Facebook Visibility Settings
Hide your online status on Facebook. Then check Messenger.
Active Status is the green dot beside your name on Facebook and Messenger. One switch is meant to cover both, except Facebook warns that you may keep showing as active in the other app. The path below is one you follow yourself: Active Status is not in TrueTo's verified catalog yet.
You turned the green dot off on Facebook. Then someone messaged to ask why you were showing as online in Messenger.
The switch is called Active Status, and it is written as though it covers both apps. Facebook's own warning says otherwise: after you turn it off you may keep showing as active in the other app, so both are worth checking.
The path is below. It does not run through the Privacy menu, because that menu is gone.
TrueTo doesn't automate this one yet — the path below is manual. TrueTo still applies other settings automatically across 151 apps in one tap.
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What's in this profile
None of the settings below are in TrueTo's automated catalog yet — every row is marked Manual. Each path is verified; you make the change yourself.
- Active status Manual
Settings path:Menu → Settings & privacy → Settings → Audience and visibility → Active Status → Show when you're active
Shows a green dot on Facebook and Messenger when you're online. People use it to gauge whether you're available. Off removes the dot and you can still use Messenger normally, though Facebook warns you may keep showing as active in the other app, so check both. No check in TrueTo's catalog reaches it, so this one is set by hand.
Manual Not yet in TrueTo's supported catalog. The path above is accurate; you make the change yourself.
What most guides miss
The green dot is read by other people as a claim about you: that you are at the phone and open to being talked to. That is what makes it worth turning off, and it is also why Show when you're active is a setting about what others are shown rather than about what the app does. Off removes the dot, and Messenger keeps working normally.
What most guides leave out is the hedge. Facebook warns that with Active Status off you may keep showing as active in the other app, which means the vendor will not promise its own switch reaches both places it applies. Check the setting in Facebook and in Messenger, and treat the second one as the one that decides.
The path has also moved. Facebook retired the Privacy level of its settings, and Active Status now sits under Audience and visibility. Any guide that opens with Privacy is walking you into a screen the app no longer has, which is the usual reason people conclude the setting was removed.
The same Audience and visibility screen holds How people find and contact you, where who can send you friend requests lives alongside the rows for your email address and phone number. Those two are not search controls: typing an address into Facebook no longer surfaces a profile, and what they govern is whether you are suggested in People You May Know. Different question from the green dot, one screen apart.
Facebook's autoplay controls are elsewhere again, in a different branch of the same Settings screen. The Facebook autoplay paths are written up separately.
Common questions
How do I appear offline on Facebook?
Turn off Active Status. Open the Menu, then Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Audience and visibility, then Active Status, and set "Show when you're active" to off. That removes the green dot that appears beside your name on Facebook and Messenger while you're online.
Why do I still show as active on Messenger after turning off Active Status?
Because Facebook does not promise the switch reaches both apps. Its own warning is that after Active Status is off you may keep showing as active in the other app, so the setting is worth checking in Facebook and in Messenger rather than in one of them. The control is at Menu, then Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Audience and visibility, then Active Status, then "Show when you're active".
Where is Active Status in the Facebook app on Android?
Under Audience and visibility, not under Privacy. Open the Menu, then Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Audience and visibility, then Active Status. The switch on that screen is "Show when you're active". Facebook retired the Privacy settings level, so guides that route this through a Privacy menu are describing a screen the app no longer has.
Can I still use Messenger with Active Status turned off?
Yes. Turning "Show when you're active" off removes the green dot other people see, and Messenger keeps working normally: messages send and arrive as before. The switch governs what others are shown about you, not what the app will do for you.
What does the green dot next to my name on Facebook mean?
It means Active Status is on and you're being shown as online on Facebook and Messenger. People read it as a signal of whether you're available to talk. Turning "Show when you're active" off at Menu, then Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Audience and visibility, then Active Status removes the dot.
Does Active Status control who can find me by my email address on Facebook?
No. Those are separate settings on the same Audience and visibility screen, under How people find and contact you, and they are not about search: typing an email address or phone number into Facebook no longer surfaces a profile. What they control is whether your profile gets suggested to people who already have your address or number, in People You May Know, with choices of Possible Connections, Friends of Friends, Friends and No one. Active Status governs only the green dot.
Can TrueTo turn off Active Status on Facebook for me?
Not yet. Active Status is not in TrueTo's verified catalog today, so it is set by hand at Menu, then Settings & privacy, then Settings, then Audience and visibility, then Active Status, then "Show when you're active". TrueTo is built to configure Android app settings and coverage is rolling out setting by setting; this one is not part of it at the moment.
This one stays manual for now. TrueTo automates 151 other apps' worth of settings in one tap, and every one of them is reversible.
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One switch, two apps, and the company that wrote it will only commit to one of them.