WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps, with over 2 billion users worldwide. One of the app’s key features is the ability to see when your contacts are online and using WhatsApp. However, you may sometimes want to use WhatsApp without notifying your contacts that you’re online. So can you hide your online status on WhatsApp?
The short answer is yes, it is possible to hide your online status on WhatsApp so your contacts can’t see when you’re using the app. There are a few different methods you can use to achieve this, depending on whether you’re using an Android device or an iPhone.
Hiding Online Status on Android
If you have WhatsApp installed on an Android device, there are a couple of ways to hide your online status from contacts:
Using Airplane Mode
One simple way is to enable Airplane Mode on your device before opening WhatsApp. Airplane Mode disconnects your phone from cellular and WiFi networks, so WhatsApp will be unable to update your online status. To do this:
- Open the Settings app on your Android device.
- Enable Airplane Mode.
- Open WhatsApp and use it as normal. Your online status will not update.
- When you’re finished using WhatsApp, disable Airplane Mode to reconnect to the network.
The downside of this method is you won’t be able to send or receive WhatsApp messages while in Airplane Mode.
Using Third-Party Apps
There are various third-party apps available for Android that can hide your WhatsApp online status specifically. Some popular options include:
- Flychat
- TBH
- HideOnline
- HideStatus
These apps work by intervening between WhatsApp and your network connection to block any online status updates. So your contacts will never see you as online, even though you’ll still be able to use WhatsApp messaging normally.
The advantage of using a dedicated app like these is convenience – you don’t have to remember to enable Airplane Mode each time. The apps run seamlessly in the background.
Hiding Online Status on iPhone
On iOS devices, you have a couple of options to hide your WhatsApp online status:
Using Airplane Mode
As with Android, you can enable Airplane Mode on your iPhone before opening WhatsApp to prevent any online status updates. The steps are:
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Enable Airplane Mode.
- Open WhatsApp and use it with online status hidden.
- Disable Airplane Mode when finished to reconnect.
Again, this will disconnect you from the network so you can’t send/receive WhatsApp messages while it’s enabled.
Block Contacts
On iOS, you can hide your online status from specific contacts by blocking them in WhatsApp. To do this:
- Open the WhatsApp app and go to the Chats tab.
- Tap on the contact you want to block.
- Tap on the contact’s name at the top of the chat screen.
- Scroll down and tap Block Contact.
This will block that specific contact from seeing your profile picture, online status, and any status updates. You can still message each other, but your online status will always show as offline to blocked contacts.
A downside is that blocking contacts one-by-one can be time consuming if you want to hide from many people.
Does WhatsApp Notify Contacts When You Go Offline?
An important detail about WhatsApp’s online status feature is that it does not notify your contacts when you go offline.
So if you open WhatsApp and view your contacts’ status updates, then close the app, it will not actively push a notification to say you’re now offline.
Instead, your contacts will simply notice your profile picture and online status are no longer visible next time they open their WhatsApp apps.
This means that even without explicitly hiding your status, your contacts won’t know precisely when you went offline unless they happened to view their WhatsApp contact list at that exact moment.
Can You See Who Views Your WhatsApp Status?
WhatsApp does not allow you to see who has viewed your status updates and online info. So when you hide your online status using the methods above, you won’t be able to tell which of your contacts may have tried to view your status.
However, WhatsApp does show the total number of contacts who have viewed your status within the past 24 hours. To see this:
- Open WhatsApp and tap on your profile photo in the top-left corner.
- Tap on the text that says “Status”.
- You will then see the number of contacts who’ve viewed your status in the last 24 hours.
While it doesn’t show individual viewers, this can give you an idea of how many people saw your status before you hid your online presence.
Does Turning Off Read Receipts Hide Your Online Status?
A common misconception is that turning off read receipts in WhatsApp also hides your online status. However, these are two separate settings.
Read receipts show when you’ve opened specific chat messages in WhatsApp. Your online status indicates when you’re actively using the WhatsApp app.
So turning off read receipts only prevents contacts from seeing when you’ve read their latest messages. It does not affect your online status visibility. You need to use the status hiding techniques described above for that.
Can You Be Online on WhatsApp Without Showing It?
Based on the options explained in this article, the short answer is yes – you can be online and actively using WhatsApp without the app displaying your online status to contacts.
Methods like Airplane Mode and third-party apps effectively mask your online status from others. And even without those options, your contacts only know precisely when you open and close WhatsApp if they happen to look at that exact moment.
So ultimately, while WhatsApp does provide an online indicator, you have various ways to use the app “invisibly” and privately without notifying your contacts each time.
Conclusion
While WhatsApp shows when you’re online and using the app, there are ways to hide your online status on both iPhone and Android devices.
The main options are using Airplane Mode or third-party apps to prevent WhatsApp updating your online indicator. Blocking specific contacts also hides your status from them.
WhatsApp itself does not notify contacts when you go offline – they simply see your status disappear when they next open the app. And you can’t see exactly who viewed your status, just how many did in the past day.
So with the techniques described here, you can use WhatsApp to message contacts while keeping your online status private. Just be aware that hiding your status also means missing out on seeing when your contacts are online.
Summary Table
| Platform | Method | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android | Airplane Mode | – Simple to enable | – Disconnects from network |
| Android | Third-party apps | – Runs seamlessly in background | – Need to install extra app |
| iPhone | Airplane Mode | – Simple to enable | – Disconnects from network |
| iPhone | Block Contacts | – Target specific contacts | – Time consuming to block individually |