/jdrch

I AM your target demographic. Listen up.

Ignore Facebook Messenger’s “active now” or “online” presence info, it’s inaccurate

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Also a faster way to wrongly conclude people are lying to you

One of the nice features of Facebook Messenger is that is shows when people are available or not. Except when what it shows is wrong, which appears to be happening a lot. Check out this rapidly growing – an unanswered officially – thread at Facebook Community Help about the issue. Here are a few choice quotes:

This has also happened to me.

Fell asleep at 11pm.

Girlfriend thinks I am up to no good as it says that I have been active between 11.30 – 12.

Caused mayhem.

My boyfriend and I broke up because of this 😦

Sometimes it’s good because you think “oh thank God, he was online 14 min. ago, so he wasn’t hit by a truck!”, but other times it’s “hey WTH is he doing on FB mobile at midnight when he told me he went to bed at 10pm?”

So what’s happening here? Here are my guesses:

  1. Facebook Chat in the browser has no uniform way of determining the idle state of the host machine or browser.
  2. The Facebook Messenger app can’t signal that it’s idle either, because most mobile OSes kill apps or place them on standby at will to conserve power.
  3. Mobile data connections are relatively tenuous compared to conventional LAN connections. This means that a mobile client may fade in and out of connectedness despite the user being active.
  4. Facebook Chat’s infrastructure doesn’t distinguish between API calls from Facebook clients and 3rd party apps using a Facebook account. This means that you could appear to be online solely because a web service that uses your Facebook credentials pinged Facebook’s servers. Combined with point #1, it means Facebook might assume a user is online solely because their browser is on a Facebook page, despite them not being at the computer.
  5. The sheer number of users and clients (each Facebook user can have an unlimited number of clients) is too much for Facebook to track accurately in real-time

Of course, with no official word, the above are just shots in the dark. However, for now, just bear in mind that Messenger presence may just be flat out wrong, and don’t take people to task over it.

UPDATE: Google Hangouts has added presence info in a recent update, so we’ll probably be seeing this issue with it also:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/111585420523722254035/posts/YZ7QbVA34Ex

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263 responses to “Ignore Facebook Messenger’s “active now” or “online” presence info, it’s inaccurate”

  1. Joseph Mc Floonie (@klumzypinoy) Avatar
    Joseph Mc Floonie (@klumzypinoy)

    I had a fishy feeling about this feature. I was guessing that the active now info was pretty inaccurate. How do we know if it shows as “active now” if the user’s screen is unlocked/on, or if it’s when the user has the app actively open? If it’s based on the user’s screen being on, there’s times when other apps turn on the screen during a notification or when someone calls. Will it count that as being “active now”? It’s pretty wonky to me.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      How do we know? We don’t, but that’s not necessarily FB’s fault: each user can have an unlimited number of clients as AFAIK FB doesn’t limit API calls on the user side of things. Each client handles apps and idle states differently and sometimes in a non-standard way. It’s really a LOT to keep track of and very difficult to get right.

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      1. slightlyanonymous3 Avatar
        slightlyanonymous3

        Can you delete my comment I left earlier please, she’s googling this issue and it’s only a matter of time before she comes here

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        1. jdrch Avatar
          jdrch

          ? How would she even know it’s you who commented?

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      2. wendy hyland Avatar
        wendy hyland

        had major row with hubby at 7 this morning as he showed he had been on fb chat at 3am (grey mobile icon said 5 hours ago) but he said he was asleep and was mega angry with me as couldn’t prove otherwise – he works away so im anxious and he always skypes before bed at 9pm – I always check chat lights and his is always off around 9 except last nights? Im thinking the worse even though he is adament he was asleep?? he has an iphone and ipad in his room and doesn’t log out of fb

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        1. wassup peeps Avatar
          wassup peeps

          damn people! Get a fucking life! People break up over facebook chat screwing with your “last online”-status, lol!

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          1. Avatar
            Anonymous

            It’s not that ppl break up over FB..it’s just that ppl sometimes lie about what they are doing n the FB chat gives them away..so in te end it’s lies they break up over

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            1. Avatar
              Anonymous

              VERY VERY TRUE 😀

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            2. Avatar
              Anonymous

              bullshit

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            3. Christine Mccabe Avatar
              Christine Mccabe

              No ive been asleep and ive been told i was online.

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          2. Avatar
            Anonymous

            It’s not facebook chat that’s causing these break ups, it’s the trust issues.

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            1. Avatar
              Anonymous

              Yep cause my husband’s been doing it with a 16 ur. Old

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            2. TW Avatar
              TW

              Its not necessarily trust issues. I’ve been hurt lots of times in the past…the the women who cheated on me were meeting people online and through facebook. It’s not that you dont trust the person you’re with…sometimes it just triggers painful memories. Just gotta be stronger than your fears. It’s hard…believe me its hard as I am in an awesome relationship right now…but still go through bouts of fear at times.

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              1. Avatar
                Anonymous

                Ahhh…I’m going CRAZY! I’ve been burnt SO many times! I’m hvg major trust & fear issues abt this ‘active now’ messenger stuff! Met a REALLY nice guy & we’ve been talking by pbone & text for almost 3mos. We’ve never met as we live in different states. I HATE FB! Dnt trust it at all! I’m not tech savvy at all & dnt hve a computer. I just found out abt this ‘active now’ feature. It is causing me severe anxiety! I know it’s crazy & wrong. Like today I hvnt heard from him all day & been waiting but nothing. It shows he’s been active all frickin day off & on but not w/me. So…makes me wonder who the hell he’s been talking to ALL day! I finally messaged him & he called me & said he’s not feeling well & been sick. So…is he lying?! He can talk to others but not me?! I sound ridiculous, childish, etc I’m sure…ugh. He’s super nice & dnt really hve a reason to doubt I guess except my own fears & insecurities. We were supposed to talk abt this but it’s hard to bring all this up cause I sound so paranoid! HELP!

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                1. Jann Avatar
                  Jann

                  I have a problem with this. night my boyfriend not speaking much on chat, but all my messages delivered he was active, said watching film. But before wss constantly answeringme. I don’t believe he isnt looking at chat as said he doesn’t always look ats his phone. Hes talking with. Someone else, he can’t use data, so much hes not alloowed to waste it

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                2. Avatar
                  Anonymous

                  OMG! My story is almost identical! Only we HAVE met, and I’m absolutely crazy about him and he was me too, until the last few days because of me looking psycho! It even says he is currently unable to answer the phone because he’s on another call!??? WTH? I think I’ve already lost him, but hopefully I can rectify myself.
                  Best of luck to you and your guy!

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                  1. Avatar
                    Anonymous

                    Harken back to the days when FB didn’t create such relationship issues and speculating just wth everyone is doing at any given point in time….hours/days/months of speculating exactly what your love interest is up to–Wasted time you will never get back. Trust them… or don’t trust them and kick ’em to the curb…and get on with your life.

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                3. Avatar
                  Anonymous

                  I had the same issue…but already fixed it…i doubted him and brought this matter in everyday of my life…den i started to googled it…now im a bit relief cus its not only us…experiencing this…but a lot of ppol hving the same issue as mine..wat im doing now is trying to relax and focus on positive things cus eversince i’m so pesimistic…felt guilty.but now were fine and so much inlove…started to gve trust again.

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            3. One Coldturkey Avatar
              One Coldturkey

              Well, FB is not making it any easier. I saw my friend offline with a last active time of 1m for hours. I though the user was chatting. Then the time changed to 2mins, then 3m and then it got back to 1m again. And this situation repeated itself for HOURS.

              I called the user on the phone at first, and the user told me he/she was actually sleeping. It was after this call that the time was swinging between 1m and longer minutes and then back to 1m. I thought this was not possible. I mean, for 10-15mins maybe, but I didn’t believe it could be wrong for hours.

              Trust went way down, and a breakup was considered.

              After finding out online that this is FB BS, I had indeed to trust the user and let it go.

              It is easy to say “trust”, but sometimes a situation can put you in a place where all the evidence is going on a different way and you (anyone) end up feeling like an idiot/cheated after saying you trust them, but you are not really convinced.

              I am saying it is true, FB last active time is wrong. And I am also saying that it is normal for people to have doubts because of this.

              TLDR, FB can make it really hard for some people to trust their partners.

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              1. Anonymous Avatar
                Anonymous

                I know this was years ago but on the off chance you will still respond..

                Did you happen to have your active status off during this time when you noticed your friend’s wacky status? From what I understand, at least on the desktop browser version, if a person’s active status says “Last active 1m ago” and stays that way for longer than 1 min, it means they were active on Facebook or Messenger but you couldn’t see them as “Active now” because your own active status was off. When they log off facebook or messenger, that’s when the time stamp begins working again, hence the “Last active 2m ago, 3m ago” etc. But as soon as they log back into facebook or messenger, it will go back to “Last active 1m ago”….

                I’m not saying your friend lied to you but…that’s what I’ve discovered about the active status recently.

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                1. Drake Avatar
                  Drake

                  I think there is an error with messenger – my partner has been showing active everyday for the last 12 days at the same time everyday. The last 5 days he has been pretty ill in bed and most of the day been asleep – we’ve reported to FB that we think the account has been hacked but of course no-one responds.
                  Don’t believe active status.

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            4. Avatar
              Anonymous

              but it makes the other feel u r lying and makes them feel bad

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          3. Avatar
            Anonymous

            Lol so true…

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          4. Journeesmoon Avatar
            Journeesmoon

            Tell that to my 45 year old boyfriend who has tormented me because of messenger.

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    2. Alina Avatar
      Alina

      I was testing this with my phone and checking my online status on a friends phone. I am connected to facebook with my Pinterest and and Youtube acount and other little things.. So just by going on Youtube or Pinterest, it shows me as active on FB !! UGH!!! So annoying. I know this is pathetic but I also had many fights with my bf because of this stupid little thing.

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      1. chris Avatar
        chris

        I’ve had this same.problem thinking my gf was.on.Facebook chat when.I.was out because I could see last active for example 20mins but she was adamant she wasn’t online so many arguments

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        1. Avatar
          Anonymous

          Same here, I’ve had the same problem with my girlfriend. She says she goes to bed around 12 am, but ill go on an hour later and it says she is active. And it periodically jumps from last active 20 minutes ago, or 40 minutes ago, then it says active again, and it continues to do that all through the night. But it is clearly innacurate, and it will still say that they are online even when they are not if they do not log out of facebook on their phone or computer, or if she has apps that are linked with facebook and she gets notifications, it will say she’s online, but it doesn’t neccessarily mean that she is online. I got into so many arguments over it, but don’t ruin your realtionship over something so little, and if she tells you that she is not online and you trust her, then don’t worry about it, a key factor in a relationship is trust.

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          1. Avatar
            Anonymous

            Hey can someone help me,I don’t really want to discuss this with any of my friends but, my boyfriend normally falls asleep on me because I hate saying night night to people I’d rather fall asleep because you don’t have to wait to see who messages who first the next morning. Yeah so anyway he falls alseep or whatever at like 12 for instance. And on fb messanger at like 1 it will say he was active an hour ago,but about 15 minutes later it will say he’s active now and then it will go to 1m 2m ext, Imessanged him then asking was he awake and he relied the next morning saying he wasn’t awake he would have text me if he was,cause be obviously woke out of his sleep not being able to get back, I just wanted to know does some point through the night does it randomly say people are online when there not?because he wouldn’t just ignore me like that,

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            1. Frans Avatar
              Frans

              It happened to me a few time too. Wierd…

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            2. Avatar
              Anonymous

              Um….are you not capable of reading the article you just commented on?

              Your boyfriend should break up with you solely for being moronic enough to ask that question on the very article that answered said question.

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              1. Avatar
                Anonymous

                😂😂😂

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              2. Avatar
                Anonymous

                Wanker. Clearly this girl is very insecure; so insecure that she does not do the lovely, warm sensation inducing good night ritual. She does have issues, I am sure she is aware of this; I’m no expert but maybe some form of anxiety. I’m sure that when she is ready, she will identify the issue and work on solving it. You don’t know anything about her. Maybe her boyfriend only says ‘i love you’ once every few months, so that it ‘means more’ when he says it. Like my ex, who crippled my confidence so much, so quick, I was with the prick for 5 years. I was a stable, happy, confident, popular person before him; a sociopath (psychopath? Can never fix in my mind which is which for some reason) can do incredibly powerful things to a person. Anyway, this is not about me but I am going to leave that because I think it’s an important part.

                She posted that because she needs to be personally told that it’s okay.

                I hope you are autistic, and so cannot put yourself in anothers shoes. If you are autistic, fair enough, you don’t have the remotest clue about how she feels. But maybe try and remember that you don’t understand, and refrain from posting cruel things.

                If you are not autistic, you are a complete and utter piece of wank shit who for some twisted reason gets kicks out of putting some randomer down on the internet. You should take a good hard look at yourself and your own issues; I expect you won’t, because you won’t be able to handle what you see.

                I could go on for a long time about how

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                1. Avatar
                  Anonymous

                  Oops. Me again, angry insomniac anonymous.

                  I could go on for a long time, for example, about how I hope there is a hell so that you burn eternally. But I don’t think it is good for me to start slamming randomers, even if they are as horrid as you and deserve to be slammed. Likely you are so pig headed you will brush this off, if you even have the balls to read it. I bet you won’t, because you would have to be truly a weirdo to return to check on that discussion; unless you are checking back to see if you have caused a poor troubled girl to commit suicide, to see if her mother hasn’t found this and commented. But that shouldn’t ease your guilt, because if that is the case, it is unlikely her mother would find this.

                  Perhaps you actually checked back because you want to see that grieving mother’s message, because you are too cowardly to physically kill someone. You psycho.

                  I am leaving now. I have never slammed a randomer before; I disagree with it, but that one I just could not leave. Maybe now I will be able to finally sleep. Good night.

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                  1. Avatar
                    Anonymous

                    I remembered which is which, thank you Sherlock!

                    Psychopath.

                    I would edit, but I disagree with editing too. Not going to go against two things I believe in, in one night.

                    A shame because I was satisfied with how my comment wrapped up.

                    And there we have it. There truly is no selfless good deed.

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                    1. Avatar
                      Anonymous

                      Oops me again. This is getting embarrassing, maybe I should edit, but just to ensure only the evil one feels shame, I am responding to:

                      “Um….are you not capable of reading the article you just commented on?

                      Your boyfriend should break up with you solely for being moronic enough to ask that question on the very article that answered said question.”

                      Also, I just realised you are on this thread. So you are interested. Why? Many possible reasons I am sure; I will only say the two that immediately entered my mind because it is actually crucial that I get at least the tiniest amount of sleep tonight. 1) Because you are also insecure. Or 2) Because you want to know if you get away with avoiding talking to important people who need you, because you are a pussy and mean. 3) (oops) you are Facebook.

                      Ps sorry if there are any typos or confusing auto corrects. I did not proof read.

                      Pps if you are no longer a wanker, and/or you were just a smart arse kid who didn’t understand the effects words can have, and are now totally reformed and go round handing out cups of tea to homeless people, well, I hope the girl is alive, and I hope you have found/find peace with yourself.

                      Jeezus. OUT.

                      Like

                2. Melissa de Blok Avatar
                  Melissa de Blok

                  You might be my favourite person on the internet.

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                3. Don schulz Avatar
                  Don schulz

                  Your all fucked. They should call it face fuck.

                  Like

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            3. Lorelei Avatar
              Lorelei

              I think maybe when our notifications are on and we do receive these when someone leaves us a message, so every time a notification happens on phone or tablets it shows we are active?!? Just a guess that might explain this 1 min, 2 min, back and forth thing? I think FB should allow you to actually sign out and close or turn off the Messenger app!!! If you can I never noticed where!?!

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          2. Avatar
            Anonymous

            What kind of app should having her

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      2. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Me too :/

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      3. trustIssues Avatar
        trustIssues

        soooo, when my husband, who works away from home, tells me he’s going to bed ….. if he in fact is going to bed, there shouldn’t be any activity that trigger Fb active status….. but, if he is not going to sleep and for example , gets on YouTube to watch videos, which he often does , this would label him as active or show min since active once he gets off YouTube… right??? soooo, if this is true, I can stop freaking out about him being on messenger w someone cuz if he’s just watching car or workout videos….. he is technically lying but I’ve done that too and that’s not a big deal … lol

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        1. Avatar
          Anonymous

          Wow, talk about being controlling…

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    3. Avatar
      Anonymous

      i figured this “active now” on messenger app..active now means either the person is online or not.If you didnt close the messenger app, it will automatically states that you are active even if you are sleeping depending on your internet connection. Once the connection is poor it will state active 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc.. mins ago, then once its picking up good connection it will automically shows you are “active now” but if you closed your fb and messenger app, definitely you are not online at all..

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        I find this to be completely accurate also.

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        1. Nya Avatar
          Nya

          İ think its as active as far as the day. I watched my boyfriends status go from 1 min to 2 min for 40 min. To me he was clearly messaging someone back and forth. I then asked him to message me and it recorded that accurately too. However, he denied messaging anyone else before me. I’ve seen the last active status be off for no more than 8 min, but as far as being the same day it’s pretty accurate. It records when you click send on a message.

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          1. Avatar
            Anonymous

            so when they SEND a message…. that’s when it records min status ?

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            1. Avatar
              Anonymous

              When it says 1 min, 2 min, that means that they are active on facebook. they could be looking at their timeline, leaving comments or chatting with a friend. It just means they are active and are on facebook. When it say’s 40 min, 50 min that means they signed off 40 min ago. When it says 1 hr that means they signed off anywhere between 1to 2 hrs ago. Here is my advice. Forget about it, it’s not worth it. If you do not trust your partner than break up with them. This will drive you mad if you let it. Enjoy your life and be happy. if someone is cheating on you they are not worth the dime in your pocket. Face book has destroyed many relationships and lives. Don’t let it destroy yours. The truth will come out in the end.

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              1. One Coldturkey Avatar
                One Coldturkey

                I ended up in this post because I had the same issue. It showed a user as 1m ago online and I thought the user was browsing the timeline or something. Then this went through the whole night and I really believed they were online. It turns out they were sleeping, and many users have experience this situation.

                With your thinking, you would be breaking up for nothing.

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              2. dermid Avatar
                dermid

                when it keepsgoing back and forth from1minute to 3 minutes then back again to 1 going to 3 and back again..it means they on voice call or videocall. i knowit because i studied and observed it.

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    4. Peter Avatar
      Peter

      Phuck it .pick up a phone save time save life and finish quickly. Or talk with your fingers waste time and waste life and loose the tone and meaning of the time wasted texting and Facebook will and destroyed many lives.

      My mother said… something to easy is not always good. Like females or Facebook. Lol . Along with many other things.

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    5. Kelsbreann Avatar
      Kelsbreann

      Okay. iPhone users! lol I’m having the same problem but with the time on the other person you’re sending messages to Time being innaccurate. For example: a few minutes ago I looked at my girlfriend’s message and it said she was active 2 hours ago. But what I thought of is that it was definitely not two hours ago cause it was 5:43 and I looked at the last message she sent me before she fell asleep (she does this all the time haha) and it was 3:00 am. So it was almost three hours. So my facebook messenger was wrong and I wish they would show the exact time cause they only go by the hour not by the minute. It seriously annoys me because it wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed it, and I feel like if it’s almost the next hour, they should put the exact time. Maybe it’s because I’m super OCD but facebook can be a second to an hour off and it drives me nuts. They could at least say: “very close to three hours” lmao.WHY IS THIS?! It makes me so mad. Like there could be one minute left till it’s like five hours and it will say they were active four hours ago. When it’s really five. It’s so annoying. I should just send this to facebook so they will update it on the iPhone like they do every two weeks.

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  2. KG Avatar
    KG

    I grilled my girlfriend countless times about lying to me and chatting. So glad to see that this feature is wrong, and other people have had tension in relationships because of it.

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    1. Alina Avatar
      Alina

      I grilled my boyfriend.. Until he got offended ;'(

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    2. chris Avatar
      chris

      I feel you Bro I’ve had countless arguments over this on the mobile app..

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    3. Kelsbreann Avatar
      Kelsbreann

      Oh and by the way, I hope everyone can see this.. I’m new to this website. And as many people as I’ve seen in these comments talking about how many problems this has caused in their relationships.. seriously, my motto is, DO NOT START A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEBODY IF YOU DO NOT TRUST THEM. That’s it. Trust is a huge feeling that you need to have going into a relationship. If you don’t trust them, don’t be with them. I’ve been with someone that did not trust me and we broke up because of that reason exactly.

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      1. Annie Mei Avatar
        Annie Mei

        Yeah, but what if you got with the person before anything happened or you were aware of any of this?

        Also my issue is the fact that I understand that messenger is wrong sometimes and fairly inaccurate as it’s been proven when my partner was sitting next to me and we had been doing things for hours without looking at our phones, then I managed to sneak a peek in and it said they were active which was impossible. At the same time, my partner has lied to me before about other dodgy things, not necessarily messenger. So how do you know which is which, what is true or not. I mean, only a monster would pray on these insecurities and use them in their favour, but what the hell do I know.

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  3. slightlyanonymous3 Avatar
    slightlyanonymous3

    I want to know what’s going on here as well, me and my girlfriend had an argument over it. Now I just seen her and her “best friend” have last active times 1 minute apart and I’m getting angry. I tested by sending myself a message (via web) without going online in any chat app/web messenger and it showed green to my other account. More research is necessary because this is clearly creating a lot of drama amongst couples.

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      So ar e ypu saying that is you see thw grewn dot is because that person is on messanger?

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      1. jdrch Avatar
        jdrch

        We’re still trying to figure out what that means.

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    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      I agree with u, sometimes they may be up there and sometimes they may not. Don’t lose sleep over it though. All darkness comes to light sooner or later. FB doesn’t cause problems (just the people on it). I know what you’re going through tgh. Peace and Blessings !!!

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    3. Whocares14 Avatar
      Whocares14

      I let it get to me sometimes, but seriously it says my guy is active but he’s asleep next to me, so either someone else is on his creeping or his phone might be left on, not waking him over effing FB!

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Same exact issue with me!! I just got off work (11O0PM) and my bf is already asleep. I lay down next to him and go on facebook, and i see he was “last active 11 minutes ago” so I was curious why he was acting as if he were asleep if he was just on facebook? As much as i wanted to wake him up, I didnt. And then 20 minutes later, it says hes “active now” and yet hes asleep right next to me?? Had my mind racing with questions. I think if You are logged in your phones fb and didn’t log off, it will keep doing that. Not sure though but facebook should fix this

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    4. Mick Zupan Avatar
      Mick Zupan

      The question seems to be a bit bigger than technology. I had friends say to me :”Why the hell didnt you answer your FB messages from me? It said you were on all night” I have 5 computers in my network at home, a couple laptops, my tablet and my phone… Also my office computer as well..Sometimes I leave my office one on and connected. My phone is always connected and messenger is running all the time. All I have to do is turn my phone on to check a text message and it will say Im online. Doesnt mean I really am. But I find it creepy when people argue over stuff like this. Unless they have given you a reason in the past to suspect them of dishonesty then the problem is with the relationship. Super jealous or super controlling people will have a problem with anything then and if its not this, it will be something else. Not bashing anyone.. just noticing

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    5. b Avatar
      b

      Sometimes when my boyfriend is talking on the phone with someone, for some reason it shows he’s active on fb. Maybe if you’re on fb when your phone rings, or you call someone w/o completely exiting out of fb, it keeps you active? I’ve watched it happen before the same way as you said with my bf & his brother. I’m trying to message him then he says he didn’t respond cuz he was on the phone with his brother, & it makes sense cuz their active/inactive time was the same.

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      1. Annomas Avatar
        Annomas

        What if it saying on messenger that yer partners not been on there but you see he on facebook what does that mean he said he not been on fb but i saw him on there he denies he did something to messenger to stop me seeing he on fb cause id moaned he always on there

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    6. Bill Long Avatar
      Bill Long

      i’m having the exact same problem. I’ve confronted her only to start an argument. I do love her but it is annoying and can’t help but getting jealous and I do not want to lose her. Have you found any more information?

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    7. Bill Avatar
      Bill

      Me and my girlfriend are havingh the exact problem. her and a so-called mutual friend .s green light and time stamps are so close to the same time frequently often the exact time . What’s a guy to think? When I confront her on the situation she denies even chatting with them. I need someone to calm my nerves on the matter!! 😦

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      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Oh I’m totally understand your problem , had many issues and fights over the very same things,,

        Like

        Reply
      2. Avatar
        Anonymous

        OMG…. same issue w me….. I’m dying cuz I don’t want to sound crazy but it’s just too odd

        Like

        Reply
    8. Avatar
      Anonymous

      this happened to me.

      My girlfriend and this guy that I am friends with on Facebook. I suspect they are talking because they log on and off with being only a minute or two apart. Very suspicious

      Like

      Reply
    9. Avatar
      Anonymous

      This happened to me too but it shows the last active for both is the same time. Not sure what this means

      Like

      Reply
  4. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Yeah I have almost lost a friend over this feature. 2 people I know who know each other it is always saying active always at the same time. I believe this feature needs to be removed as it is I feel like an invasion of privacy! If people don’t want to talk to you all the time then it is their choice but this option fb has introduced is messing with peoples minds! REMOVE IT!

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      I believe this feature needs to be removed as it is I feel like an invasion of privacy!

      Don’t be ridiculous, there’s much precedent for online vs. idle status in the IM world: AIM, ICQ, Windows Live Messenger (retired), Skype, WhatsApp, etc. all use it. It’s not a privacy issue in the least.

      Like

      Reply
      1. kaoiasdfddof Avatar
        kaoiasdfddof

        in all those apps, the user sets his/her own status… it’s different

        Like

        Reply
      2. Marie Notcheva Avatar
        Marie Notcheva

        Oh, but there’s a difference. With the Apps you mention above, the user has the option of turning off the “Last Seen”/”Last Online” feature. With Facebook, there is NO WAY to disable it in your privacy settings. I agree with Anon; it IS an invasion of privacy.

        Like

        Reply
    2. angryFBuser Avatar
      angryFBuser

      This is bullcr@p! I have not used fb during the night, and my gf told me that I was up all night using fb, she even sent me screenshots that I am online…FYI I was fvkng sleeping! Frustrating, she even told me I am a liar? How should I fvkng defend myself when she got screenshots of me being “online” cr@p cr@p cr@p!

      Im doing my study with this fb shyt! Truly I was holding my gfs phone it says I was online when in fact im reading comments on this blog!

      Like

      Reply
      1. Anon Avatar
        Anon

        This exact same thing happened to me!!!! Like in every single word exactly the same!! So Frustrating and honestly how can you prove yourself right?

        Like

        Reply
      2. AlleyCatt!!! Avatar
        AlleyCatt!!!

        I am Coming from the othet side of it and I agree 100% I feel like sh¡t right now because me and my GF were texting on fb and then it got really serious and then she fell asleep and the active thing kept making me think she was completely avoiding me… so I freaked out telling her I’m sorry and that I hope she is home safe and then randomly I come to find out fb is a b¡tch and lied… Made a complete fool out of my self and I am currently feeling fuck3d!….!….!

        Like

        Reply
      3. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Same thing is happening to me and its bad cause when I go offline ..it shows I’m active back when I’m not ..its been doing that a lot

        Like

        Reply
    3. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Totally agree!

      Like

      Reply
    4. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Same here but maybe active at the same time means that they are.

      Like

      Reply
  5. confused Avatar
    confused

    But does “active now” actually mean you’re talking to someone via private message?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      If you mean that a person’s “active now” status means they’re talking to someone else at that moment, I think that’s unlikely. Traditionally IM active/idle status has always referred to whether the person in question is using the client machine/service at the time, and not whether they’re currently in a conversation.

      Of course, the problem here is 1) FB hasn’t specified what the semantics of “active now” are 2) Even if it did, determining the user’s state is still difficult as I said originally.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        What if it shows them last “active at 7 hours ago” then pops up “on mobile” with no green dot then an hour later says “active” with a green dot?

        Like

        Reply
        1. jdrch Avatar
          jdrch

          What about it? Sounds like a perfectly logical sequence of events to me.

          Like

          Reply
          1. Avatar
            Anonymous

            My question was meaning… Does “On mobile” with no green dot mean that they are on but hiding chat?

            Like

            Reply
            1. jdrch Avatar
              jdrch

              Is there a timestamp (e.g. “2h”) with “on mobile,” or not?

              Like

              Reply
              1. Avatar
                Anonymous

                no

                Like

                Reply
                1. jdrch Avatar
                  jdrch

                  I’ve seen that before, but I really have no idea what it means at all.

                  Like

                  Reply
                  1. Avatar
                    Anonymous

                    if it does not show time with mobile symbol…it means its more than 8 hour since that person logged in

                    Like

                    Reply
                    1. jdrch Avatar
                      jdrch

                      My chat list currently shows 1 friend at 18h, so I don’t think that’s correct.

                      Like

              2. Avatar
                Anonymous

                No Nothing just mobile stamp and no green dot an “on mobile” behind it.

                Like

                Reply
                1. Avatar
                  Anonymous

                  They have installed whatsapp messanger. There you can choose to automaticly hide your timestamp everytime you log in with your phone

                  Like

                  Reply
                  1. Cam Avatar
                    Cam

                    Where? How? Even with the iPhone?

                    Like

                    Reply
                    1. Avatar
                      Anonymous

                      I still have NO idea what “on mobile” stamp with no green dot means when they were just offline for hours. Just makes no sense. Unless that person is online but hiding from being seen….. Anyone?

                      Like

    2. b Avatar
      b

      ‘active now ‘means the user was active within an hour! Active now /active 2hours ago..these R counted in hours n not minutes. So if U see active now at 11:30 it will say active about an hour ago at 12:30 n by 12: 35 it will read active an hour ago!

      Like

      Reply
  6. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I actualy sit behind my computer at work, load facebook. My Gf is at home, Facebook on my PC will say: 24m ago, My facebook on the phone will say 1m ago, facebook messenger will say “Active now”. This happens a LOT, it can also jump from 1m to 2H or something like that. And for some reason if you say like a post on the pc. the chat function often doesn’t recognize is.

    So you have someone offline for say 2h then when they login you get the green dot. and then they logout and it will say 2h again.

    All in all, very annoying and very unreliable. Worse then 3 diffrent facebook sources can give 3 diffrent online status’s at the same time (and i refreshed and rebooted etc all of them several time to check if it wasnt an update thing)

    Ok my 2 cents of rant 😛

    Oh and the person above… Green dot is from a pc, or “browser” version, the cell phone icon is when they use a mobile divece+app.

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      So you have someone offline for say 2h then when they login you get the green dot. and then they logout and it will say 2h again.

      I think “idle time” stamps refer to most recent mobile usage, and therefore you can still be idle for “2h” despite using the site via the desktop browser within the past 5 minutes if you haven’t used the mobile app within the past 2 hours. As a matter of fact, I think users who’re signed in via the browser appear online always, even if they’re not actually at the PC.

      Green dot is from a pc, or “browser” version, the cell phone icon is when they use a mobile divece+app.

      I’ve seen the green dot for mobile users too, LOL.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        what if when a person comes online all of a sudden, theyre on a green dot, and the time is say 10pm, you refresh the page about 20mins later (time is now 10:20pm) and that person was active 18mins ago (that’s 10:02pm) with a mobile timestamp. does that mean they were online through mobile? because it seems to me that they can have a green dot even when theyre on from their mobile?

        Like

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      2. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Iv seen the green dot on mobile app users..

        Like

        Reply
    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      It has to reload to for the time to update. Something’s say the green dot is there cuz messenger is opened n on mobile is connected to fb mobile app. I believe if its been a certain routine for a month then goes to basically being active now most of the day, the person is talkin to someone on messenger. At least what I’ve taken from my experience. If its nothing diff than normal, ignore it, but if it drastically changes… The user is changing.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. Cam Avatar
    Cam

    My problem is that I’m signed into my mobile app but never open it. However, when I log in on the PC, it shows up on my husbands browser AND mobile app as online 1m ago. Certain people it shows certain timestamps…the TRUE timestamp of when I’m actually on the mobile app and the timestamp of when I’m not in the mobile app, but sign in on a PC.

    I’ve experimented with this with my husband and with my sister. My sister always sees the correct timestamp (when I actually open the Facebook app). My husband always sees the incorrect tmestamp (when I log in to the browser from my phone or PC, it shows as 1m ago the whole time I’m logged in).

    How odd…He doesn’t care, but I wonder how many people see the wrong thing and think I’m logged in to Facebook all day and night? How do I fix this? How do I stop it from tracking when I log into Facebook from the PC/Browser?

    Any help is greatly appreciated.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Thanks for the experiment results! Really puzzling indeed.

      How do I stop it from tracking when I log into Facebook from the PC/Browser?

      AFAIK the only way to do this would be to disable Chat entirely* OR disable it for people you’d rather not be able to view your status:
      1) Log into Facebook on a desktop browser
      2) Enter Facebook Chat settings by clicking the gear icon at the bottom of your contact list
      3) Click “Advanced Settings”
      4) Use one of the options there to turn off chat completely, or blacklist/whitelist it for some contacts only

      Try that and let me know how it works.

      *Personally I wouldn’t do this as I use FB Chat to communicate with a lot of people, but hey.

      Like

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      1. Cam Avatar
        Cam

        The thing is – a majority of the time, it’s off. I only turn it on when I’m ready to chat. On, off, or disabling if for some doesn’t make a difference in the timestamp. This only started happening about two weeks ago. Nothing different has been done on my part.

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        1. jdrch Avatar
          jdrch

          Hmmm … guess that satisfies my request then. Thanks for the info 🙂

          Like

          Reply
          1. Cam Avatar
            Cam

            No problem. No solution for me though other than to just get rid of the Facebook app. 🙂

            Like

            Reply
            1. jdrch Avatar
              jdrch

              Your call!

              Like

              Reply
        2. Avatar
          Anonymous

          Delete the darn messenger app guys come on

          Like

          Reply
      2. Veryconfused Avatar
        Veryconfused

        I really just want to know why my boyfriends timestamp says 1m practically all the time. On Saturday it said 1m next to his name for 14 or more hours as if he was on FB all day. He tells me he is going to sleep and it says 1m for hours and way into the night. Sometimes it says 1hr, or 2hrs, I have even seen it go to 5hrs but for the most part it constantly says 1m. he does not have messanger. please advice

        Like

        Reply
    2. Alina Avatar
      Alina

      Just an FYI.. I also experimented with this a lot and also found out that if your Youtube or Pinterest, or any other app is somehow connected to your FB account.. Just by using those apps will make you active on FB.

      Like

      Reply
  8. confused Avatar
    confused

    So the last time i was talking to this person was 3 days ago but everyday in between the last time i talked to them their timestamp has been “active now” then i just checked it now and it has “active 3d ago”…?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Explanation above: https://jdrch.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/ignore-facebook-messengers-active-now-or-online-presence-info-its-inaccurate/#comment-275

      Like

      Reply
  9. JK Avatar
    JK

    i think you shouldnt date people you don’t trust. seriously??? facebook time stamps are a barometer of the health of your relationship??

    Like

    Reply
    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      I agree with you but just because we have questions does not mean someone is dating.

      Like

      Reply
  10. amelia Avatar
    amelia

    IT IS ACCURATE, basically if you checked your FB at 11pm if would say ‘active now’ and you would remain as active until one hour later when it would say ‘active one hour ago’. It doesnt show you in minutes.

    How ever if you have the facebook app and are looking it on a computer it will say 1m 2m depending on whether the other person has a facebook app

    Like

    Reply
  11. Wai lin Avatar
    Wai lin

    My fb messanger doesn,t show me active r not who is not my fri( mary tianmin) . That is always show me she is on mobile. Plz help me to where she is how she.

    Like

    Reply
  12. http://usecheat.com Use Cheat! Don't you have? We providing every day new hack Avatar
    http://usecheat.com Use Cheat! Don’t you have? We providing every day new hack

    Hello, i read your blog from time to time and i own
    a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam
    comments? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can advise?

    I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any assistance is very much appreciated.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      I get a manageable amount. I don’t use any plugins.

      Like

      Reply
  13. Blanca Avatar
    Blanca

    I know there’s a problem with this feature because just the other day i got up at 7am and went to use facebook and it told me my boyfriend was online at 4am funny thing is at 4am he was sleeping next to me so i know thats not right. Also it looks like if you have the app downloaded it makes updates in the middle of the night for you which makes a time stamp. I hate this app and dont use it because 1, i dont need people knowing when i was on last and 2, it starting to make me believe my bf is addicted, needy and ALWAYS online when he’s not. This feature is not good for relationships.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Also it looks like if you have the app downloaded it makes updates in the middle of the night for you which makes a time stamp.

      I’m not sure what you mean by this?

      it starting to make me believe my bf is addicted, needy and ALWAYS online

      How does being online make anyone addicted and/or needy? That doesn’t make any sense.

      This feature is not good for relationships.

      Depends on the person. It makes my relationships a lot better because 1) I can tell whether or not messages get delivered, as opposed to SMS with which there’s always a risk delivery fails without any notification 2) I can tell whether people read my messages or not, which eliminates doubt about whether I’m being ignored and makes it impossible for them to lie that they never received something I sent them.

      Like

      Reply
      1. anonymous5009 Avatar
        anonymous5009

        You realize you can easily view messages without activating the viewed thing right?

        Like

        Reply
    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Agree 100% it’s causing a huge problem in my daughter’s relationship with her bf. She thinks he’s being sketchy because it looks like he’s either active, on mobile or green dot chatting all the time. Ugh!

      Like

      Reply
  14. pushpendra rao Avatar
    pushpendra rao

    its…kkk…i understand…but i hvnt get my answer properly…tell..me..”what is the meaning of rply sent from web”…rply…genually…

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      It means the person replied to you from a web browser as opposed to from (either of the) the mobile apps.

      Like

      Reply
  15. Georgy Avatar
    Georgy

    Hello. May I stop my facebook conversations from Iphone to be shown into computer in same time?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      No, you can’t. The entire point of Facebook Messenger is that your entire conversations are available from anywhere: web, phone, etc.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Mate just lookin for info. From web is from a computer. The time stamps do be acurare it can say green active now but in 3mins wen they go off it itll say active 3mins ago or more. Id problems with my gf and it can be very off at times. If you on your iphone and then use a pc. Some times youll log out and it will show eg. 15min mobile. Which says u were last on 15min mibile but not telling you that the person was on the laptop since. But most times it is acurate… And ppl do lie

        Like

        Reply
  16. green coffee bean and weight loss Avatar
    green coffee bean and weight loss

    Awesome blog you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics talked about
    here? I’d really love to be a part of community where I can get feedback from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Cheers!

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Google+ Communities would be a good start.

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      Reply
  17. john Avatar
    john

    If you see a green dot, is that mean that; that person is on messenger???????

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      It should, but it doesn’t necessarily.

      Like

      Reply
    2. Cam Avatar
      Cam

      My husband’s almost always shows the green dot..even while he’s asleep and isn’t on Facebook on his phone or the computer. Weird.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        No, means that its still on on his phone or in a browser

        Like

        Reply
  18. tblickos Avatar
    tblickos

    This feature is putting my marriage on the brink of divorce. I have such a hard time believing technology is wrong all the time. She swears she isnt but i cant seem to believe it.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      In this case, it is. Just ignore the status and save your marriage 🙂

      Like

      Reply
      1. Trevor Gaines Avatar
        Trevor Gaines

        Hi jdrch,

        I could really use your help here. I have a similar problem. I’ve got both the FB and FB messenger app installed on my phone (Samsung S4).

        My problem is that:

        1. most times the FB messenger app shows this friend of mine as “active” and the time stamp as 1 min. it stays awhile like this, even if I refresh, but show’s no green dot.

        2. Other times, the green dot is on, but when I message, I don’t get a reply or it comes after awhile. But I see the seen notification, so I know she sees them.

        3. When it’s green, and I check available friends, her name does show up.

        I checked it out just now, and it says was active 7 hrs ago, and I’m 100% she is offline now, (and probably sleeping soundly lol) but my question is:

        4. From what I’m seeing, does it mean that she’s turned chat off on me, or she’s hidden to me, and that’s why it shows active for 1 min continuously?

        5. If I am turned off, is there a way to definitely find out? She once mentioned to me how she sometimes stops chat guys who annoy her, so I know she does it.

        I really really like this girl, and I’ve been taking things slow for nearly 3 months, til I could ask her out, but I’m more than a little crushed at the thought that maybe she’s not really into me, and worse I’m one of those annoying guys, and that this could explain her behavior on fb.

        If this is the case, I’d at least want to know, so I can stop wondering if I’ve got a shot or not, I don’t wanna be a nuisance to her, so if I could find out, I know where I stand.

        Can you help me?

        Trevor

        Like

        Reply
        1. Avatar
          Anonymous

          Yes she is blocking you when it says 1m for a long time

          Like

          Reply
    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      not to make you worry but, either she is lying or someone have access to her account. It does not ever show anyone as online or otherwise if she havent been on, but that doesnt mean she is flirting with other men, just reading shit and being a girl is most likely. All girls are addicted to this facebook shit even tho they claim not to be

      Like

      Reply
  19. tramadol Avatar
    tramadol

    Thanks , I’ve recently been looking for info about this topic for a long time and yours is the best I’ve found out so
    far. However, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you sure
    about the source?

    Like

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      The conclusions in the post are educated guesses.

      Like

      Reply
  20. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I really dislike this feature, I don’t want to know when people have seen my message and vise versa. I also don’t want it to show when I’ve been on fb, it’s ridiculous. I had an argument with one of my friends about being active on fb and ignoring my msg and it turned out my friend was never online. This feature needs to be removed, I really hate it.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Just about every multiplatform messaging solution uses presence and read receipt/typing notification, get used to it.

      Like

      Reply
  21. Trevor Gaines Avatar
    Trevor Gaines

    Hi everyone,

    I could really use your help here. I have a similar problem. I’ve got both the FB and FB messenger app installed on my phone (Samsung S4).

    My problem is that:

    1. most times the FB messenger app shows this friend of mine as “active” and the time stamp as 1 min. it stays awhile like this, even if I refresh, but show’s no green dot.

    2. Other times, the green dot is on, but when I message, I don’t get a reply or it comes after awhile. But I see the seen notification, so I know she sees them.

    3. When it’s green, and I check available friends, her name does show up.

    I checked it out just now, and it says was active 7 hrs ago, and I’m 100% she is offline now, (and probably sleeping soundly lol) but my question is:

    4. From what I’m seeing, does it mean that she’s turned chat off on me, or she’s hidden to me, and that’s why it shows active for 1 min continuously?

    5. If I am turned off, is there a way to definitely find out? She once mentioned to me how she sometimes stops chat guys who annoy her, so I know she does it.

    I really really like this girl, and I’ve been taking things slow for nearly 3 months, til I could ask her out, but I’m more than a little crushed at the thought that maybe she’s not really into me, and worse I’m one of those annoying guys, and that this could explain her behavior on fb.

    If this is the case, I’d at least want to know, so I can stop wondering if I’ve got a shot or not, I don’t wanna be a nuisance to her, so if I could find out, I know where I stand.

    Can you guys help me?

    Trevor

    Like

    Reply
    1. Trevor Gaines Avatar
      Trevor Gaines

      I forgot to mention that she’s mostly on by phone and even now, sound asleep, the mobile icon with no time stamp is visible.

      Like

      Reply
    2. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      If it takes you 3 months to ask a girl out, you have bigger problems than FB Messenger.

      Like

      Reply
  22. FB User Avatar
    FB User

    I could always tell when my friend was on or last active, the time stamp and mobile icon next to their name. Over a month ago, it suddenly changed to just saying “on mobile” even when they are active. It changed back for a few days only, when I was able to see them online or last active with the time stamp, then it went back to saying “on mobile”. Even when we are chatting using our phones, still says “on mobile”. Is this a glitch or are they using some kind of program to hide when they are active?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Glitch.

      Like

      Reply
  23. FB User Avatar
    FB User

    It’s quite annoying… when will this “glitch” be resolved? FB seems to change everyday.

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      If you read the conclusion, you’ll see that it’s not an easily resolved issue. With unlimited endpoints, each having any of a myriad different idle and refresh modes, it’s simply very tough to accurately determine whether a particular user is online or not.

      Like

      Reply
  24. carol Avatar
    carol

    Hi, I hv a question to ask:

    When saw the recipient with a active now stamp so sent out the message, then later the recipient name pop out with green dot…then continue sent out few messages..the time stamp show either active now or 1m..then green dot appear again, but the messages didn’t showed any seen mark.

    The recipient have two fb accounts ..these two accounts take turn to happen same incident as mentioned above at the same time within 30 mins..

    May know in this circumstances means what?

    Are they had add their fb account to im+ so that can read the message without go thru fb messenger so that seen mark not appearing?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      I’m not sure, but your mention of IM+ brings up another point: FB Messenger also supports Jabber, which has its own definitions of status. Ergo, 3rd party chat clients can misreport status if their definition thereof defers from Facebook’s.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        Thanks. ..

        Like

        Reply
  25. FB User Avatar
    FB User

    Has anyone else reading this experienced the “on mobile” status even when they are actively on FB, chatting with you. I’ve seen it with other friends, but the moment we start chatting it reverts back to “Active” and their time stamp appears next to their icon symbol.

    Like

    Reply
  26. FB User Avatar
    FB User

    Turn off chat on ALL devices (pc; ipad, phone). This will reset to “on mobile” after a while. You can actively be on FB and no one can tell you are on.

    Like

    Reply
  27. Another FB user Avatar
    Another FB user

    A Chat conversation between a friend of mine and a friend of his (but not mine) just popped up on my FB timeline….I haven’t seen this before. Doesn’t look as if he Shared it…How does this happen?

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      This happens when the sender addresses the message to multiple people (group conversations). Replies to such messages are automatically seen by everyone the original message was addressed to. You can also leave the conversation if you’re no longer interested in participating in or getting notifications for it.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Avatar
        Anonymous

        This wasn’t a conversation that I might possibly be involved in…and it showed as a window, more or less, on timeline….not within Messenger…is that how Chat appears?

        Like

        Reply
        1. jdrch Avatar
          jdrch

          I’m a bit confused by what you’re describing. Could you attach a screenshot?

          Like

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          1. Avatar
            Anonymous

            Ummm, no, really not a good idea–for me. I was wondering if this was some sort of personal (cryptic) message for me, or I was included in a group in error…or just what. I think I’d better decide that it doesn’t matter, and forget it.

            Like

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            1. jdrch Avatar
              jdrch

              You can always blur out the parts you want to keep private. I’m just curious though, I’ve never seen a chat message open actually *in* the timeline before, that’s new.

              Like

              Reply
              1. Avatar
                Anonymous

                I’m afraid that would be most of it. I’m no technological wizard, but thinking about it a little more, it looks like a screen shot to me….posted for entertainment value.

                Like

                Reply
  28. buddyhughes Avatar
    buddyhughes

    Why im i blocked on facebook

    Like

    Reply
    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      I’m not sure that’s related to this discussion.

      Like

      Reply
  29. qwer Avatar
    qwer

    My girlfriend’s last seen on facebook keep showing as if she kept logging all day long, E.G it shows she has been online 10 minutes ago, then 1 min ago, then 5 min ago, then 2 min ago, then 40 min ago, then 1 min ago, but she claims she has not used the app in the entire day, not even once, that maybe she has opened facebook to view her timeline one or two times, she also said that maybe when she unlocks her screen it may trigger it or something. Is this possible?

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Based on the comments, yes.

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      1. FB & Messenger user Avatar
        FB & Messenger user

        The last week or two, the Active Last has been truly ridiculous…for instance, just opening and closing the app took one friend’s Last Active from 2 hrs to 10 hrs then 2 days–in that order….How does THAT work?! Somewhat inline with the efficacy of getting a FB notification re: someone’s status update today (Aug 8th) when, in fact, the status was posted on August 1st….pointless, you’ve probably already seen it. BTW, I may need to change the e-mail client on my phone (not pulling in emails from AOL)…would installing a new email client app affect my Messenger ?

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        1. jdrch Avatar
          jdrch

          No it wouldn’t.

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          1. FB & Messenger user Avatar
            FB & Messenger user

            Thanks very much. Love your blog.

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            1. jdrch Avatar
              jdrch

              np, thanks for commenting 🙂

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      2. qwer Avatar
        qwer

        So she is actually telling the truth or what? My question is that it keeps showing as if she used it every 5-10 minutes throughout the day, but according to her she hasn’t, has this been reported before?

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        1. FB & Messenger user Avatar
          FB & Messenger user

          In my humble and unsolicited opinion, one thing is certain- this feature of Messenger tends to create trust issues between friends/partners–based upon totally unreliable, inconsistent info. Believe her or don’t believe her, but I’d hope you would factor in some other aspects of your relationship before you accuse her of telling less than the truth…

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  30. Leila Avatar
    Leila

    Hi, this issue is causing a lot of problems. When I’m using my Nokia fb app, chatting with friends, when we say goodbye, if I stay online, I can see her ‘activeness’ in great detail. Ex. Acitve now… then active 43 seconds ago… then active now again…. then active 3 minutes ago… active now… and so forth. So does this mean she’s talking to someone on chat? Because I can’t see any of her other action in the newsfeed (ex I like, comments etc.) Thanks.

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      No one knows for sure at this point hahaha

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  31. Leila Avatar
    Leila

    Oh, I didn’t specify that my friend uses fb from her laptop, never from a mobile. I check in on my mobile and that’s where I can see who is active and not active (annoying though it may be, I’d prefer not to know!). Thanks, great blog!

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      np, thanks for participating 🙂

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  32. sundae Roas Avatar
    sundae Roas

    hi, in web chat..does little person green dot chat means the person I selected to just chat with means the person is actually online but invisible to me? Then after a while the status disappeared and just shows the name.

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  33. Louise Avatar
    Louise

    What does it mean if it says active now on the messenger app, but no green dot? Is there a way to hide chat? Although, I don’t think he will have hidden me, it’s my dad and he’s not very technology minded.

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  34. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    First of all, it’s good to see that more people are having similar issues with the FB messenger functionality. That’s why I found this blog. Second, I notice you get a lot of spam comments and actually let them stand there and even reply to it. I’m a blogger myself, and anything with ‘green coffee bean’ or something that refers to ‘the topic that you wrote about’ instead of ‘this problem with FB messenger’… it usually is a way of spammers to get a link to their webiste online.

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Appreciate the advice, buddy. Thanks.

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  35. Avatar
    Anonymous

    What does ‘on mobile mean’ without a time stamp just a little mobile icon

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  36. olamiwaleokikiola Avatar
    olamiwaleokikiola

    i love my life

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  37. Nan Avatar
    Nan

    People are seriously fighting and ending relationships over something like this??? I don’t get it. When you chose to be in a relationship (friendship or other) you choose to trust that person. Why even question someone over something like this?? How ridiculous. I would feel silly starting an argument about something like that. If you have that much doubt then there are definitely some trust issues. If you cannot trust your friend, partner, spouse, then you really don’t belong together.

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      I agree. That would seem to be common sense….apparently not.

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  38. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I was wondering why the phone icon suddenly is gone next to a name? I have been chatting with a friend and after some info was exchanged, the next morning the phone icon is missing. The icon’s been there forever, but after that last chat, the next morning her icon was gone along with time stamp and has been for a few days. The weird thing is ,I sent a message and she still replyed rather quick even though it showed she was off. Is she hiding from me or just logged off or both lol.

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  39. Becca Avatar
    Becca

    I have enjoyed this blog and it has been the most helpful I have seen regarding this problem (since there are no official answers) I would like to share my experiences, as well as ask a few questions:
    I use the Facebook app on an iPad. I do not have any clue how I appear to others as far as my status goes, but this is what I have observed about how it shows the status of others to me in my chat window.
    -when a friend is logged on and currently using facebook in ANY capacity (even if it is not chatting, it could be liking a status or browsing) whether it be on a mobile device or pc I see a green dot next to their name. As soon as that friend stops using facebook or logs off it immediately starts to count how long until their last activity (hence the 1m, 43m, 3d, etc). This to my knowledge has been very accurate, to a point, because I have literally been able to watch it count up from 1m, to 2m, then 3m so on and so fourth. There has been once or twice where it has jumped from 15m to 1h, but I think that was a refreshing issue on my end because almost all the time it is accurate to the minute…UNTIL it hits 1h. After the 1h mark I have found that it doesn’t go to 2h until that mark has been met, so 1h could mean anywhere between 1 hour-1 hour and 59 minutes ago. As far as if facebook will log a timestamp for you like you logged on recently but you didnt, i am unsure. im sure it is quite possible for some phones or apps to log you in and out or activate your account during updates, or mark you as active on facebook when you just simply unlock your phone…i am not sure, but to my knowledge this is not the case with my friends, and when it says they have been active it is because they have truly been ( i know cause i have tested it out with a few friends) Most of the friends I have tracked in this capacity use Facebook on a phone or other Mobile device, and therefore has the little grey phone icon next to their time stamp. However, sometimes I notice that the time stamp goes away and just the grey phone icon is left by itself. I at first thought that this meant they had been inactive for so long that facebook could no longer track the time, but I know this is not true because I have seen it go instantly from 2h to this phone only status before, so I am confused by this. Is this a glitch or does this mean that they are hiding their status somehow? I AM CONFUSED AND UNSURE AND WOULD LOVE TO FIND OUT.
    I know there has also been talk about the “seen” feature for messages. I have no insight to this because I do not really use the message portion that much.
    I know that it seems silly to those of you who say that letting this feature cause relationship problems is immature, but sometimes when relationships are new and you are still learning about the other person little things like this are not little at all. I can totally understand how it can make someone question the honesty of another person when they say “I didn’t call you cause I went to bed at ten”, and then the Facebook time stamp proves they were actually active on facebook at 10:30, then again at 11, then maybe 11:15. I get it, and I’ve been there. All I can say is take it for what it is, a piece of technology that is relatively accurate, but obviously not perfect. And facebook is a free, privately owned service. For all of you who do not like the features (admittedly, I am clearly not a huge fan of the time stamp or seen feature), recognize that you are of the free will to not participate in facebook if you do not like it. I for one still do, but realize that facebook can do whatever it wants, so although i would like to find the answers to my questions i cant really complain. Thanks to anyone who has more insight to my question that they can share.

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    1. Christina Avatar
      Christina

      my fb puts notifications on my screen. I sometimes wonder if hitting the clear button makes it active again. I know if I pick on it (purpose or accident) it does. & my messenger comes strait in as well. I believe I always show active due to that. I know several who do. when f.b refreshes im almost positive it makes your status active. also updates. plus when friends post on time line or tag you seems to activate it I think. it’s not real accurate. I’m glad others are figuring it out too. I’ve seen allot of people have issues in their relationships due to it…. it’s just suppose to be for fun, not spyware

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  40. Avatar
    Anonymous

    my girlfriend said I spoke to 5 people on chat on the 11.11.13, this is not true I have chatted to maybe 2 of these many months ago, how can I prove im innocent, she also she as screen shot to prove it

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Show her your messages folder on the Facebook website

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      1. yes man Avatar
        yes man

        okey!! this blog helped me a lot !! but i have one doubt !!…i use fb both on my lappy nd on my phn with a messenger !! i can see next to my gf on chatbox there is no green dot on computer …bot in my messenger she used te active in every 15 min !! i just asked her abt this …i just fought with her regarding this …thn after that she is not coming active on my mssenger …but i ask my common frds ..they said she is active !! ….is it possible to make someone offline on messenger !!!! could u plsssss help me !!

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  41. Lan Pham (@Lanooz) Avatar
    Lan Pham (@Lanooz)

    Hey, there are a lot of comments here, it’s impossible to read it all, so – did you find somekind of solution how to not let people know when you were last active?

    I’ve been testing this thing a bit, and so far I managed to prevent Facebook from knowing when I’m using my facebook app or messenger on my phone (in the app, account settings > apps > apps others use > untick the ‘my app activity’). But it still knows when I’m on FB via browser, although not as a green dot but people can see me because there this last active timestamp. So whenever it’s “1m” it means that I’m there…

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  42. James Avatar
    James

    delete FB messenger and install skype mobile, it works, it’s accurate and fast. Plus you can do more with it.

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    1. James Avatar
      James

      Also, you control if you are active or not

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    2. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      1) All my friends use FB. Comparatively few use Skype.
      2) Skype doesn’t have push notifications, so the app always has to be running in the background on mobile. This is terrible for battery life.
      3) Skype requires a standalone app on the desktop, while FB Messenger can be used from any browser.

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  43. Phil Avatar
    Phil

    I still am unclear on this matter after reading the above. My apologies, sir.

    If you’re phone is dead, can it still show other people a green dot and indicate that you are using you’re phone, even though you aren’t?

    Is it possible to appear active and indicate that you are using a website if your computer is off? What if it is locked?

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  44. Ajay Singh Avatar
    Ajay Singh

    Hi.. I have big fight with my girlfriend as she was showing active whole night till 5am.. and i could not sleep seeing her online. I pinged her as well.. she did not reply..I could not digest that and next day morning had good fight with her but she was insisting that she did not logged into fb messenger of fb apps..

    Please tell me if this is due to FB glitch?

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  45. notsure Avatar
    notsure

    hi please can you help clear something up for me, my bf has messenger on his samsung, yesterday he told me he had left his phone at home as he could not take it to work, throughout the day it showed him as active and then unactive as it said active a period of time ago. at one point he was active for two hours, the other times were for about ten mins but this happened about ten time throughout the day. my messages were unread. he swears he never touched the phone and was not working near a computer. is he lying or is it possible that his phone has shown him active several times a day for no reason

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    1. Christina Avatar
      Christina

      phones (the smarter the more they do it) reintalize themselves. some apps update themselves (most people allow all of them to do that) my phone (Samsung galaxy S3) turns itself on when I get emails, texts, f.b. notifications or even game notifications. it’s constantly showing some activity on my screen. also you’d think turning it off before walking away for the day would be a solution, however if you ask him to do so I doubt he’ll do it many times because I’ve come to find out that the longer you’re phone is off the longer it takes the “turn on” process to finish because it will initiate service run all the apps that have notified him, update (or try to, depending on his app settings) & he’ll have tons of notifications to clear & several apps to put back to sleep when it’s all done. plus just so you know the most accurate I’ve ever seen the Google or f.b ping is @least 6 feet away from the proper house (outside usually) I’ve seen the f.b. one states off allot tho (I love to test technology. it’s fun but not always trust worthy)

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  46. Location Based Platforms | Erin M. Dimond

    […] https://jdrch.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/ignore-facebook-messengers-active-now-or-online-presence-info-… […]

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  47. Paolo Avatar
    Paolo

    Good evening!

    Is it possible people see me online in FB at intervals in the night and during the day even i´m sleeping or working and my computer and my phone are turned off?

    Please answer me!!!!! :))))

    Thank you
    Paul

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  48. Christina Avatar
    Christina

    ^ yes, it does do that even if you’re not on. I know many people who are constantly logged on or keep their settings for that off (so they’re constantly off) the only way to really be able to trust fb activity is if they comment or like (it’ll say, about 3 hours ago…etc) but even the Times (ie-posted 7pm thrus…) aren’t always correct. ex-my f.b keeps saying I’m on the coast (I’m actually in the central time zone) so whatever it says posted @5 my time. takes a lot of spy work to try to be accurate about it all. I think the moral is, it’s a social media site to enjoy not a tool for stalking & the Times/notifications can’t be counted on for it

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  49. Kor Avatar
    Kor

    Lol… If you and your bf of gf are arguing over fb chat, you have serious problems.

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  50. Paolo Avatar
    Paolo

    Thank you very much Christina!
    I know that many persons are constantly online even if the computer and mobile are turned off :))) But my question was if you believe it is possible that FB switched on by itself after 1 hour for example and it remains online at intervals ( 3 minutes ) for hours…. What do you think? : )))

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      This is currently happening to my bf’s messenger. It says online every three minutes and goes off after a minute. Quite strange.

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  51. Toby Avatar
    Toby

    Hey

    I have a question!

    A friend of mine is only using facebook on computer (dosen’t have a smartphone anymore) so it always shows “internet” when she is online.
    But the phone stamp when she is offline is still there, even tho she haven’t had a smartphone for a year or so.

    So when she logs off from the computer, the minutes from when she was last online shows, and these seem to be correct.
    BUT, suddenly sometimes after beeing offline for like 5 hours (when it says 5h on the chat) the time just disapear!
    Does this mean that she is online, only she has turned off the chat for me?

    Today also I know she was online 12 pm, because she saw my message, but when I logged on like 1 hour after this, it said that she had been offline for 1 d !
    And i talked to her when she was online like 6 hours before that, so this doesn’t make any sence to me!!

    Is it her who have turned off the chat or is it a facebook problem?
    She keeps saying she doesn’t turn off the chat when she is on facebook, but I don’t know what to think……

    Please help!

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  52. Alfonse Avatar
    Alfonse

    God I am so glad I found this blog. I have been convinced my partner has found someone new. She shows as active now on Facebook Messenger a LOT….but she claims not to be using it. One night she was out and I completely spazzed when she wasn’t talking to me – because FB Messenger showed her as Active Now. When I challenged her about it, she said she had no clue, hadn’t touched it, until she went to bed sometime later. I did start to wonder if there was some weird linkup between Facebook app and Facebook Messenger as showing her as active now or simply unlocking her phone was doing this. Her Active Now status almost always tie up with using WhatsApp with me….I wasn’t sure I believed her, but looking at all the comments here….

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      yes there is a linkup with fb mobile app and fb messenger…. You can be on fb mobile app posting or browsing and it will say active now on fb messenger also and vice versa…. Sometimes like stated above you can be off both and it will say you are active now….

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    2. Chaz Avatar
      Chaz

      That’s how I feel about my bf, like right now as I post this, it says he is active and its funny cause we just talked about it. its been active for a hour now but we got off Skype at like 9.46 ish

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  53. Avatar
    Anonymous

    omg people, if your relationship ends over this then the universe did you a favor. I came here because fb showed me that my son had been online when I knew that he hadn’t, was curious if someone used his acct or if fb was wrong. Really, if you have so little trust for someone you should let them go to someone who has respect for them. And vice versa if you’re getting grilled over a website then spare yourself the jealous tirades and ditch the relationship.

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  54. Avatar
    Anonymous

    okay so if it says My boyfriend is off and he’s “sleeping” at 10 and then suddenly he’s active at 11;48 and then goes off for a bit and suddenly is active again at 12;23. hes not actually up or hes up and just fucking with me?

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  55. kim33333 Avatar
    kim33333

    Well, this has to be one of the most extensive web pages about Facebook’s green dot. That doesn’t mean all the information is good, but it is extensive.

    I’ve researched the green dot elsewhere, too, and what I’ve concluded might be useful to other people, so here (in no particular order) are some of my conclusions about FB’s green dot.

    1) You can’t trust the green dot.

    The green dot is affected by many different things, and you can’t get 100% reliable insight from it about someone’s activities. You just can’t. If you’re looking for simple answers, you’re out of luck. Bummer, right?

    2) How it operates has changed over time, and is most likely still changing.

    Like so much else on FB, how it works is a moving target. FB changes its software constantly, and the interface/rules that were valid earlier may be different today, tomorrow, next week, etc. Not only that, FB rolls out software changes to smaller groups first, so your green dot may be controlled by different rules, compared to mine. When I’ve googled this issue, I usually search only for pages within the last year, because I figure that older pages are unlikely to reflect the current rules. Hell, even pages from yesterday may be wrong.

    3) How it works may be significantly affected by how heavily-loaded FB servers are, by the quality of one’s cell phone data connection, by “Internet weather,” by local issues with your phone’s OS, etc.

    Most non-critical Internet services are affected by these kinds of things.

    4) As far as I can tell, FB is not talking.

    Try this search: https://apps.facebook.com/help/search/?query=%22green%20dot%22

    Official FB help is not very helpful.

    You would expect that given the interest in presence info, FB would have at least published a simple matrix of status indicators, and what they’re supposed to mean. As far as I can tell, they have not done this. It seems possible that they don’t want to precisely define it for the public, because it’s not reliable and it changes over time. They may view it as a potential liability if they describe a function that doesn’t always work the same way.

    5) Broadcasting detailed, realtime info about presence is a new cultural/emotional phenomenon.

    I don’t think the tech is up to the task, and certainly the culture is not. People are obviously confused and concerned about what all this means. Given that many people have 100s of FB friends with whom they have diverse relationships, it seems crazy that FB would provide this kind of presence info by default, with such crude privacy controls — but they do. See #6.

    6) Facebook doesn’t care about you.

    See #5. The fact that FB (by default) provides this kind of presence info to all of your friends is yet another indication of how little you mean to FB, compared to their bottom line. For example, FB could provide a privacy setting that would disable the green dot entirely, while still allowing you to chat. The fact that they don’t is a conscious, corporate choice. I believe it’s because knowing the presence status of your friends significantly increases chat use, thus increasing user engagement, and FB revenue. They will have weighed this privacy option and decided against it. Sucks, right?

    7) People who keep harping that you just shouldn’t care about trust issues related to the green dot — are annoying, and should STFU.

    While it’s true that a good relationship is hopefully based on trust that obviates concern about FB status indicators, not all relationships are good, or are established long enough for this kind of trust to exist. And the only way this trust develops at all is as a result of experiences collected over time. Seeing how a gf/bf’s behavior aligns with their statements is something we do all the time in many areas besides FB.

    That said, it seems certain that the green dot is so unreliable that you’d be a fool to base major relationship decisions on it. But that doesn’t mean that the green dot should be of no interest to you.

    8) It would be great if someone stepped up and created an online clearinghouse for info about green dot (i.e. FB presence) issues.

    I think you could sell enough advertising to make this a viable activity. At least according to my Google searches, there’s no quality reference point for these questions — mostly endless forum posts.

    9) You may see authoritative-sounding posts about the green dot that are actually nonsense. Such posts may be based on misunderstandings or bad info. They may also be trolling. I’ve found no authoritative info, and even if there were some, it might be invalidated by FB software changes. See #1.

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  56. MBK Avatar
    MBK

    This is the most intelligent comment I’ve seen (re: this issue) to date.

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  57. Ella Avatar
    Ella

    Then when “active now” with the green button up appears does that mean that the IPhone users are chating now with someone or they are just checking facebook news feed? please i need a confirmation!

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  58. Anon Avatar
    Anon

    This happened to me recently and me and my boyfriend broke up because it showed I was online throughout the night and crazy morning hours when I was sleeping and when he asked me I wouldn’t reply but still show active 2 seconds and then 5 minutes and then again 1 second ago. And because I’m saying I was sleeping he thinks I’m hiding something and I really just want to show I’m not lying but its difficult because that night my phone updated so I’m thinking it is why it was linked to fb.

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Hey
      I have the same problem
      My husband is usually showing as ‘active now’ on Facebook late at night and he says he was sleeping and didn’t touch it at all. He is using Samsung galaxy s3 and has Facebook app installed he doesn’t logout from this app. Can anyone plz tell me what does that mean and why is he avtive on Facebook when he claims he is sleeping and didn’t touch it.

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  59. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    Thank you so much for this post. Reading all the comments makes me feel a lot better knowing I’m not alone, and that it really is inaccurate and the time stamp and online status problems could be due to a multitude of things.

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  60. blaze Avatar
    blaze

    Ok well my fb messenger app has -afaik- always been accurate so far. Today (my birthday), my boyfriend and I were chatting bc I had to spend the day with family guests from out of town so I can’t see him til tmrw. So we were chatting and then he stopped answering, which he does sometimes even while texting or he sometimes just takes hours to text back. The numbers kept going up normally (I closed and reopened it periodically like 5 times bc I wasn’t sure if it was just not working or what. So after like 40 mins past, I was just like okay well I’ll just leave him alone til he answers me bc I didn’t know what else to do. Then I was back on messenger about 15 mins after that to chat with someone else and I opened the convo just to see if he’d come online and it said active 3 minutes ago. So I sent him another message which also got ignored and the numbers started going up again normally. An hour later I checked again and it said active now. At that point, I got mad and sent him an angry message. Less than a minute later, he opens it and then calls me and tells me he was driving and couldn’t answer and he wasn’t getting notifications.
    Opinions? Bc I find it strange for him to suddenly be online JUST when I got mad & also why would he be driving for 2 hours straight but still be in the same part of the city where he lives?! Am I just being paranoid because my last boyfriend cheated on me or does this seem fishy to anyone else? Because he keeps insisting that he was driving (he was with his (single) best friend though so idk what they were doing together but ik he was there bc when he called me his best friend said hey to me in the background.) What’s going on because I’m going crazy and I almost broke up with him because I’m 99% sure he’s lying but my mom told me to wait and see if it happens again before doing something that I might regret..

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  61. chris Avatar
    chris

    My question is, when my girlfriend says she is going to sleep, ill get on facebook like2 hours later and it will say she was active 20 minutes ago on messenger, but I know she wasn’t because she has to wake up really early for school, and it periodically says she is active all night, it will say active now, then 20 minutes ago, then it will say active now again then active 35 minutes ago, is there a logical explanation for this? Is it because she doesn’t log out of facebook on her desktop or her smartphone? I really need answer please, we got into a couple of arguments over this. Thanks

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  62. MsST Avatar
    MsST

    My friend says he wasnt online on PC, not even home, but green light was on. I sent two messages which were immediately marked “seen”. A couple minutes later the green light went out. I know for a fact that he wasnt home at the time and has no mobile FB…so what happened? How could those messages have been seen if he wasnt online???

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  63. efy Avatar
    efy

    if i choose to be offline to one friend of mine on chat(web),will it be the same on my mobile?(or she can see when i am last active?)

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  64. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Hi I have had similar problems with it showing my bf being online at various times throughout the day and I also got a little weird and worried… BUT I just want to reassure anyone like me out there that fb is just innaccurate, I don’t know why it’s so random but it literally would say he’s online or has been online 2mins, 7mins etc ago but he was sitting next and we were watching YouTube on his phone!

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Omg. I hope this is true cos I keep saying the same on this guys messenger (that ive known for 2 month’s now) thats hes “active” and im thinking whose he chatting to this late? All this time it kept saying active now every 5 10 minutes even now.. and I stopped myself from asking him cos I didnt wanna seem stalkerish lol but it bloody bugged me when he was online at times and he cant even chat to me?? God I hate messenger now..thank god I googled this and found the reason

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    2. Avatar
      Anonymous

      My guy does watch youtube alot that I know…they need to sort this problem out as it causes so much worry for ppl in relationships.

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  65. Glenn Avatar
    Glenn

    I got the same problems as you guys. But after reading all this I’m pretty sure that the “Last Active” can’t be trusted. And IF it can, well… Then I’m fucked… Because then I got a girl that is constantly ignoring my messages.

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  66. En Avatar
    En

    Had an argument over this when a bf said he went to bed at 12.00pm. An hour later i started to see him being online let say 1m ago – 7m ago continually. He then got angry with me assumed that he’s up to no good while he said he was asleep. My question was how can this possibly happen, when he’s NOT ONLINE i can clearly see that his Facebook status will shown as “Messenger ” (if he hasn’t come on fb messenger for over an hour, if less than an hour it will shown as minutes/hour) When he’s ONLINE, I can’t tell weather the “active now” is incorrect or right?

    An hour and a half later, now his Facebook messenger has been idled shown as “Messenger” means he hasn’t been on Facebook for few hours.. Likely i like to think like that but its weird when you came to think twice that somethings up because this usually doesn’t happen.

    Anyone who came across this kind of typical situations please let us know.

    Regards,
    En

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  67. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I’m talking to someone on Facebook, on messenger. It will show he hasn’t been active like 6 hours and then the timestamp will be gone under his name on my mobile. What does this mean?

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  68. Mahha Avatar
    Mahha

    Similar things are happening to me. Fb keeps changing my last active time from 1m to 7m constantly! (While chat is turned off and im not using the app) Sometimes it stucks on active now. But no green dot is available. Just the time stamp. it stops it only when i turn off cellular data or wifi. we tested this problem with a friend. Her fb seems to be working differently. When she is offline the whole day the time stamp was accurate. Only When she sent me a msg (while her chat was turned off) the time stamp was changed.

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  69. Debby Avatar
    Debby

    This feature needs to go. Have been having problems with my boyfriend for months over this. It is tearing us apart and I’m not sure how much longer we can last. He has snapped pictures of Chat showing me as active starting around 4:00 a.m. I am NEVER up at 4:00 a.m. There really is now way of defending yourself. It all comes down to trust. I have had 2 other friends of mine who have had this same issue, but they have overcome this obstacle. This Chat feature, to me, really is just a snooping tool. Who cares if you can see someone as active or not. Send your message and they will either get it or they won’t. If it’s important, call them on the phone. Tonight is the night – either he stops sending me pictures that it showing me online – or I’m getting rid of Facebook. He means more to me than Facebook Chat. You can’t imagine the hurt and mistrust this has caused us. Not sure we can or will recover. I prefer not to be another Facebook statistic.

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  70. Glenn Milford Avatar
    Glenn Milford

    No one mentions the free calling aspect of this problem. My GF says she was sleeping and the status showed active 3 hr. ago. Then it changed to on mobile for messenger and her FB page active. I used the free calling and it rang but there was no answer. Suddenly it went to Active 2 min. ago. and it say free calling is unavailable. I tried this with other friends all of which were inactive. For a few the phone would ring with no answer but for most it said free calling unavailable.

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  71. Avatar
    Anonymous

    my boyfriend is in the U.S army and he got his phone taken away until the end of the month.. However, I was just on fb this morning and it said that his fb was active 38 mins ago. This better be inaccurate because i was furious lmao

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  72. Goose Avatar
    Goose

    Ok. See, my boss is a firm believer that the ‘active now’ thing is VERY accurate. He has scaled me for being on Fb during work, when I hadn’t even been on it since that morning. He won’t give in to any other explanation since he is set on thinking its dead accurate.
    Ive been looking for ways to stop it since the damn thing could cost me my job! I will not be on the phone at all, all day and he still will say ‘it’s illegal to b on Fb while driving!’ And I never was! But I can’t say that cause its ‘just an excuse’ to him…. I have limited my Fb activity to a bare minimum just so this wouldn’t happen (even when I’m just at home) and it still does :/ I wish Fb gave the option to shut it off. Cause I’m highly considering deleting my Fb because of it. And I really don’t want to do that. But I also don’t want to lose my job because of a glitch!
    I do not have the newest Fb app downloaded, the one I have is actually an older version (I never update any apps). I have an iPhone 4S and I still have the original black layout.
    Is my only option to totally delete Fb all together? Or is there any other ways? Cause I don’t have the Fb messenger app downloaded, any messages I get is just on the Fb app itself.

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    1. Skeptical FB User Avatar
      Skeptical FB User

      Goose…and all others, really…it’s a sad commentary on the nature of everyday life when your employer or significant other takes more stock in FB Messenger for reliable information than feedback from their employee or partner. You can see from previous posts here–and your own experience– that the unfortunate “active now” feature is total BS. It doesn’t sound as if your boss would be open to considering the comments provided by websites such as this. You could block him/her on FB, but I don’t suppose that would go over well, either.
      I’m on FB, too…but determined that FB is strictly out to suck up all the info it can for whatever purposes they want, and to hell with the users. You have to be pretty careful who you “friend” and the possible blow-back involved…as in your situation. Live and learn. You can’t do much about the attitude of your boss…Might want to update your resume.

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  73. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    I have used the phone feature in the new Messenger a couple of times (international and domestic). When I am actually on a call using the messenger app, does my FB status say Active Now? I would assume it does, but have not seen any definitive comments on this in particular.

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  74. anon! Avatar
    anon!

    Now i feel better that i am not the only one that was going crazy after seeing my boy going active when he said he was going to sleep… I came and googled it and found this blog and now I see many others are going thru the same. I guess i don’t need to worry about it anymore!

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  75. anon Avatar
    anon

    So my girlfriend has started using fb messenger a lot more.recently. She always used to show up in my “active now” contacts when online. Things seemed pretty normal but recently ( especially for the last 2hrs) her status has been permanently on “1m” but if I open our conversation thread it says she’s “active now” is this something that happens when you switch your fb chat off?

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  76. John Avatar
    John

    Yeah me and my girl have had fights about that too. I see her in chat but she says she isnt on or she says she is going to bed and i see her on, its crazy cause i never saw her on before well sometimes but now all of a sudden she is. I think its the person actually not being in chat or facebook is messing up, or that she/he has you blocked from chat or had their chat hidden to you. I agree that its crazy when it shows someone in chat when they actually arent. I dont get it. I think there might be something to it but then again maybe it’s just facebook. I wouldnt worry myself about it too much though, its not worth it. Or if someone really is in chat just be honest about it. I have came to the following theories…

    1.He/she is actually on chat but has it hidden from you.

    2.Facebook is actually messing up and it’s not them it’s Facebook and their really not on.

    3.Their just lying about not being on.

    Sincerely, Peace & Love, John.

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  77. Sham Avatar
    Sham

    I’ve got a great idea !!! HOW ABOUT FACEBOOK JUST FIX ALL THESE BLOODY ISSUES !! It’s not like they havent made enough money and also enough people complaining about it !!

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  78. Rosy Avatar
    Rosy

    This is really nightmarish, my bf just broke up with me coz he says I was online at about 4am and I swear I wasn’t…I was sleeping. He totally believes on tech, and well he even has a screen shot where i was online at that time, even other day he sent me my location n street view with it, n I was working!!!! Facebook is really wrong and I have no way of proving it. I love him and it is crushing to see this app is more believable than me. 😦

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  79. Avatar
    Anonymous

    is it possible to say active 2 min ago, 8 min ago, 5 min ago, active now, etc without user using fb or mobile at all, but sleeping?

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  80. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    How about this: Before anyone begins to share a paranoid rant about this topic, read all of the prior comments here. All of them. You may very well have then absorbed enough info to assess that it isn’t worth the time/effort/mental anguish you might expend to stress out, break-up, or melt down. You might need something or someone else in your life. All this “Active Now” info or X # of hours ago…NOT WORTH IT. Live your life and let them live theirs…if it all hinges on your monitoring FB Messenger Active times?!–think about it….this is not a good thing.

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  81. helen Avatar
    helen

    1. FB AUTOMATIC UPDATES RUN BRIEFLY EVERY 12 HOURS AND SHOWS YOU AS ACTIVE
    2. Close all of your FB pages and messenger before you go to bed
    3. Make sure your hot spot is off
    4 There is a setting that lets FB use data before Wifi, turn that off while you are at it.

    Been dealing with some grief over this issue and this is what I have found.

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  82. onemoreday Avatar
    onemoreday

    Mm. I’m not even in a relationship and it’s frustrating. I still live with my ex, but now I’m wondering wtf is going on when it’s like “mobile, green dot, 3min/secs/whatever ago”, I mean it’s almost noon and he hasn’t left for work and I guess (again we’re exes so it doesn’t really matter) I was figuring there might be a girl over, but then FB says he’s online… so maybe no girl, I have no ffing idea. I do agree with something a previous poster said though, the problem isn’t with Facebook, it’s a lack of trust. Like if the people are doing stuff to hide that’s shady, but it’s also stupid to be stalking them online…

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  83. Sarah Jones Avatar
    Sarah Jones

    For starters in not getting convinced in the Glitch of “Active Now” or Active X time ago.

    1. Trust if he/she said they are not online that time they are not!. The time stamp is unreliable. If using mobile phone and just minimize the application it somehow consider you are online some smart phone kill application when you close or not in use, some just keep it active depending on your settings of battery saving, Notification, and Standby mode.
    2. If have trust issue but you want to believe on you significant other RESIST checking his/her online activity it will let you feel disappointed knowing he/she is online and not answering back to your message or not considering he/she doesn’t even remember you when he/she become active. Advice put him/her in Archive so they wont appear in your message list.
    3. He/She will come back to you if he/she receive your message or miss call people are busy and it is not only you is on your partners friend list or sending a message to them. Just “Trust” and it’s up to them how they will interact with those people, Some are not suppose to talk about because it will create issue. You and your partner are avoiding this kind of conflicts so both of you are handling this situation on your own.
    4. Respect the Freedom and Space people need this Even you. It doesn’t mean they get tired of you or something some people need this to recharge for maybe a long week of stress or getting out of comfort zone or Exploring new things or being overwhelmed with New things to do.
    5. Be busy on your own way, Don’t let them be the reason of your own happiness or sadness, It’s your own feelings you are responsible on what you feel you are just using them as a catalyst and it is not bad. Use the catalyst as your inspiration and Bonus. Don’t meddle with this small issue in online activity and you will be stuck for it as long you can’t accept it. Technology make us less patient, ” Human made mistakes and Human made technology” don’t depend too much on this.

    The only disadvantage so far i can see on this issue they might use this as an excuse in ignoring you and avoiding you. (Ignore this disadvantage if you trust your partner hahaha PEACE :p )

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  84. anon Avatar
    anon

    ok ive been reading this blog today and its great and im gonna probably ask all the same questions someone else has but im gonna come right out and say it, its about fb chat and my man etc. Here goes..
    .
    we both use fb on computer/laptop (no mobile/tablets etc. at all). sometimes im online on the chat and 1m will come up next to his name, it can stay like this for ages, sometimes it will say 2 or 3m, then back to 1m. it doesnt have a green dot next to his name, just the time stamp. does this mean he is messenging someone whilst his chat is offline? and/or does it mean he’s online on the chat messenging someone but has me blocked? (using the, only let these friends see you/ not see you, feature). he also had the fb button installed on the toolbar at the top so when he opened his browser, his facebook would be automatically signed in, but he could for instance just be on youtube or checking his email, could it be thats whats happening?

    can someone just give me a straightforward answer because its driving me nuts, and i know ppl are going to go on about trust issues and i do have reason and thats another convo lol just want a straightforward answer

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Some questions of yours are answered on my comment ( No.1)
      But here are the answers to your following question regarding Instantly being inactive for 1 min your choices are Maybe he is Hidden or Turned off Chat to All or Turned off Chat with you so its either of the two this is applicable if using Desktop or Laptop only. If he has green dot it means he is actively chatting or browsing the facebook or using other Web tabs like Youtube, 9gag or some web pages that the facebook is linked to log in. The thing is you will not be online directly if you are using youtube 9gag and some web pages if you don’t click the share button to access your facebook.

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  85. Rick Avatar
    Rick

    Actually it IS acurate. The indicated elapsed time shows that an individual is currently signed in to Facebook and when their device last pinged the Messenger server.

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  86. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Check this post:

    Facebook 1 minute timestamp

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    1. Even more anonymous Avatar
      Even more anonymous

      Seriously? I do not doubt your expertise. It just seems to be such a sad commentary that the gen pop now has to sift through all of this and melt down because there’s a possibility one’s friend/lover might be texting someone else. Maybe a direct question–via actual face to face human contact–might reveal more than you can imagine.

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  87. Veryconfused Avatar
    Veryconfused

    This Blog has been very, very helpful. Thank you so much. no need to make myself upset anymore. The time stamp is not accurate. It is clear to see this now. Many, many factors that can influence it. I am done with thinking anything negative or bad about it. I have no idea what my time stamp looks like to my boyfriend and it may look like I am up on FB all night when I am not. Peace Out.

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  88. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Im actually having a similar issue right now. i’ve messaged my boyfriend two days ago and suddenly my messages weren’t delivering only being sent, but his status would often say he is online, active 1m ago, etc and the messages STILL say “sent” and not “delivered”. He does have messenger and is using a tablet for facebook. so im not quite sure whats happening either he might be ignoring my messages or somethings wrong with his internet connection :/

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    1. Mary Avatar
      Mary

      Happens to me lately. Don’t worry. But to be honest, this whole thing starts getting me paranoid. My best friend is sick of social media (and i believe him cause he is working a lot via fb) and now he doesn’t seem wanting to chat with me like he used to. You know, we used to chill together listening to music and writing to each other and all of sudden this has stopped cause of his anti social media strategy. So far so good. But when I see him online a minute ago or active now or whatever and turns out that he ignores my messages I get paranoid! Cant hep it so don’t judge! And I am wondering if this online ago thing still in 2015 means that he maybe checks his timeline or if he really goes on messenger chatting with other ppl while ignoring me. (and maybe he does for his job but this doesn’t stop me of going crazy).. I have this fake account I use for trolling (lol) and it turns out that active one minute ago can mean that you just check your timeline and not your messages and the green dot means that you definitely check your messenger. But can one minute ago mean too that you go onto your messenger?? I am paranoid over this cause i hate being ignored by ppl i love and car about!! Plus I see my mom who can be inactive for an hour and then all of a sudden it shows her active one minute ago without even checking the fb or any other app. Same happened with my brother a few days ago. Please help cause i am getting full blown paranoid (plus I have borderline which means that this can affect my mood like seriously). And yes i have thoroughly read all comments but I am curious to know if all this still happens in 2015! Most of comments are at least a year old. Thank you !

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  89. Shubhangi Avatar
    Shubhangi

    Either it’s a glitch on fb’s end or our bf’s are lying :p
    because it does’nt show that other friends are online.

    Seriously leads to mayhem!

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  90. L-J Avatar
    L-J

    yep this is still happening in 2015.. I’m in a long distance relationship with my bf so we tend to communicate mostly through messenger and phone calls when apart.

    There are times when he shows up as being on / offline every 20 mins or so, as if he is chatting to someone but always insists he wasn’t online when I ask so I dunno. I’m hoping it’s a glitch, he has given me reason to have trust issues in the past, as well as in relationships before this one so tbh this whole fb thing is making me feel really paranoid.

    As much as I wish that fb didn’t exist or that I could find the willpower to delete my account, I find the next best thing to do is to limit my online time to maybe 1 hour every night. I find myself much more relaxed and less anxious. Crazy to think that a silly little time stamp can cause so many problems for people.

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  91. P Avatar
    P

    My relationship ended for a whole host of other reasons, but regarding the active now thing, here’s what I think:

    It could very well be a glitch for some people, but when my partner and I were apart, I would often see him active now in the middle of the night when he was supposedly sleeping. He was not “seeing” my messages but was clearly online and active. He denied this. However red flags went up after I confronted him and suddenly the “glitch” went away. It would show him being active several hours ago, not active now in the middle of the night. So if it was a totally random thing that had nothing to do with him being online, then why would it disappear after I confronted him? Made no sense. As I said the relationship ended for other reasons, and bottom line is if you are feeling upset over the Facebook thing, then chances are there are other issues at play and you should either learn to trust or wake up and smell the coffee and get out!

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  92. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I have a same problem, my boyfriend aaid i was on video chat as he said he saw my phone call icon stay grey as the others are light up. Which i was alseep and it show last active was 6 hours ago. I dont know how to explain to him as i also see one or two of my friend also had a grey phone call icon. Had anyone have the same problem as me? How can I fix it?

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  93. Elke Huhn Avatar
    Elke Huhn

    Hi, I think your website might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Opera, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, wonderful blog!

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    1. jdrch Avatar
      jdrch

      Thanks for the heads up, but since this is a wordpress.com blog, WordPress themselves are entirely responsible for the layout.

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  94. Tasha Kroeger Avatar
    Tasha Kroeger

    It’s truly a nice and helpful piece of info. I’m happy that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

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  95. Me Avatar
    Me

    well…my life partner and I, have the same problem…he seems online on and off basically all day long when he is at work (he works in hospital) and he says its a glitch because he doesnt chat to anyone, except me smetimes (and that he doesnt open Facebook app either), but then when he comes home and i can see that he is not on his phone – its always offline…So its accurate when he is at home…My question is: can the problem be about the wifi server in the hospital?!….even though I know its a very long shot and maybe makes no sense 😦 this is really buzzing me all the time and affects our relationship…

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  96. Батзориг Лхагвасүрэн Avatar
    Батзориг Лхагвасүрэн

    i’m logging on laptop and she is active but i logged on my iphone and she still 1 min ago (she use samsung)

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  97. Dennis Avatar
    Dennis

    Call this a thank you message and a way of me showing gratitude to the best hacker on earth for a wonderful job well done repeatedly he has disappointed me. Not I felt like I was been played I had to do something at first I got ripped off by some fake hacker’s until I hired chrisbennetthacks (at) gmail he was real quick and nice. He delivered I didn’t have to start looking for him contact him for Phone Hack, Social media, Email, Track location, Call log, gallery, text messages, deleted messages facebook messenger WhatsApp, Skype, Change School grade/score.

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  98. Avatar
    Anonymous

    I am having this issue, my boyfriend thinks that I am talking with another person online with the messenger app. I am not doing this but he shows me that even though I have this person blocked. every time I log on to my facebook messenger, with in a minute or so this person is logging on as well.I’ve been accused of cheatin, texting, and even i’m sending pictures. This has caused a lot of stress in my relationship and I’m about to walk away from a great man over all of this. I know the truth and I’m not doing anything wrong. how do I fix this, and keep it from happening

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  99. Aiden Avatar
    Aiden

    Hi I try to understand how it works

    My gf was supposed to sleep but she showed “Online” two times. She said maybe it was because she received messages while asleep.

    But I sent her a message when her profile showed “Online 30min ago” and her profile didn’t switch “Online”.
    And 40min later her status was back “Online”…

    So is it possible that my own message didn’t turn her profile “Online” but others from other poeple did?

    Or not link at all with receiving messages?

    Thanks

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    1. Annie Mei Avatar
      Annie Mei

      I think that is inaccurate as well, that happened to me also, seemingly the active status getting triggered when I sent someone a message. They popped on but didn’t read the message or reply till later on. So I don’t know. Even after seeing all the comments from people in similar situations, I feel ridiculous about getting so worked up over this but I can’t help it. I wish I didn’t give a fuck, and just got on with my day.

      Also my issue is the fact that I understand that messenger is wrong sometimes and fairly inaccurate as it’s been proven when my partner was sitting next to me and we had been doing things for hours without looking at our phones, then I managed to sneak a peek in and it said they were active which was impossible. At the same time, my partner has lied to me before about other dodgy things, not necessarily messenger. So how do you know which is which, what is true or not. I mean, only a monster would pray on these insecurities and use them in their favour, but what the hell do I know.

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