If you use Instagram at all, you’ve seen “Active Today” on chat.
What does Active Today mean on Instagram?
If you’ve ever wondered about that, we are going to explain it in this guide. You’re in the right place to get the answer.
“Active Today” is self-explanatory, but it has a purpose and more meaning than the phrase represents.
It’s a bit more complex than you might think, so we are going to clear it up for you, so you can be a savvy Instagram user and impress your friends with what you’ve learned from this guide.
Without further ado, we’ll discuss the Instagram term “Active Today”.
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What Does Active Today Mean On Instagram?
The term “Active Today” is a status on Instagram in the Direct Message (DM) feature.
The simple answer is that it means the person has been active on Instagram, but not in the last 8 to 24 hours.
So, if a user in your chat list shows “Active today”, it means they have been online within the last 8 to 24 hours.
What will you see if they’ve been logged on within the past 8 hours?
If a chat user in your DM list has been active within the past 8 hours, it will show a status of “Active {X minutes or hours ago}”.
What’s the Rest of The “Active Today” Status Story?
What Does Active Today Mean On Instagram?
To make this a little clearer for our readers, if someone you’ve been recently chatting with has been active on the platform for 2 hours, their status will show “Active 2h ago”.
What You Need to Know:
- You will only get this information on Instagram for a profile you’ve recently messaged with. This involves a two-way conversation where you have sent a message and they have responded to it, or the other way around.
- You will not see a DM activity status message on profiles set to “Private”.
- It’s not necessary to be followers on Instagram to see the “activity status”. When you both have public profiles and have used DMs on Instagram, you can see the message and their activity status. However, if they have disabled incoming DMs, you won’t see that status.
You will only see the “Active today” status on DM if your friend was active 8 to 24 hours before.
For instance, if your friend was active on IG for 10 hours, it won’t show how many hours and minutes it’s been since they were active.
That’s when the “Active today” activity status is used.
What Are the Activity Statuses Used on Instagram?
When you have had two-way communications via DM with someone on Instagram, you will see one of these four activity statuses.
- Active now, which means they’ve been active within the past 5 minutes.
- Active X Hs/Mins ago, which means they have been active with the past 5 minutes to 8 hours.
- Active today, which means the profile has been active within 8 to 24 hours prior.
- Active yesterday, which means they’ve been active within the past 24 to 48 hours.
*Note: The “Active now” status isn’t necessarily accurate. It just means that someone using the profile was on within the last 5 minutes.
It doesn’t always mean that person is online now. It’s not a real-time thing. If the person left Instagram 4 minutes ago, the “Active now” status will still show.
FAQs
How Long Does the “Active Today” Status Show?
The “Active now” status remains for up to 24 hours. It only shows up after the person is off Instagram for at least 8 hours. After 24 hours, the status changes to “Active yesterday”.
On the other hand, if the profile owner logs into their IG account between the 8- to 24-hour time frame, “Active today” will disappear and be replaced with “Active now”.
Why Does Instagram Use “Active Today” Instead of Using Hours and Minutes?
Instagram does use hours and minutes in the activity status if it’s been less than 8 hours since they were there. However, after 8 hours, its just simpler to use “Active today”.
They leave it up to you to know that that status means they have been active 8-24 hours ago.
What’s the Difference Between “Active Now” and “Active Today”?
“Active today is when they have been actively using Instagram within a 24-hour period.
“Active now” is when they person has been using Instagram within the past 5 minutes.
Conclusion
Now you know what Active today” means the idea behind this activity status. You also know the other four activity statuses and the idea behind them.
You should be able to distinguish any one of the four activity statuses the next time you see them on Instagram.
So, what does active today mean on Instagram?
It’s a simplified way to let you know that the profile has been on the chat within the past 8 to 24 hours.
It tells you they aren’t available now, nor have they been on for at least 8 hours.
