How to read your iLS report and presence timeline

The iLS Report lists every reading iLS has taken, splits each contact's readings into Active now, Last seen, No signal and Failed, and plots them on a Presence timeline with one dot per check. It shows when Instagram reported someone as active, never what they did.

This guide goes through the Report from top to bottom, explains what each status means, shows how to read a pattern across several days, and is honest about what a reading can't tell you. If the page says "No readings yet", add someone on the Tracker first; how to add and manage contacts covers that.

What does the summary at the top show?

Three numbers:

• Readings taken: every check iLS has made for you, across all contacts.
• Contacts tracked: how many people those readings cover.
• Online now: how many contacts showed as Active now at their latest check. To be told instead of checking, see how to get a notification when someone comes online.

Next to them are Refresh and Auto-refresh. Both reload the readings already saved in iLS. Neither checks Instagram; the tracker does that on its own schedule. So pressing Refresh repeatedly doesn't get you fresher data and doesn't add any activity to your Instagram account. Auto-refresh just keeps the page up to date while you leave it open.

What do the four statuses mean?

Every reading is one of four:

• Active now. Instagram showed the green dot and "Active now" under your conversation with them when the check ran.
• Last seen. Instagram showed a time instead, such as "Active 25m ago", or just "recently". The reading keeps that time, so the Report can show roughly when they were last active even though they weren't online at the check.
• No signal. The check worked but Instagram showed no status at all. Usually one of you has activity status off, or it's been long enough that Instagram shows nothing. See how to turn on activity status.
• Failed. The check itself didn't complete, for example because Instagram didn't load their status that time. A few of these are normal; a long run of them is worth a look on the Tracker.

How is the By contact section laid out?

By contact gives each person a row with their number of readings, when they were last active, when they were last checked, and a breakdown such as "12 online · 30 last-seen · 4 no-signal · 1 failed".

That breakdown is the quickest health check. Mostly online and last-seen means iLS is reading them normally. Mostly no-signal means Instagram isn't showing their status to you. Mostly failed means something is wrong with the checks themselves.

How do you read the Presence timeline?

The Presence timeline has one lane per contact, and each check is a dot on that lane, placed at the time it was taken and coloured by its status. The legend names the colours. Hover or tap a dot to see the contact, the status and the time.

Two things to keep in mind:

• Dots are checks, not sessions. A dot marked Active now means they were online at that moment. It doesn't say how long they stayed.
• A gap means no readings. Empty space on a lane means iLS wasn't checking then, for example while the contact was paused or your session had expired. It doesn't mean they were offline.

Below the chart, Recent activity lists the latest readings one by one, with the time each was taken.

How do you see a pattern over several days?

Patterns come from repetition, so give it a few days before drawing any conclusion. Then look at the timeline one lane at a time.

An illustrative example, not real data: suppose over a week a contact's Active now dots cluster between 22:00 and 23:30 on weekdays, and their Last seen readings in the morning keep pointing back to that window. That tells you when they tend to open Instagram. It still doesn't tell you what they were doing, and a quiet evening in that week tells you only that no check found them online.

The more checks a contact has, the more reliable the shape. A handful of readings from one afternoon isn't a pattern.

What can't a reading tell you?

• What they did or who they talked to. iLS reads one line, the activity status Instagram shows. No messages, no contacts, no content.
• Whether they read your message. Activity status and seen messages are separate things.
• The exact minute they came online. Readings happen on a schedule, so a short visit between two checks can leave no dot at all.
• Anything precise from "recently". When Instagram says only "Last seen recently", that's all there is to record.
• Proof of anything. Readings reflect what Instagram displayed at a moment. Treat them as a rough picture of someone's hours, not evidence.