Instagram has started rolling out a new feature that will show users the last time a user was active on the platform. The new ‘last seen’ option is found in the Direct Messaging section of Instagram and is similar to the one on WhatsApp and Messenger apps. Since all the three social media platforms are owned by Facebook, it makes sense to assimilate all the features across all the apps. The ‘last seen’ feature is now available in the Instagram app and the users who do not see this feature are advised to look for an update.
In the Direct Messaging section of the Instagram app, you will start seeing the last time your contact was active. However, only your Instagram friends who you have chatted with will be able to see your online status and vice versa. In addition to the last active time, you will also see ‘Active Now’ below the usernames of the Instagram friends who you exchanged Direct Messages with. We were able to replicate this feature on our Instagram app for Android. If you don’t want people to see your active status on Instagram, you have the option to turn this off in Settings. However, this will stop letting you see their ‘last seen’ and active status information as well. In order to do so, scroll down to the Show Activity Status option in the app settings and simply turn it off.
Instagram Direct Messaging is the built-in messaging feature that lets Instagram users exchange posts and videos along with text messages. The Direct Messaging feature was recently added with an option to send Instagram Stories to your friends on Instagram. Facebook has been trying to unify the user experience across all its apps. It recently introduced Stories to the main Facebook app, which was already available on Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger for some time. Interestingly, Facebook Messenger initially had this feature called ‘My Day’ but Facebook brought this feature in line with the commonly used name and rebranded it as ‘Stories’.
