How to Log Out of Facebook Messenger: Tips to Stop Facebook Saying You’re Online
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(Pocket-lint) – Despite people’s general distrust of anything Facebook after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Messenger continues to be immensely popular. It’s not without its problems though. You’ve probably seen people online when they’re not, or you’ve encountered this problem yourself.
Messenger can sometimes cause drama by showing you to be online when you are not. It’s not ideal if you’re supposed to be working or if your friends and family see you online and think you’re ignoring your messages.
Also, if you have discovered that you are still logged into Facebook Messenger on a device that you no longer own, you may want to log out of that device remotely to prevent unwanted access.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help with various tips to help you sign out of Messenger with ease.
How to sign out of Messenger on your phone
If you have the Messenger app installed on your smartphone, the good news is that it’s pretty easy to access settings to sign out of Messenger on that device and on others.
First open the Messenger app, then follow these steps:
- Click on your profile picture at the top right of the app to access settings and account management.
- Scroll all the way down to find and click on “account settings”.
- Scroll down to “security and login” and click on it.
- Under “where you are connected”, click on “see more”.
- Find the devices you want to sign out of and click the three dots, then Sign Out.
By following these steps, you will be able to sign out of different devices with just a few clicks. This will help you solve the problem of ghost devices that you are always logged in on and which can make you appear online when you don’t want to.
You may find an inexplicable number of devices connected to Facebook, but many of them are probably duplicates. So don’t panic too much.
While you’re in this security section of the app, we also recommend changing your password and using a password manager to make sure it’s secure. If you’re concerned about your account security, you can (and should) set up and use two-factor authentication in these settings.
Disable active status
If you just don’t want your Messenger to constantly show you as online, there are options other than logging out. You can also change your active status in the settings. Disabling active status will help you solve this problem.
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In the active status settings, you will see a note about this feature which reads:
“Your friends and connections can see if you are active or have been recently active on this profile. You can also see this information about them. To change this setting, turn it off when using Messenger or Facebook and your active status will no longer be displayed.”
To disable active status, follow these steps:
- Open Messenger and click on your profile picture at the top left of the app.
- Scroll down to profile settings
- Click Active Status
- Click to turn it off
- Choose the period during which you want to deactivate it.
You can choose to make this deactivation temporary by selecting a period of one hour, eight hours, until the next day or a custom period. You can also use this option to disable active status until you re-enable it.
How to close the Messenger session on the desktop
If you don’t have your phone, you can also log out of Facebook Messenger on your desktop device. The steps are similar, so it’s quite simple. First click on your profile picture at the top right of the website, then follow these steps:
- Click on “Settings and privacy”.
- Click on “Settings”.
- Click on “Security and login”.
- Search for “where you are connected”, then click on “see more”.
- Click on the three dots next to any device and click “Sign out”.
Again, if you haven’t already, it’s worth setting up and using two-factor authentication and a secure password here too if you’re worried.
How to Hide Your Status on Messenger
In addition to logging out, Facebook also gives you the option to hide your active status on Messenger, even to the point of changing it to hide it from certain people.
To do this, go to the Messenger website here. Click on your profile picture in the top left and click on preferences, then click on “Active status”. You can then choose to disable it or enable it entirely or select who can see your online status. So you can hide it from everyone but a select few, or turn it off for that annoying friend who keeps wondering why you’re online but not answering.
Written by Adrian Willings.
