If you want to see when your friends were last online on Facebook, you can check their activity on the platform. But why can I see the activity of some friends and not others? If you want to find out, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will explain how the active status works on both Facebook and Messenger.
How to see when someone was active on Facebook
Sometimes, you need to know if someone is active on Facebook. This is especially true if you need an immediate response to a question or proposal. Here’s how you can tell if someone was recently online and active on Facebook:
- Go to your home page by clicking on the house icon.
- On the right of the screen, you will see the contacts window.
- In that list, you can find people with green dots who are online or active recently, as well as how long they were active.
- If you can’t see the green dot, it means its active status is disabled.
You can only see if your contacts were last active if you have Active Status turned on. You can activate it by simply clicking the options button in the contact window.
How to see when someone was active on Facebook Messenger
To see if your Facebook friends are online on Messenger, simply follow these steps:
- Open the Facebook Messenger app on your phone.
- Click the “messenger” icon at the top of the screen. Here you can see all the people who are active using the green dot next to their icon.
- If there is no green dot next to your image, it means your activity status is disabled.
In Facebook Messenger, you must also have your activity status activated. This is how you do it:
- Click on your profile photo and go to “Settings & Privacy.”
- Click “Settings.”
- Look for the option that says “Active Status.”
- After you have clicked on that option, another window will open. Check the “Show when active” option.
On Facebook, you cannot see the status of the activity if you are not friends with the user in question. The only way to check the status of someone who is not on your friends list is if you have chatted before.
Why is the last active activity not shown for some friends?
If you were wondering why you can’t see the activity status of some of your friends, there are three possible explanations.
Active state was disabled
This is probably the most common reason why you can’t see if your friend is online. Users often turn off activity status for the simple reason that they don’t want others to know if they are online or not. To disable your activity status, the “Show when active” option must be disabled. And as explained, if you can’t see your status online, they won’t be able to see your status either. Sometimes users just want to stay off the grid and have a good time without using social media. In that case, disabling the state will be enough.
The user has blocked you
If a person has blocked you, not only their activity status is no longer available to you, but also their stories, profile photo, etc. Not being able to see someone’s profile photo is a big indicator that you’ve been blocked.
If you’re still not sure whether you’ve been blocked or not, you can try calling that contact via video chat. If that doesn’t connect you, you’ve almost certainly been blocked.
Not active on Facebook
The third possible reason is that the user has not used Facebook Messenger for a long time. Facebook only shows when users were last active in a 24-hour span. And if the user has been inactive for a longer period, it will no longer show the status of it.
How to know if the message was received
When you message someone and they don’t respond, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve blocked you or are unavailable. You must check the message status to see if the recipient received the message. You can see the stages in which the other user receives your message by just looking at the message status.
When you send the message, an empty gray circle will appear next to it, which means they didn’t receive it. If your connection was successful and the message was sent from your phone, the circle will now have a check mark. When the recipient receives the message, the circle will turn blue. Finally, when they open the message, the small icon of their profile photo will appear next to the message. This still doesn’t mean that the user read the message, but rather that they simply opened the chat and saw it.
What happens when your active status is on?
When you have your active status activated, your friends and contacts on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger will be able to see the green dot, know that you are online and when you last accessed the Internet. However, turning off this setting in an app doesn’t mean it will also disconnect the apps. For example, if you turn off activity on Facebook, your connections in Messenger will still show that you’re online.
Active Status for Facebook Pages
The green dot on Facebook pages differs from the dot on connections and contacts. Facebook Pages that are online and were recently active or responded quickly to any interaction will have a green dot on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Unlike contacts, the green dot on the Facebook page can be seen even if you do not have your active status activated.
Humans are social beings
Knowing if someone is online on social media can be extremely helpful. If you need someone right away, their online status will let you know if they’re available or not. It is human nature to communicate and socialize. These apps help you do just that. Whether a person is down the street or on the other side of the world, you can always talk to them through chat apps. Knowing if someone is online can be reassuring for a number of reasons, especially if the person you’re talking to isn’t your physical friend. So by seeing them online, you will know that they are fine and available to you.
