How whatsapp last seen works
What does last seen mean on WhatsApp?
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
QUICK ANSWER
“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.
JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
- What does last seen mean on WhatsApp?
- How to hide your last seen status (Android and iOS)
- How to hide your last seen status (desktop)
What does last seen mean on WhatsApp?
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.
How to hide your last seen status (Android and iOS)
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.
How to hide your last seen status (desktop)
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.
FAQs
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.
What the Last Seen Status on WhatsApp Means
- The "last seen" message on WhatsApp tells you how long it's been since that user logged in.
- If their status says "online," it means that they're using WhatsApp right now.
- You can use the Privacy menu to change who's allowed to see your "last seen" message.
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 will hide your visiting time. But not everyone
It's no secret that WhatsApp lags far behind Telegram in terms of functionality: the messenger is regularly criticized for lack of features, backwardness and low level of user data protection. And what about the lack of an application for the iPad? The peak of popularity of the messenger is far behind, and the management continues to feed users with breakfast. True, few people are interested in the fate of WhatsApp for the iPad . But the company continues to add new features to the application in a dosed way: now you can safely hide the visit time from some users so that go to WhatsApp incognito .
True, not everything is so simple.
A long-awaited feature is coming to WhatsApp. But does it make sense?
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Content
- 1 Whatsapp time
- 4 How to discreetly read a WhatsApp message
Problems of WhatsApp
WhatsApp is not perfect, but something useful still appears in it
Millions of people still use the messenger and find it convenient due to the appearance of new features. But let's face it: Telegram is more convenient than WhatsApp and even allows you to hide your status and even view messages hidden by long pressing on the chat. Can WhatsApp do this? No. You can’t just take it, go online and go unnoticed. nine0007
You can hide the visit time from all and turn off the read report, but this approach raises more questions. Yes, and the very inclusion of this function goes sideways: you don’t see what time the interlocutor was and whether he read the message.
WhatsApp finally solved this problem.
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A new feature in WhatsApp
To be honest, many people think that will disable visit time in WhatsApp - kindergarten and pampering. But messenger definitely lacks privacy. So the company will add a feature that will restrict access to the last seen time - the latest beta version of WhatsApp for iOS just confirms this. True, to hide the time of visit in WhatsApp will not work for everyone - the user will be able to prohibit only a certain number of contacts from seeing the time of the last visit.
Whatsapp now allows you to hide visit times from the list of other users
So the most malicious interlocutors who track your every step will no longer be able to guess when you were last online. Users have already noted that the WhatsApp developers again did everything exactly the opposite: they say, it would be better to figure out how to hide the visit time from everyone except the list of exceptions.
Even if you were waiting for just such a feature, you will have to put up with it: by enabling it, you will not be able to see the visiting time of users from this list. It is reported that beta testing of the version is already in full swing on iOS and Android, which means that WhatsApp update for everyone should be out very soon.
6 cool iPhone features that will make your life easier
How to hide the time on WhatsApp
Is it possible to hide the visiting time from other users without waiting for an update?
At the moment, you can hide the visit time in WhatsApp either from all users at once, or only from those who are not in your address book. This can be done in the following way.
- Open WhatsApp and select "Settings".
- Click "Account" and select "Privacy".
- Go to the top item "Passed" and select "No one" or "My contacts".
On the other hand, WhatsApp, in fact, changes the awl for soap: in the next update we will have a new feature that allows you to write to a subscriber without adding a contact to the phone book.
Accordingly, you can remove the user from the phone, turn on the visibility of the last visit only for your contacts - it will turn out almost the same. You can do the same now by deleting contacts from your iPhone and turning on the appropriate privacy settings, but leaving the chat. Yes, it will take a bit of fiddling, but it looks like nothing new in WhatsApp will appear .
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However, if you want to go unnoticed in WhatsApp , you can turn off the “read report”: if you deactivate this function, then the sender will only see two gray checkmarks, signaling the receipt of the message. At the same time, neither you will have blue checkmarks when you send a message and it will be read, nor your interlocutors. True, you will still be seen in group chats - your name will be in the list of users who have read the message.
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Nevertheless, it is much more convenient than to turn off the time of the last session in WhatsApp - even if you are online, you do not have to answer, and the likelihood that you will be "detected" is extremely small. And if you use WhatsApp Desktop at all, then you don’t have to worry: the application works in its own way and sometimes it doesn’t show at all that the person is online, and the message seems to come from offline. Just in case, how can I turn off the read report:
- Open WhatsApp and go to Settings;
- Select "Account";
- At the very bottom, turn off the slider next to "Read Receipts";
What features do you miss in WhatsApp? Share in the comments!
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Whatsapp Last Seen: What It Is and How to Disable It
If you don't want WhatsApp to display the last time you used the service, you need to adjust the Last Seen setting in WhatsApp.
It's very easy to turn this setting on and off. Here's how. nine0007
How does the WhatsApp Last Seen setting work?
By default, WhatsApp displays the time you last used the app in the chat window, for example, when was last seen today at 18:15 . This way, if someone opens a chat with you, they can see when you last opened the app (if you are currently offline, in which case your status will be displayed in Internet ). However, you will not be able to hide your status if you are at networks or print even if you disabled the last option you saw.
However, if you don't want your last time to be seen by your contacts, you can disable this setting, temporarily or permanently. Here's how to change this setting on iPhone and Android.
Is online privacy important to you? For more information about WhatsApp privacy, see How to use WhatsApp privacy options. nine0007
How to disable/enable last seen on iPhone
Disable last seen setting is easy on iPhone.
Here's how to quickly turn this setting on and off.
If you turn off the last time, you will not be able to see other people's last time.
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Open WhatsApp on your iPhone and tap the Settings icon at the bottom of the screen.
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In menu " Settings" press " Account" > " Privacy" .
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In privacy settings, click Last viewed, then select Nobody as the Last viewed option to disable the Last viewed option. This means that no one will be able to see your last seen time.
If you want others to see when you were last online, you can select All or My Contacts, to enable this option.
How to disable/enable last seen on Android
It's also easy to disable the last seen option on Android. Here's how to quickly turn this setting on and off.
If you turn off the last time, you will not be able to see other people's last time.
