Instagram Gains Status Dots to Let You Know When Friends Are Online - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Instagram Gains Status Dots to Let You Know When Friends Are Online

by

Instagram today announced the launch of a new feature that's designed to let you know when your friends are active on the social network. When a friend is online, their profile picture will be accented with a green dot in various places within the app.

You'll see the green dot in the Direct inbox and in your friends list when you share a post from the feed. Dots will be displayed for friends who follow you or people you have previously spoken to in Direct.

instagramstatusdots
If desired, you can hide your own status and turn off the ability to see when your friends are active in the settings section of the Instagram app.

Instagram says this new update is meant to make it easier to connect with friends over direct messages for more realtime conversations. The dots are rolling out to Instagram users today.

Instagram can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Instagram

Top Rated Comments

riverfreak Avatar
riverfreak
104 months ago

...
Instagram says this new update is meant to make it easier to connect with friends over direct messages for more realtime conversations. The dots are rolling out to Instagram users today.
... (https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/19/instagram-online-status-indicator/)
Uh, right. No, it’s meant to increase user engagement and the opportunity for more ad placements by feeding a generalized sense of anxiety and FOMO.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
martyjmclean
104 months ago
How to turn off this?
It literally tells you in the article.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
thettareddast
104 months ago
imagine paying a cto, president of engineering, vp of engineering, a bunch of product managers and engineers to build and deliver..... a colored status indicator.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
haruhiko Avatar
haruhiko
104 months ago
How to turn off this?

Edit: just found out that I have already turned off the 'feature', thanks.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
martyjmclean
104 months ago
I’ve had this all year. I turned it off though, they were annoying.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments

Popular Stories

meta ai

Meta's New AI Image Tool Can Use Your Public Instagram Photos by Default

Wednesday July 8, 2026 1:52 pm PDT by
Meta is rolling out a new feature that lets people use public Instagram posts and reels to generate AI content, and it's turned on by default. If you have an Instagram account that's not set to private, there is a setting allowing anyone to generate content on Meta AI using your images and videos. The option was added to support Meta's new image generation model, Muse Image. Muse Image is...
Read Full Article • 68 comments
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Begins Selling a $419 iPhone

Monday July 6, 2026 6:29 am PDT by
Apple recently added the iPhone 16e to its refurbished store, with U.S. pricing starting as low as $419 for a model with 128GB of storage. Originally released in February 2025, the iPhone 16e is a lower-end device with a 6.1-inch OLED display, an A18 chip with 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, a 12-megapixel front camera, a USB-C port, an Action...
Read Full Article
Apple TV Thumb 3

Everything Coming in the 2026 Apple TV 4K

Wednesday July 8, 2026 4:51 pm PDT by
The Apple TV 4K hasn't been updated since 2022, and it's due for a refresh. An update is planned for 2026, but Apple is likely going to wait to launch it after Siri AI launches in iOS 27. Design Apple TV design updates don't happen often, and that's not changing. The next Apple TV is going to have the same squircle shape as the current model, and it'll continue to be made from a black...
Read Full Article • 162 comments