How To Turn Off Active Status On TikTok

Some people love interacting with others 24/7, while others want some time to themselves. That’s as true on TikTok as it is in real life.

If you’re relaxing and surfing your TikTok feed after a long day, or if you’re trying to get something accomplished with your phone sitting silently nearby, the last thing you want is to be interrupted by people wanting to chat (or waste your time).

You can take care of that issue easily if you know how to use TikTok’s Activity Status function.

If you and another TikTok user are mutual followers, they can see if you’re online by looking at your TikTok profile picture, in their follower list when they want to send you a video or tag you in a comment, and in their inbox and their message threads. Your status theoretically makes it simple to know if you’re currently active on the app and available to be messaged.

In reality, though, there’s no real way to be sure whether someone is active on the social media platform — because a TikTok account’s status indicator can be turned on and off in just seconds.

Here’s what you need to know.

Changing Your TikTok Activity Status

By default, the status indicator shows a green dot next to your username when you’re on TikTok, and it shows up in all the locations we’ve mentioned.

If you are on the app but don’t want to be disturbed, though, you can change the setting to show others that you’re “inactive” and therefore unavailable to respond to messages.

The process takes just seconds.

1. Go to your profile by tapping the “Profile” icon at the bottom right of your home screen.
2. Look for and tap the “Menu” icon (three horizontal lines) in the top corner of your profile page.
3. Choose “Settings and privacy” from the pop-up menu that appears, and then select “Privacy.”
4. On the next screen, find “Activity status” and make sure the slider is in the “off” (far left) position. That turns off the green dot indicator which would show that you’re online.

That’s all there is to it. If you never want to be bothered when you’re on TikTok, leave the slider set to “off” permanently. If you’re just temporarily busy, remember to go back and change your status to “active” when you’re done, so you’ll be open to incoming messages again.