All Instagram users warned to check setting TODAY or risk being spied on

INSTAGRAM users should check their settings to make sure an important feature is turned off.

It's possible for other Instagram users to monitor your activity.

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But with the right settings, you can ensure that you're operating covertly.

Instagram can show others when you're online and last active.

This is enabled by default when you sign up to Instagram.

Thankfully, it's entirely possible to turn it off.

Importantly, if you turn it off then you can't see when other people are online either.

But for the privacy-conscious, it's definitely a trade-off worth considering.

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So how do you switch it off?

Open the Instagram app and then navigate to your profile on an iPhone or Android.

Tap into Settings and then go to Privacy.

Now choose Activity Status and set the toggle to Off.

This means people who you follow or have privately messaged to can no longer see how recently you were online.

People who don't fall into that category wouldn't have been able to see your status anyway.

It also turns off Show When You're Active Together to hide your activity status in DMs.

The online status appears as a green name next to usernames and photos.

And in your DMs, you would see a recent activity status next to the person's name.

You can also turn it off on a PC by navigating to Settings > Privacy & Security and then unticking the box next to Show Activity Status.

Importantly, your Activity Status being off won't affect your read receipts.

There's no setting to turn off read receipts en masse, although you can "Restrict" an account so that they can't see when you've read messages.

But this limits your interactions in other ways, so it's not an ideal solution.

Turning Activity Status off is very common, and is a great idea for people who are concerned about their privacy – and the risk of stalkers.

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