How to See Last Active on Facebook and Why It’s Not Showing Up for Some Friends

If you want to see when your friends were last online on Facebook, you check can their activity on the platform. But why can see activity for some friends and not others? If you want to find out, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll explain how active status works on both Facebook and Messenger.

How to See When Someone Was Active on Facebook

Sometimes, you need to find out if someone is active on Facebook. This is especially true if you require a reply to a question or proposal right away. This is how you can find out if someone was recently online and active on Facebook:

1. Go to your homepage by clicking the house icon.
   
2. On the right of the screen, you’ll see the contacts window.
   
3. On that list, you can find people with green dots who are online or recently active, plus the time they were active.
   
4. If you can’t see the green dot that means that their active status is turned off.
   

You can only see if your contacts were last active if you have your “Active Status” turned on. You can turn it on by simply clicking on 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:

1. Open the Facebook Messenger application on your phone.
   
2. Click the “messenger” icon at the top of the screen will appear. Here you can see all the people who are active by the green dot next to their icon.
   
3. If there isn’t a green dot next to their picture, it means their activity status is turned off.
   

On Facebook Messenger, you also need to have your activity status turned on. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Click on your profile picture and go to “Settings and Privacy.”
   
2. Click “Settings.”
   
3. Find the option that says “Active Status.”
   
4. After you’ve clicked on that option, another window will open. Check the “Show when you’re active” option.
   

On Facebook, you can’t see the activity status if you’re not friends with the user in question. The only way to check the status of someone not on your friend list is if you’ve previously chatted.

Why Is Last Active Not Showing 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 Status Was Disabled

This is probably the most common reason why you can’t see whether your friend is online. Users often disable the activity status for the simple reason that they don’t want others to know if they’re online or not. To disable your activity status, the “Show when you’re active” option needs to be turned off. And as explained, if you can’t see their online status, they can’t see your status, either.. At times users just want to stay off-grid and spend some quality time without using social media. In that case, disabling the status will do the trick.

The User Has Blocked You

If a person has blocked you, it’s not just the activity status that becomes unavailable to you, but also their stories, profile picture, etc. Not being able to see someone’s profile picture 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 hasn’t used Facebook Messenger in a long time. Facebook only shows you when users were last active in a span of 24 hours. And if the user has been inactive for a longer period than that, it won’t show their status anymore.

How to Know if the Message Was Received

When you’re messaging someone and they aren’t responding, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ve blocked you or aren’t available. You need to check the status of the message to see if the recipient got the message. You can see the stages of your message being received by the other user just by looking at the message status.

When you send the message, the gray empty circle will appear next to it, meaning they didn’t receive it. If your connection was successful, and the message was sent from your phone, the circle will now have a tick. When the recipient gets the message, the circle will become blue. Finally, when they open the message, the little icon of their profile picture will appear next to the message. This still doesn’t mean that the user read the message, but just opened the chat and saw it.

What Happens When Your Active Status Is On

When you have your active status on, your friends and contacts on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger will be able to see the green dot, know you’re online, and when you last accessed the internet. However, turning this setting off on one application doesn’t mean you will be disconnect applications as well. For example, if you turn off activity on Facebook, your connections on Messenger will still show that you’re online.

Active Status for Facebook Pages

The green dot for the Facebook Pages differs from the dot for connections and contacts. Facebook Pages that are online were recently active or quick to respond to any interactions will have a green dot on your Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Unlike for contacts, the Facebook Page’s green dot can be seen even if you don’t have your Active Status on.

Humans Are Social Beings

Knowing if someone is online on social media can be extremely useful. If you need someone immediately, their online status will let you know if they’re available or not. It’s in human nature to communicate and socialize. These apps help you do just that. Whether a person is just down the road, or on the other side of the world, you can always talk to them via chat apps. Knowing if someone is online can be reassuring for various reasons, especially if the person you’re talking to is not your physical friend. So, by seeing them online you know they are ok and there for you.

Do you often check to see if contacts are online? Have you ever used any of the tips and tricks featured in the article? Let us know in the comments section below.