane Mode. This is a pretty cool feature, except that it prevents you from receiving new messages while it’s on.

Here are detailed steps on how to perform this “trick:”

1. Switch your device to Airplane Mode.

2. Launch WhatsApp and open the chat to which you want to send a new message.

3. Enter the message and hit the Send button.

4. Switch off the Airplane Mode. The receiver will get your message without you appearing online.

You now know two methods that help you chat without appearing online. Feel free to use the quick reply option when you know the person will continue sending more texts your way if they believe you’re online. If there’s a single text you need answered but want to avoid being seen online, you can always turn on the Airplane Mode.

Can I see others while my status is hidden on WhatsApp?

In WhatsApp settings, you can tweak your online status to make it visible to everyone, only your contacts, or nobody. If you set the status to Nobody, no one will be able to see your Last Seen status, but you won’t be able to see other people’s online status either.

If you choose the My Contacts setting, you’ll be able to see when your contacts are online, and they’ll be able to see when you are as well.

Can I hide my status for specific contacts on WhatsApp?

You can hide your status updates for some contacts by following the steps below:

For iPhone users:

1. Launch WhatsApp on your iPhone and navigate to the Settings page.

2. Go to Account, then Privacy.

3. Head over to the Status section and tap on My Contacts Except…

4. Check the circle box next to the contact(s) from whom you wish to hide your status updates.

5. Tap Done when finished.

For Android users:

1. Launch WhatsApp on your phone and head to the three-dotted menu from the upper right-hand of the screen.

2. Tap on Settings from the drop-down menu.

3. Head over to Account.

4. Navigate to Privacy, then Status.

5. Select the My Contacts Except… option.

6. Tap on the circle box next to the contacts from whom you want to hide your status updates.

7. Tap on the green circle from the bottom right-hand to confirm.

Beware that these steps will only hide your Status Updates from specific contacts. They won’t hide your Last Seen status.

You can hide your Last Seen status for Everyone, My contacts, or Nobody. Currently, there’s no feature that allows hiding online status from specific contacts only.

If you want to prevent a specific contact from seeing your online status, you’ll have to block them in your account. After doing so, the person won’t be able to see your Last Seen status, nor other personal information such as your profile picture, stories, or anything else associated with your account.

Here’s how to block a contact:

1. Launch WhatsApp on your phone.

2. Tap on the chat with a person you wish to block.

3. Tap on that person’s name from the top of the screen and select Block.

4. Select Block from the prompt to finish.

WhatsApp Chatting Gone Incognito

Hiding your online status comes with many perks. You won’t feel as pressured to respond to a message as soon as you read it. Meanwhile, scrolling the app late at night when you just want to relax doesn’t make you easy prey to constant messages from your contacts, and your overall privacy levels are higher. This article has shared everything there is to know when it comes to hiding your online status on WhatsApp. Hopefully, you’ll be able to use some of the things you’ve learned.

What are the main reasons you want to hide your online status on WhatsApp? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

How to Hide Your 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.

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.

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

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone and head to the settings.

2. Open the account settings, and then head to the privacy settings.

3. Go to the Last Seen settings.

4. Tap either My Contacts, My Contacts Except, or Nobody to 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. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone or Android.

2. Go to your WhatsApp settings.

  • On iPhone, tap Settings – the gear icon – in the bottom right corner.
Tap the gear icon to access WhatsApp's settings on iPhone. Stefan Ionescu
  • On Android, tap the More icon – the three vertical dots – in the top right corner, and then select Settings in the menu.
Tap the three vertical dots to access WhatsApp's settings on Android. Stefan Ionescu

3. In Settings, tap Account.

4. On the Account page, tap Privacy.

5. Tap Last Seen to change your online status.

Tap "Last Seen." Stefan Ionescu

6. You have two options to hide your online or Last Seen status — you can choose for only My Contacts to see your status or for Nobody to see your status.

You can also choose My Contacts Except and select people from your contacts list who you don't want to see your "Last Seen" status. Then, tap Done in the top right corner on iPhone or the check mark in the bottom right corner on Android.

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.

7. Once you've made a selection, your online or Last Seen status will be visible to just your contacts, no one at all, or the contacts you didn't exclude, depending on your selection.

Meira Gebel

Meira Gebel is a freelance reporter based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about business, culture, and technology for Insider. Her work has been featured in Digital Trends, Willamette Week, USA Today, and more. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and San Francisco State University.  Feel free to reach out to her on Twitter, where she can be found most of the time, @MeiraGebel.

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How to hide visiting time on WhatsApp: detailed instructions for Android and iOS

Contents

  • 1 How to hide visiting time on WhatsApp in the program settings in WhatsApp settings on Android
  • 1.2 On an iOS phone
    • 1.2.1 Video: how to hide visiting time in WhatsApp on iPhone
  • 2 or multiple contacts
    • 2.1 On Android
    • 2.2 On iPhone

    • In the factory settings of WhatsApp, the display of the time and date of the last visit is enabled for all users of the service. However, users have the right to disable this time when there is such a need: if, for example, you do not want someone to follow you. How to do it on different mobile platforms? What methods exist?

    How to hide visiting time in WhatsApp in the program settings

    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 statuses "Online" and "Printing".

    On an Android smartphone

    Where to go and what to change to turn off the time in the messenger on Android:

    1. Launch the utility - immediately tap on the three dots in the upper right corner. In the white menu, click on "Settings".
    In the messenger menu, tap on "Settings"

    Expand the first block with "Account" parameters.

    Click on the first line "Account"

    Go to the section to configure privacy.

    Go to the "Privacy" block

    Click on the parameter "Visiting time".

    Expand the "Time of visit" item to change the default value

    In 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.

    Set either "My contacts" or "No one"
    Video: remove the last visit time in the WhatsApp settings on Android

    On an iOS phone

    The WhatsApp interface for Android and iOS is different, so for Apple phones will have a separate instruction:

    1. Go to the last tab "Settings" on the bottom panel with section names. Expand the item for account settings.
    Go to the "Account" section

    Open the first menu "Privacy".

    Click on the first item "Privacy"

    Tap on the line "Visiting time".

    Expand the Visit time parameter

    Check 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 not
    Video: how to hide visiting time in WhatsApp on iPhone

    Another way to turn off the time is to block one or more contacts

    If 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.

    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 does not have the right to know when you last logged into WhatsApp

    On Android

    How to ban a contact in the messenger on Android:

    1. In the same "Privacy" section in the application settings, tap on the line " Blocked".
    Go to the "Blocked" section

    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 blacklist

    Or, directly in the dialogue with the user, tap on the icon with three dots at the top right and in the menu give the command "Block".

    You can ban a person directly from the chat menu

    On iPhone

    How to add a person to the black list on iOS:

    1. Go to the "Privacy" block in the settings (in the "Account" section). Open the currently empty "Blocked" list.
    Go to the section with blocked users in the "Privacy" section

    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".

    Go to the person's profile in WhatsApp and click on the "Block contact" option there. Its disadvantage is that you will not see the time of visits of your contacts. If you want to disable the display of your visit time for specific contacts, you will have to block them. You will not be able to send messages and call them while they are on your blacklist.

    • Author: Ekaterina Vasilyeva