Online status, last seen, typing, and read receipts
Seldeo shows four separate signals about your activity, and each one has its own control. They are often confused with one another, so it is worth knowing which is which before you change anything.
| Signal | What others see | Where to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Online status | A live "online" badge next to your name | Settings → Privacy → Online status & typing |
| Last seen | A timestamp of your last activity | Settings → Privacy → Online status & typing |
| Typing indicator | "typing…" while you compose | Settings → Privacy → Online status & typing |
| Read receipts | That you opened their message | Settings → Privacy → Messaging |
For the wider question of what these signals reveal over time, see the guide Presence signals explained.
Online status, last seen, and typing
Open Settings → Privacy and tap Online status & typing. You will find three independent audience controls.
Online status — who sees an "online" badge next to your name. Choose Everyone, Friends only, Followers, or No one.
Last seen — who sees the timestamp of your last activity. Same four options. This defaults to Friends only rather than Everyone, because a stored timestamp can be checked repeatedly over weeks, while a live badge cannot.
Typing indicator — who sees "typing…" while you are composing. Everyone, Friends only, or No one. There is no Followers option here, because typing indicators only appear inside a conversation you are already both part of.
Changes take effect immediately. You do not need to restart the app, and any chat that is currently open updates in place.
What "No one" actually does
Setting Online status to No one is enforced on our servers, not in the app. Your presence record is written as offline for everyone, and your last-seen timestamp is frozen at the same time so that nobody can infer your activity from a timestamp that keeps moving. There is no version of the app, and no API, that can read around it.
Show last seen in chat
Back on Settings → Privacy, the toggle Show last seen in chat controls what you see, not what others see. When it is on, the other person's last-seen time appears under their name at the top of the conversation. Turning it off hides that line for you and changes nothing about your own visibility.
The same toggle also appears under Settings → Chat → Privacy. It is the same setting in two places — changing it in either place changes both.
Show activity status
Settings → Privacy → Show activity status controls the "Active now" badges in your chat list, as distinct from the online badge on a profile. Turn it off if you want a quieter chat list without changing your own presence.
Read receipts
Settings → Privacy → Send read receipts controls whether your messages are marked as read for the person who sent them.
Message states in a conversation are:
- Clock — sending.
- Single tick — sent to our servers.
- Double tick — delivered to their device.
- Blue double tick — read.
When Send read receipts is off, your messages stop at double tick for the sender. They can still see that the message arrived; they cannot see that you opened it.
Read receipts are reciprocal. Turning them off means you also stop seeing whether other people have read your messages. This is deliberate: without it, one person could watch everyone else while staying invisible. If your ticks have stopped turning blue, check this setting first — it is the usual explanation.
In group chats, read receipts appear as a list of who has read a message. Open the message info sheet to see it. Your own setting still applies: with receipts off, you do not appear on that list and you cannot see it.
The same toggle is mirrored at Settings → Chat → Privacy.
Story-seen receipts
Stories are separate. Settings → Privacy → Story-seen receipts controls whether story authors see your name in their viewer list when you watch a story. It has no effect on messages, and message read receipts have no effect on stories.
Lock-screen previews
Two related toggles under Settings → Privacy → Messaging control what your notifications reveal to anyone who can see your screen:
- Hide message preview — notifications show that a message arrived, without the message body.
- Hide sender in preview — notifications also omit who sent it.
These affect the notification only. The message itself is unchanged, and anyone unlocking your phone can still read it.
Frequently asked
I turned off last seen but people still say I look online. Online status and last seen are separate controls on the same screen. Set both.
Does turning off online status stop notifications? No. Presence controls what other people can see about you. Notification delivery is controlled under Settings → Notifications, including Do Not Disturb.
Can I hide from one specific person only? Not through presence settings, which apply to an audience rather than an individual. To cut off one person entirely, block them — see Blocking someone.
Why can't I see my friend's last seen? Either they have restricted it, or you have Show last seen in chat turned off on your own device. Check your own setting first.
Do these settings apply to calls? Call availability is controlled separately under Settings → Calls. See Voice and video calls.