How to See When Someone Was Last Online on WhatsApp

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Plus, how to hide your own "last seen" from others

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: August 14, 2025 Fact Checked

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See When Someone Was Online

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Hide Your Last Seen Activity

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FAQ

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Q&A

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Tips

WhatsApp makes it easy to see when someone was last active in the app. Just open your chats, select a conversation, and you'll see "Last Seen" at the top of the conversation, along with the date and time the user was last active. This wikiHow guide will show you how to see when a contact was last online in WhatsApp on your Android, iPhone, or iPad, and how to control the privacy of your own "last seen".

See Last Active Status (Last Seen) on WhatsApp

Look at the top of a WhatsApp chat to see when a person was last seen. If you see "Online" instead of "Last seen," the person has WhatsApp open right now. A person's last seen status won't be visible if either of you has hidden your own last seen.

Section 1 of 3:

See When Someone Was Last Active

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This displays your list of chats.
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Tap a conversation. Select a conversation with an individual contact.
- Group chats don't display "last seen" information, so you'll need to choose a one-on-one message.
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View the "last seen" date and time at the top. Once the conversation loads, "last seen (date) at (time)" will appear below the contact's name at the top of the screen. This is the date and time the contact last opened WhatsApp on their phone or tablet.
- If the word "Online" appears below the contact's name, they have WhatsApp open on their device right now.^{[1]
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- If a user has blocked you, you won't be able to see their "last seen" information (and may not even be able to view messages with them).^{[2]
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- Users may also opt to hide their online activity in their Privacy settings, but there are still third-party methods available for checking their status.^{[3]
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Section 2 of 3:

Hide Your Last Seen Activity

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Open your WhatsApp Settings. On an Android, tap the three-dot menu ⋮ and select Settings. On an iPhone or iPad, tap Settings (the gear).^{[4]
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- Hiding your "last seen" on WhatsApp will also prevent you from seeing when other people were last active. If you want to see when people were last active, you should keep your last seen visible to your contacts (or everyone).
This expands your WhatsApp privacy settings.
Now you'll see a list of options for controlling who can see when you were last active on WhatsApp.
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Choose who can see your activity status.
- The default, Everyone, allows anyone on WhatsApp to see when you were last active, and whether you're online now.
- If that's a little too public for you, you can change it to My Contacts so only your contacts can see it, or try My Contacts Except… to hide your last seen from a few specific people.
- If you're really trying to stay private, select Nobody so no one can see when you're on WhatsApp or when you last used it.

Section 3 of 3:

FAQ

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Why can't I see when someone was last active on WhatsApp? If someone's last seen or online status isn't visible, there are a few possible reasons:^{[5]
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- You've hidden your own last seen.
- The person has hidden their last seen.
- You haven't added the person as a contact or sent them a message.
- The person hasn't chatted with you or added you as a contact.
- The person has blocked you.
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Will someone know if I check their WhatsApp last seen? Unlike when you view someone's status, the person will not know you've checked their last seen. Likewise, you also cannot tell when someone views your last seen information.
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Is last seen on WhatsApp accurate? For the most part, if someone's last seen is visible, the time and date you see is when that user last had the app open while connected to the internet.
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What's the difference between "last seen" and "online" on WhatsApp? "Online" means the person's phone is connected to the internet and WhatsApp is open. "Last seen" means the person is not online right now, but was last online (with WhatsApp open) at the time and date shown.^{[6]
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Community Q&A

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Question

Is it possible for "last seen" to not show, even if one is not blocked?

Community Answer

Yes. It just means that person limited the setting to either no one or contact only. It doesn't necessarily mean you are blocked.

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Is the time last seen my time or the last seen person's time on WhatsApp?

Community Answer

It is the person whose name the time is under. So, for example, "Dave Yesterday at 10:21am" means that Dave was on yesterday at 10:21.

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What if it's not turning to double blue ticks on WhatsApp?

Community Answer

That may be because the recipient has turned off read receipts, so it will not turn to blue ticks.

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Tips

Even if someone's activity status shows as "online," they may not have read your message.^{[7]
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If you don't want people to know when you've read their WhatsApp messages, you can turn off read receipts.

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The Updates tab may also be worth checking out, as you can update your status to reflect their recent activity.

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