If you send someone a message on WhatsApp, you would obviously like to know if the person looked at the message. One way to tell if the recipient is online and checking their messages is by viewing their WhatsApp last seen status. But what does “last seen” mean, and how can you hide it if you want to conceal your online presence?
When you send a WhatsApp message to someone and you don’t get an immediate reply, it’s natural to wonder if they received it or not. The checkmarks next to each message help, of course, but you can also see at a glance when that person has last logged onto WhatsApp to view or send messages. If you haven’t received the two blue checkmarks indicating the message has been read, the last seen status will tell you if they are even checking WhatsApp at all at the moment.
The last seen status consists of the full date and time they were last seen on WhatsApp. In the screenshot above, my friend was “last seen today at 11:23.” For reference, WhatsApp uses a 24-hour clock.
However, if you are privacy-conscious or maybe trying to hide from someone for some reason, you may want to know how to switch this feature off. That’s what we’ll cover next.
How to hide your last seen status (Android and iOS)
Hiding your last seen status on your WhatsApp mobile app is very easy. First, go into your Settings and select Account.
How to hide your last seen status (desktop)
To hide your last seen status on the desktop, go to the Settings section. Once there, click Privacy.
