How to check if someone is active on Facebook

If you use Facebook often, you might have wondered if there is a way to see if someone is online. Maybe you want to catch up with a family member, friend, colleague, or you might just be curious.

Fortunately, Facebook has made this process easy. In this article, you will learn how to check if someone is active on both PCs and mobile devices.

The best way to see if someone is active on Facebook using a PC

Follow the steps below to find out if someone is active on Facebook using a web browser:

1. Go to the “home page” by clicking on the Facebook logo icon or the “Home” button.
   
2. On the right, you will see the "Contacts" tab which contains a list of your friends. If the "Contacts" tab does not appear automatically, you must click on the "Contacts" icon.
   
3. To be able to see the activity status of your Facebook friends, make sure your "Active status" option is activated. Click on the “Options” button located in the “Contacts” card and select the “Enable active status” option.
   
4. Look for the green dot between your friend's profile picture and name. If you see it, it means they are currently active on the Facebook or Messenger app.
   

Note that the green dot next to the username can have two meanings. The person uses either Facebook or Messenger since Messenger was recently removed from Facebook and is now a separate application. If you see the green dot, it doesn't necessarily mean they're using Messenger itself.

Therefore, you can message someone on Facebook Messenger after seeing the green dot, but you may not receive a response. The user can just browse the Facebook app and not use Messenger at the moment. Based on this, you should not immediately think that a person is deliberately ignoring you.

Another easy way is to click on the Messenger icon next to your name. A list of your friends will open, with a green dot next to active users. Those without a point will instead have a last active hour status.

If you don't see any activity status indicators, it could be for the following reasons:

• The person has not used Facebook for more than 24 hours
• The person has disabled the "Active status" option
• The person blocked you on Messenger

How to check if someone is active on Facebook Messenger

As in the previous example, note that Facebook and Messenger are currently two separate apps. The green dot indicating that the person is active will remain green as long as you are engaged on Facebook or Messenger. A green dot will turn gray once you've logged out of Facebook and made sure both programs aren't running in the background.

When you open the Facebook Messenger app, a horizontal bar with currently active users appears at the top of the screen.

Another way to do this is to select the "People" icon at the bottom of the screen. Once done, a list of users currently using Messenger or Facebook will be displayed.

To see active users in this way, the "Active Status" option must be enabled on your account. If this option is not enabled automatically, follow these steps:

1. Open the Facebook Messenger app.
   
2. Select account settings by clicking on the user's profile picture in the upper left corner of the screen.
   
3. In the "Profile" settings, select the "Active status" option.
   
4. Check the option “Show when you are active”. This way you can see users with Active Status enabled.
   

Another way to see if someone is active on Facebook Messenger is to find their profile.

1. Click on the search bar in Messenger and enter the username.
   
2. The requested person will be displayed. If there is a green dot next to their profile picture, the user is active on either Messenger or Facebook.
   

Two green dots may appear when you click on someone's name in Messenger. The first appears next to their profile picture, while the second appears next to the video icon. When you see a green dot next to the video icon on Messenger, that means the person is accessible via video chat.

You can also use a web browser to access Messenger itself and check if someone is currently active.

1. Log in and access your account on Messenger web page.
   
2. Select the "Settings" option (shown by three dots) on the left side of the screen.
   
3. A drop-down menu will open where you need to select the Active Contacts option.
   
4. On the left, under the name "Contacts", a list of those currently active will be displayed.
   

If the list is empty, the Active Status option can be disabled. You can activate it by selecting the Settings option and then the preferences, where you must select and activate the "Enable active state" option.

Can you check if someone is active on Facebook without being friends?

Unfortunately, Facebook does not allow us to check the activity status of people who are not on our friends list. However, there is an exception.

You can check if someone is active on Facebook without being a friend if you've messaged them before. If they are active, you will see the green indicator. Otherwise, you'll see the last time they were active.

To check the activity status in this way, the person you are looking for must have the "Active status" option activated, just like you. If you don't know how to enable this option, we covered it earlier in the article.

You can also send a message to the person whose online presence you want to discover via Messenger. If the reader sees the message you sent, they will display a "Seen" notification under the user's name, indicating that they have seen your message.

Keep in mind that someone can see your message even without a return as “Seen” status.

Cover the essentials

As you can see, checking the activity status of Facebook users is quite simple. Just make sure that the "Activity Status" option is enabled. While this is the case, you will have an overview of active users through visual indicators.

It's that simple, just look for the green dot next to the username.

Do you often check if someone is active on Facebook? Have you tried any of the suggestions mentioned above? Let us know in the comments section below.