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Facebook may be responsible for putting the word “social” in social media, but there are times when you don’t want — or don’t have time — to engage with friends.
If you want to log into Facebook without your friends knowing you’re online, you can easily turn off your “active status” so you appear offline.
There are three different places where you can control your active status: on Facebook in a web browser, in the Facebook mobile app, and in the Facebook Messenger mobile app.
How to appear offline when using Facebook in a web browser To turn off active status and appear offline on Facebook:
Open Facebook in a browser and log in, if you’re not already.
Click the circular Messenger icon in the top-right corner.
In the Messenger drop-down, click the three-dot icon at the top.
Click “Turn off Active Status” in the drop-down menu.
A pop-up will appear asking if you want to “Turn off Active Status for all contacts,” “Turn off Active Status for all contacts except…,” or “Turn off Active Status for only some contacts…” When you click the latter two options, a box will appear where you can enter the names of specific people.
Click “OK” when you’re done.
Quick tip: You can also access your active status settings by clicking the Messenger icon in the top-right corner, and in the Messenger drop-down, clicking “See all in Messenger” at the bottom. Then, on the full-screen Messenger page, click the three-dot icon in the top-left corner, choose “Preferences,” click “Turn off Active Status” in the pop-up, and choose your active status. This accomplishes the same thing as the steps above, but does so in the full-screen version of Messenger versus the sidebar version.
How to appear offline in the Facebook mobile app
Open the Facebook app on your phone.
Tap the three horizontal lines (called the “hamburger menu”) in the top-right corner on Android or the bottom-right corner on iPhone.
Tap “Settings & Privacy,” and then tap “Settings.”
Tap “Active Status” under the Privacy section.
Turn off “Show when you’re active” by moving the slider to the left and then confirm by tapping “Turn Off” in the pop-up.
How to appear offline in the Facebook Messenger mobile app
Open the Facebook Messenger app on your phone.
Tap your profile’s avatar at the top-left of the screen.
Tap “Active Status.”
Turn off “Show when you’re active” by moving the slider to the left and then confirm by tapping “Turn Off” in the pop-up.
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