What Does Active Today Mean On Instagram in 2024?

Seeing the new activity feature on Instagram, many questions must have popped into your mind. What does it mean, is the activity status on Instagram accurate, how does IG know whether we are actually online, and so on. Being on Instagram means learning a new thing every day, whether that new thing is Instagram slang like TBH or activity statuses. By the end of this article, all these questions will be answered for you. So let’s start with the most burning question what does active today mean on Instagram?

Instagram is the most popular social media platform today, and being the most trending platform means constantly upgrading and evolving. Instagram is known for the way it adapts to new trends. For a platform that just started as a picture-sharing platform, it has come a long way. Today we have Instagram DMs, stories, reels, IGTV, and an explore page.

So let’s see what does active today mean on Instagram:

What Does Active Today Mean On Instagram?

Whenever you see Active today in front of a username on Instagram, it means that the user has been using IG that day.

Unfortunately, this activity status is very vague for longer time spans and doesn’t really tell you how long the user has been inactive. You will see an active today status on IG as long as the user has been active sometime in the last 24 hours. If the user has been active recently within the last 8 hours, you will see an active 1 hour ago, active 5 hours ago, etc. But longer than 8 hours and less than 24 hours, you’ll see an Active today status. People can set their activity status to private, so others cannot see when they were active.

What Does Active Now Mean On Instagram?

If someone has been online in the last 5 minutes, their name will display Active now on Instagram.

So sometimes, you will see an active now next to someone’s name, but they would have already exited the app for now. IG keeps displaying the Active now status for a while before switching it to active x mins ago. So technically, this feature is not completely accurate. But at least now you know what does active today mean on Instagram.

Difference Between “Active Today” And “Active Now” On IG

If you’re still confused between Active today status and Active now status, let us compare the two and tell you what the difference is.

Instagram will show you the Active today status beside someone’s name when they have opened the app at least once in the last 24 hours. If they have been active recently, then you might even see a more specific duration from they were active. So it is common for you to see Active 1 hour ago or Active 3 hours instead of Active today. If Instagram isn’t sure about their exact activity status, but they have been active the last 24 hours, it will just show Active today.

On the other hand, Active now is the status that is equivalent to ‘online’ on other social media platforms. So when a person is using Instagram at the moment to indicate their online status, Instagram will show Active now. The Active now status will turn to Active today once the person goes offline.

Why Don’t I See The Green Dot On Instagram?

The green dot on an Instagram icon represents the active now status, so if you don’t see it on your friends’ profile pictures in the DMs then it means that they are not online at the moment or haven’t been online in a few minutes.

Another reason why you never see a green dot on someone’s Instagram is that they are hiding their activity status. They have set their Instagram privacy settings in such a way that their active status is not visible to certain people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What Does Active Yesterday Mean On Instagram?

If a user hasn’t been on IG for more than 24 hours, you will see an Active yesterday next to their name.

Q2. Why Does Instagram Say Active Today Instead Of Hours?

If the person has been inactive on Instagram for more than 8 hours, it won’t show hours; instead, it will say Active today.

Q3. What Are The Activity Statuses For Instagram Users?

There are 5 types of activity statuses on Instagram:

1. Active today
2. Active now
3. Active yesterday
4. Active x hours ago
5. Active x min ago

Q4. What Is The Difference Between Active Today And Active Now On IG?

Instagram differentiates Active today and Active now by the duration of activity. If someone has been active somewhere in the last 24 hours, you will see an Active today, but if someone has been active in the last 5 mins, IG will display Active now.

Q5. How Accurate Is The Active Today Status On Instagram?

The active today status is pretty accurate. You will usually get hours or minutes for the activity status, but when those are untraceable, Instagram will let you know that the user has been active the day.

Q6. How Long Does Active Now Last On Instagram?

Active now lasts for 5 minutes on Instagram. Then it turns to Active 5 mins ago.

Conclusion

Instagram lets your friends see when you were last active. The activity status appears in the DMs. So your friends can see whether you are immediately available to respond to a DM they send. You will see activity statuses of 5 different types; Active today, Active now, Active yesterday, Active x minutes ago, and Active x hours ago. If you see Active today instead of hours or minutes, then that just means the user has been inactive for 8 hours or more, but since the status says today and not yesterday, you know that they were at least active somewhere in the last 24 hours.

People can set their activity status to private, and then you won’t be able to see when they were last active. Similarly, you won’t be able to see a person’s activity status if you do not have a two-way conversation with them in your DMs.

Hopefully, this article answered your question about what does active today mean on Instagram. There is also an activity status on Messenger. But it is different than that of Instagram. See what the difference is and how to turn off activity status on Messenger.