Being able to see if others are active is very important since people are interested in getting fast responses. How can you tell if someone is active on TikTok?
Is TikTok Active Status Accurate?
The accuracy of the “Active Status” feature on TikTok will vary by user. Generally, there will be a minimal delay between actual active status and downtime. The green dot appearing next to the names of currently active users is fairly responsive.
That being said, it is possible to encounter some significant delays between status updates. Users have reported remaining “Active Status” for up to 15 minutes after logging out. If your “Active Status” status persists for longer than this the cause might lie elsewhere.
While not completely accurate, the “Active Status” system works considerably well and can often be safely relied on to indicate the current active status of a user.
Why Does TikTok Say Active When Not?
If you are following someone and that person follows you back, you will be able to see whether or not that person is online at that time. You’ll see a green dot next to their photo. However, if a person doesn’t follow you or hasn’t sent you a direct message, you won’t be able to see this information. Unfortunately, the active status on TikTok is not always accurate, and here’s why.
1. Not Enough Time Has Passed
If enough time hasn’t passed for the Active status to be updated, then it may show that someone is active when they’re not. There needs to be a gap of about 10 minutes before someone’s activity status displays accurately. If someone stopped using TikTok a few minutes ago and it says they’re active when their not, you may need to give it about 10 minutes before their true active status is reflected.
2. TikTok Is Running in the Background
It is surprising how many people are unaware that TikTok is still operating in the background, even when they are not actively using it. The only way to ensure that TikTok isn’t working in the background is to completely close the program rather than simply leaving it open on your device.
When TikTok is running in the background, other users will see you as active. To ensure you are inactive on TikTok, you need to close the TikTok tab.
3. They’re Active, and They’re Being Dishonest to You
Sometimes people lie about being offline when they are using the app. If someone appears online but tells you they are offline, they could be lying to you. While TikTok activity can be inaccurate, sometimes users lie and say they are not online.
4. The Account Was Hacked
Hackers typically change your password soon away, but you could get lucky and be able to enter into your account using a stored login if you’re fortunate enough. If someone hacks your phone, they control your TikTok activity, leaving people thinking you are active when you are not.
5. They’re on TikTok, But They’re Not Using Their Phone
If someone leaves their phone on TikTok, they will appear as if they are online. The active status on TikTok does not mean that someone is actively using the app.
When you leave your phone screen on TikTok and step away from the phone, people will think that you are online. You may not be using the app, but you will be seen as someone online because your screen is on the TikTok tab.
6. TikTok Is Glitching
A glitch is a technical word that refers to a tiny and transient fault in a system that happens due to unknown factors. When there is a TikTok glitch, users may appear as if they are online when they are not.
Luckily glitches don’t last long, and they are rectified, or an TikTok update will be released if an TikTok update is released, update the app to ensure that you don’t face the same glitch again.
7. They’re Using It on Desktop, and It’s Running on Another Tab
You can be logged in to TikTok on multiple devices. You can even open the app on various tabs on one device. If you forget to log out of one of the devices or you don’t close the TikTok tabs, other users will think you are online.
If you open TikTok on a desktop, don’t forget to close the tab when using the computer. If you leave the TikTok tab open while using the desktop, you will be online. To avoid other users thinking you are online, log out of TikTok on different devices and be sure to close the tabs when you are not using the app.
How to Tell If Someone Is Active On TikTok
There are many ways to tell if someone is active on TikTok. TikTok itself might show you if someone is active if they have decided to turn on their activity status.
If, on the other hand, they decide to not turn on this feature to let others see their activity there are other ways to see if they are active on TikTok.
If they changed something on their profile, uploaded new content, their following count has changed, or if you send a message, a quick reply might mean that they are active on the platform.
There is a lot of information that is available from the profiles of others, and any changes that are made to the profile can be used to see the current activity status of said user.
The only way that TikTok lets you know without a doubt if someone is active is if they have their activity status turned on.
In order to see if someone is active on TikTok, both people will have to follow each other on TikTok and have the option of activity status turned on for both profiles.
Turning on activity status will show any others that have the activity status turned on your current activity status.
The other way that you can use to make sure someone is active on the app is to message them and ask them directly if they are currently active.
There are many ways to tell if someone is active, but the main way to do so is to be aware of what they are doing on the app and the type of information in their profile.
1. There’s A Green Dot on Their Profile Picture Since They’ve Turned on Their Activity Status
If the person you are trying to see if they are active on TikTok has turned on their activity status, a green dot will appear on their profile picture to show they are currently using TikTok.
This feature works the same way as activity status works on other social networks. Compared to other networks that also show the activity status of their users, the feature is not a given for everyone, but rather it is a feature to be applied to their account.
Since this is only available for people who decide to use it there will only be a handful of people who do have green dots in their profiles when active.
While this way, you will be able to tell if someone is active on the platform accurately, it is not a universal measure to be used to check the activity status of every user. The green dot, however, can be turned off as simple as it is to turn it on.
People that previously had the option to let their friends know that they are currently active on the site might, later on, decide not to share that information with others.
There are a vast number of reasons why someone no longer wants to share their activity status with others and if they decide to turn the setting off, you might spend all day looking at a profile without a green dot when they have gotten rid of it.
The way that the activity status works is that your connectivity status will be shared with people who you follow, and they follow you back and have the option of activity status turned on.
Since this method only works to share your activity with others that are also sharing their activity status, the number of people that will be able to see if you are connected to the app will be more controlled by you.
Opposed to other apps, there will be no timer to show others after you are no longer using the app to let them know when your last activity was from. The only time that others will be able to see their status connection is when they are actively using the platform.
2. They’ve Changed Their Profile Picture Recently
Another way to see if someone is active on the platform is to see if they have recently changed their profile picture. If you notice that there is now a new picture on their profile, this does not mean that the person is now active but has been recent.
This option is only favorable if the person you want to know if they are active does change their profile picture regularly. Since these changes do not have a time stamp, the actual time and date that the picture was changed will not be available for you to see.
So the fact of the matter is that if you have not noticed the profile picture, they had before and have a clear timeline of the time that they’ve had the picture on, you will not be able to tell if they were active or not.
If you are looking at their profile and the profile picture changes as you load their profile, this means that the picture was just updated. Therefore, the user has to be active at the time the picture changes.
There is also the possibility that the picture did not load at the time that it was updated and was shown to you after the fact. But even though this might be a possibility, the fact is that they have updated their picture recently.
3. Check How Recently They Uploaded
The uploads are different from changes in profile pictures. While the actual time that the content was uploaded will not be available to you, you will be able to tell when the content was uploaded.
By being able to tell the day on which the content was uploaded you can then infer what their current connection status is.
If, for example, it is 7:00 am, and you see that there was a video posted on the same day, this means that it is most likely that the video was posted recently, and so they most likely are active at the time.
If they are the type of people that post various amounts of content per day, you can also determine at what time the video was made by the time that the video they post appears to be.
The amount of content that they post on the platform will also help you decide if the person you want to know their current connectivity status from is currently connected to TikTok.
4. Message Them and See How Quickly They Reply
Another way to see if they are active currently is to send them a message and see how quickly they reply. If their reply takes less than 3 minutes, this most likely means that they were active on TikTok.
If, on the other hand, they take longer than that to reply, this might mean that they were not currently active at the time you sent the message.
While this is a good way to calculate if the person you are sending the message to was currently active, there is also the possibility that they got the notification that a message was sent by TikTok and headed over to the app as quickly as they got the notification.
If the person you are trying to check their current activity status is known to answer all messages quickly, this might most likely be the reason why they answered the message quickly.
Something else that you might want to do is ask them directly if they are active on the app. This is the best way to see if they are not only answering fast because they are used to quick responses but if they actually were active on the platform.
5. Check If Their Following Increased By One
If you know the number of followers that the person had, then you might be able to see if they are active by checking to see if their following grew by one.
Since in TikTok, the content that is posted daily is too great to get to see every single creator on the app, following creators is something that is only done for the few craters that are really worth it for the user.
As you are checking their profile and their following goes up by one as you refresh their profile, this means that they were active very recently.
This way of checking the activity of others will most likely work with close friends since their profiles are the ones on which you will spend most of your time. This will only work for users that do not have their following set to private.
Since most people would like not to share all of their information with others, it is possible that they do have most of their information set to private.
If their information is not set to private, it is important to keep in check the amount of information that is available to them.
Does TikTok Show When You Are Online?
The only way that TikTok will show when you are online is if you turn on your activity status. This is the only way that TikTok will ever show others if you are currently active in the app.
The way that the app will show others that you are currently connected is by displaying a green dot next to your profile picture.
This bubble follows the tendency of other social networks that also show their user’s connectivity by showing green bubbles next to their profile.
TikTok is different from other types of social networks since showing connectivity status is not implemented for every single user on the app, for this option to work any user that wants to show others if they are currently using is for them to turn it on.
There are not many incentives to turn this feature on, I will say, since it is not an option that is universally shown for all users and the only implementation this might have is to make others want to message you while you are using the app.
Since not every single person uses the app for everyday socialization with their friends but rather uses it to see the content that is being uploaded to it, the addition of a feature that lets others know when you are active might take away from your personal time scrolling through the app.
There are other ways that people might be able to incur if you are online, but the only way that TikTok will show if you are online is if you decide to share your connectivity status with others.
Privacy is one of the most important factors of TikTok, which means that the amount of information that is shared with others can be dictated by the user itself.
Placing the information of a profile on private means that there will be even fewer factors that people will be able to use to check your connectivity status.
How to Stop People from Knowing When You’re Active on TikTok
If you do not want others to know that you are active on TikTok, there are several ways you can make sure that the possibility of others finding out is reduced as much as possible.
TikTok is a social media app that is very focused on the amount of privacy that it is able to give its users, and this is why there are many ways that the app can protect your time while using the app.
Showing others if you are active, even though you might not want them to, is not something you will encounter while using TikTok. There are many ways that you can make sure that your activity is hidden away from others.
1. Turn Off Active Status
If you have turned on your active status before you will need to turn it off. Since this feature is not a feature that is implemented for everyone, no one will notice if you decide to turn it off.
If you turn off your activity status then the green dot that would have been placed on your profile picture will no longer appear when you are using TikTok.
Turning off the active status means that whoever else you were following that also has the active status option turned on will no longer be able to see your activity.
Activity status is something that will only be shared with people who you follow and follow you back, and they will also have to have the option of activity status turned on.
2. Don’t Change Active Status
If you have not turned on the active status of your profile, then don’t turn it on. The only way that TikTok is able to share with others if you are active is for you to turn on the option.
If you have not yet turned on the active status option, the best bet is to make sure that others will not know about your activity status with any sort of precision.
The active status option will only be available to people who you follow and follow you back and have the option of active status turned on as well.
3. Put Following on Private
If you place the number of users that you are following in private, this means that others will not be able to see the number of people you are following.
If you place this information under private, people will not be able to know if you begin following a new person, and since people might be able to use the number of followings, you have to try to see if you are active.
This means that people will have even fewer amounts of information to check their status. Placing your following on private will also help you place even more anonymity onto your profile if that is something you are interested in.
4. Don’t Reply to Messages
If you do not reply to any messages that you might receive on TikTok, people will not know that you are active on TikTok.
Every time that you answer a message on TikTok you are forced to open the app and if you are forced to open the app every time that you answer a message they will know if you are active or not.
If there is a certain person that you do not like knowing if you are active, then they are the only people that you should not message.
Since messaging is the most private way that people are able to connect on the platform, it means that you are able to message others with your activity status you are comfortable sharing.
TikTok is the newest platform that people are using to connect with their friends and family. Thanks to the type of content that is posted on the platform, the following for TikTok has seen growth as no other social media network before.
Since TikTok is a social media network platform, the amount of information that is available to share with other users is very important in order to keep every single user connected.
Activity status has been one of the features that are most prominent on most social media sites.
Other media sites just as Facebook or Instagram, show not only if a person is currently active on the app but they also show the latest connection.
Also, very different from other social media networks, the feature of sharing the activity status has to be turned on by users, and only the users that have this option turned on will be able to see others that have this option turned on.
There are many other ways that you can tell if a person is currently active on TikTok, but all of them require a little detective work since the content on TikTok is not timestamped in any way other than the date.