For those who responsibly approach the issue of their own anonymity, Telegram provides many opportunities. One of them is fine-tuning the status that the interlocutor sees under your name in the chat window.
This status, for example “was recently”, shows when you last entered Telegram.
Types of statuses of the last online
Options for the status of the last visit to the application:
- “For all”. If you set this option, any user in the chat window will see how long ago you entered Telegram.
- “My contacts”. By selecting this item, your status will be visible only to your contacts.
- “No one”. In this case, instead of a time stamp, the Telegram status will display the words “was online recently”, “this week”, “this month”, “long ago” – the approximate value of the date of the last online.
Configuring the status and selecting exceptions
Exceptions can be configured for each of the three options . Define specific people from the list of contacts who will always see or will never see your status!
So where to find the visibility and exception settings:
| In Telegram for Android: | In Telegram for iOS: | On Telegram desktop : |
| Main menu → section “Privacy and security” → item “Last activity” | Main menu → section “Privacy” → item “Last activity” | Main menu → subsection “Privacy and security” → item “Who sees the time of the last login” |
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Trick from the TeleGuide: Changing the visibility of the status works in both directions . If you have hidden the status from a specific user, you will not see the time of his last visit to Telegram either . The same, if you hide the status from everyone – you will not know the date of the last online draw.
How status works when blocking a user?
This question often arises, so we took it out separately: even if you have visibility of the status for everyone in your Telegram, the blocked user will see “been online for a long time” under your name .
Therefore, if you suddenly see such a status in a person with whom you recently spoke, it may mean that he blocked you for some reason.
» TeleGuide recommends : How to understand that you have been blocked in Telegram: instructions and tips
By the way, if you were the first to write to a person who is not in the contact list, next to his nickname there will be a “Spam” button.
Accounts that receive spam complaints will not be able to send messages to people outside of their contact list.
The ban can last from a week to infinity, depending on how often complaints about the account were received.
Therefore, with all this in mind, it is worth thinking carefully before writing to a stranger.
A little trick: we determine the user’s activity with the time stamps turned off
This can be determined, but approximately :
‣ If you see the status “Was online recently”, it really means that the user was in Telegram not so long ago – within a month .
‣ But “Been online for a long time” means that the user has not logged into Telegram for more than one month . Also, this status will be shown if the account was blocked by the administration of the messenger.
‣ Another option is to sit in Telegram around the clock and look at the chat window to see the inscription “online”. It is displayed for several seconds even with the “do not show to anyone” settings.
As we can see, if the user has disabled the display of exact time stamps, his activity can only be determined approximately. This feature provides some privacy, but you shouldn’t rely on it alone.
