Does Instagram show you active on Facebook, Messenger or Threads?

No. Instagram ended chats with Facebook accounts in mid-December 2023, and after that change, Facebook accounts can't see your Instagram activity status. Facebook's help pages describe your Facebook and Messenger status as activity on Facebook or Messenger, with no mention of Instagram. Threads has its own online status, and the Instagram setting doesn't change it.

Each Meta app has its own status and its own setting. This guide shows what each app shares, why some answers online still say yes, and how to turn off the status in each app. Meta moves its menus from time to time, so your screens can look a little different.

Does Instagram show you active on Facebook or Messenger?

No. According to Instagram's page about cross-app chats, chats with Facebook accounts on Instagram ended in mid-December 2023. The page lists what changed:

• You can't start new conversations or calls with Facebook accounts from Instagram.
• Your old chats with Facebook accounts are read-only.
• "Facebook accounts won't be able to view your Activity Status or whether you've seen a message."

Your Instagram status stays in Instagram. According to Instagram's activity status page, people you follow and anyone you message see when you were last active or currently active "on Instagram". They see a green dot or a time next to your profile picture in messaging. What the green dot and "Active 25m ago" mean explains each label.

The other direction is similar. Facebook's page on active status says that your status shows when you're active on Facebook or Messenger. It shows to people you're connected to on Facebook and Messenger, and to people you sent friend requests to. The page doesn't name Instagram accounts. So no Meta page says that your time on Facebook or Messenger shows on Instagram.

Why do some answers online say that it does?

Many of these answers come from a time when the apps shared more. In September 2020, Facebook (now Meta) announced cross-app messaging between Instagram and Messenger. People could send messages and make calls to contacts across the two apps.

Messenger's page on cross-app communication still describes that feature. It says that after you accept a message request from an account in the other app, that account can "see information such as your active status and see when you've seen their messages". Instagram's page on cross-app chats says that chats with Facebook accounts ended in mid-December 2023. The Register reported the change on December 5, 2023.

So a Reddit thread from 2020 or a Quora answer from 2019 can describe a setup that no longer exists. Some newer forum posts say that Instagram and Facebook "share infrastructure", so activity on one app shows on the other. They give no source, and Facebook's own page describes only activity on Facebook or Messenger.

Does your Instagram status show on Threads?

No. Threads has its own online status, with its own setting. Instagram's help page for Threads says: "Your Instagram activity status doesn't impact your Threads online status." If you turn off your status on Instagram, your Threads status can still be on and visible to others on Threads.

Threads started to show online status in October 2024. TechCrunch reported that the setting was on by default. According to the Threads page on who's online, a green dot appears next to the profile picture of a person who is active now. You see it on their posts in your feed, on their posts in a thread and on their profile. You both must have your online status visible. For users aged 13 to 17, the setting is off by default.

Meta doesn't answer one question: does time in one of the two apps count as activity in the other? Its help pages don't say.

Where each Meta app shows your active status, and where you turn it off.

How do you hide your active status in every Meta app?

Turn it off in each app that you use. The four apps have one rule in common: when you hide your status, you also can't see the status of other people.

Instagram

According to Instagram's activity status page:

1. Tap Profile or your profile picture at the bottom right.
2. Tap Menu at the top right.
3. Below How others can interact with you, tap Messages and story replies.
4. Tap Show activity status, then tap the toggle to turn it off.

Messenger

According to Messenger's page on turning active status on or off:

1. Tap Menu, then tap Settings.
2. Tap Active status.
3. Tap the toggle next to Show when you're active, then tap Turn off to confirm.

On a computer, go to messenger.com and click your profile picture at the bottom left. Click Preferences, then Active status, then the toggle, and click Save. According to Messenger's page on how active status works, this setting hides you everywhere you use Messenger.

Facebook

According to Facebook's page on turning Active Status on or off:

1. Tap Menu at the top left.
2. Tap Settings and privacy, then tap Settings.
3. Below Audience and visibility, tap Active Status.
4. Tap the toggle next to Show when you're active to turn it off.

Do this on each device. Messenger's page says that on Facebook, the setting hides you only on the device that you use. If you install the Facebook app again, Active Status turns back on.

Threads

According to Instagram's help page for Threads:

1. Tap Profile or your profile picture at the bottom right.
2. Tap Menu at the top right.
3. Tap Privacy, then tap Online status.
4. Select No one.

Can iLS see someone's Facebook or Messenger activity?

No. iLS (instagram Last Seen) reads only Instagram. From your own Instagram account, it opens your DM conversation with a contact on a schedule. It reads the status line that Instagram shows there, and it saves each check with its time. Activity on Facebook, Messenger or Threads isn't in that line, so iLS doesn't record it.

The same fact sets the limits. iLS works only with a person you already have a DM conversation with, and only when you both have Instagram's activity status on. If the other person turns off the Instagram setting, iLS has no status to read, even if their Messenger or Threads status is on. How to turn on activity status and check the other person's shows both checks.

Each check opens the conversation, which can mark their messages to you as read. Using iLS breaks Instagram's Terms of Use, and Instagram can restrict your account. What that risk is and how to lower it explains the details.

What can't an active status tell you?

• Which app the person uses. Facebook's page describes the green dot on Facebook and Messenger as activity on Facebook or Messenger, not on Instagram.
• Whether Threads and Instagram count each other's activity. Meta's help pages don't say.
• The exact moment. Facebook's page says that a status can update after a delay.
• Why a status is missing. On Facebook and Messenger, the page gives two causes: the person turned off their status, or they blocked you. On Instagram there are more causes. Why someone's Instagram status can be missing lists them.
• What the person did. A status doesn't show whether they read your message, or why they didn't reply.