When you sign up for Facebook, the most important thing is to keep in touch with other people. However, there may be enough people you know, and among them, you may have contacts you want to limit. In order to keep your privacy, Facebook has created some “loopholes” and ways, but I will tell you about them in order in this article.
How to control who are able to see you online on Facebook
To be able to choose who can see you online or offline, it’s worth setting this up in the browser version of Facebook.
However, for full results, it’s recommended to make the settings from the Facebook app as well. Here’s a detailed guide on how to change your Active Status settings on Facebook:
- On the right side, where your Contacts are shown, click on the button with three horizontal dots for Options
- Then you will see the dropdown menu and select Turn off Active Status
- This will show you a pop-up where you can choose one option: Turn off Active Status for all contacts, Turn off active status for all contacts except, or Turn off Active Status for only some contacts
- Select the setting you’re looking for, type into certain names or lists into the text box, and select OK to save the settings
Is it possible to switch off Facebook online status completely
In case you need to let all your contacts know that you’re offline all the time, it would be best to use the browser version of Facebook by selecting Turn off Active Status for all contacts.
Unfortunately, in the Facebook app itself, you have limited functionality and can only enable or disable Active Status.
If you decided to change your active status on the Facebook mobile app, follow this guide:
- Select the Messenger icon to the top right of your screen
- Select your profile picture in the Chats menu
- Tap on the Active Status tab
- Toggle the options for Show when you’re active and Show when you’re active together to off
- Then Facebook will ask you to confirm, select Turn Off
How to prevent someone specific seeing you online on Facebook
There are times when you don’t want a certain person to see your activity, and the surest way, in this case, is to block them from messaging you. No, you will not block the person in the sense that they will be blacklisted, etc. This is different from a full Facebook block. The person just won’t see you online, but you will be able to go to their profile.
To block messages from a contact, and therefore prevent them from seeing whether you’re online, follow these steps:
- Open a chat with the contact
- Select their name to bring up a menu of settings
- Select Block
- Choose the option for Block messages and calls
This method will allow you to keep your privacy and not allow a certain person to violate it. However, you should understand that this person will not be able to write or call you either.
Hopefully, these methods will help you maintain your personal space on a network like Facebook, where the main goal is just the opposite. However, all people need time off from texting and chatting.
