How to Find Who Is Online on Instagram: 3 Ways

Sometimes you want to find out if someone is online on your Instagram account or not. But you may already know that Instagram doesn’t show the list of active users.

Find who is online on Instagram


Luckily, there are a few other methods that can help you to know who is online on your Instagram profile. You can also find out when the person was last active. Let’s get started!

How to find who is online on Instagram

Instagram has rolled out a new feature which allows you to see the active status and last seen of the users. When this feature is turned on, you will see a small green dot icon on the user’s profile picture in your direct inbox and story analytics.

To turn on activity status feature, first go to your Instagram profile and tap the menu button (three parallel lines at the top of the screen).

Now go to Settings, scroll down and click “Activity status” option under Privacy and Security section. Make sure that the “Show activity status” button is turned on.

Turn on activity status feature

Now you can easily find out who is online on your Instagram account using story. Follow this step-by-step guide –

  1. First, open Instagram app and go to your profile.
  2. Tap the archive (clock-like) icon at the top of the screen.
    Story archive icon
  3. Open any of your archived story which has a maximum number of viewers and then open the story viewers list.
  4. You will see a small green dot icon on the user’s profile picture who is online.
    Find Instagram online users via story

If you have added story highlights on your profile, there is no need to open archived story. Simply, open the viewers list of your highlighted story to find out who is online. You can also create a new story and check who has viewed it.

Find who is online on Instagram in your direct inbox

Instagram also shows active status and last seen of users in your direct inbox. You will see a small green dot icon on the user’s profile picture who is currently active. If the person is offline, you will see when he/she was last active on Instagram.

Find who is online on Instagram via direct inbox

Note: If someone has turned off the activity status feature in his account, you won’t be able to see his online status or last seen.

Find online users on Instagram via Following tab

You can see the recent activities of people you are following on Instagram. If someone has recently liked any post, commented or followed anyone, then we can say that the person is online.

To check the recent activities of people you’re following, first open Instagram app and tap the like (heart) icon at the bottom menu. Now move to the Following tab.

Find Instagram online users via Following tab

So these are 3 simple methods to find out who is online on your Instagram account. Let us know which method is best. If you want to ask something about this tutorial, feel free to share it in the comment section.

About the author

Vivek Chaudhary Author
Tech writer & founder @Geek Instructor • Vivek Chaudhary is an experienced tech blogger who has been writing about technology for more than ten years. He's written over 1500 articles covering various tech topics. Vivek is passionate about sharing his expertise to help others. Beyond the digital realm, he enjoys traveling and creating videos on YouTube. Feel free to contact here: vivek@geekinstructor.com

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