How to Find Out if Someone Is Active on Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok

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It could be that you want to confirm whether a friend is avoiding you on Snapchat. Maybe you hope to strike up a conversation with someone on IG. Or perhaps you are a parent who has forbidden your child from excessively using TikTok but suspects they are still logging in behind your back.

Each of these circumstances may be different from one another. But they all require one thing—learning discreetly whether someone is active on Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok.

In this article, we unravel everything you should know to figure this out. All you need to do is find their social media with a name search and log into your account on the respective networking site.

Let’s get started!

Here’s How to Know if Someone Is Active on Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok

Platforms like Snapchat, IG, and TikTok have taken off in popularity among younger audiences, mostly for their creative vibe, immersive features (filters and editing tools included!), and simple and straightforward user experiences.

In a short span, they have become indispensable for connecting with friends (and making new ones), sharing digital content, and keeping tabs on what’s going on with others.

But how can you learn whether someone is active on these social platforms?

Here’s what you’ve got to do:

  • Look for the Green Dot on Their Profile

Ever noticed the green dot that lights up next to your friends’ Bitmoji? This signals they were recently active on Snapchat.

Instagram and TikTok have the same feature. You can find it next to the profile pictures. But there’s a difference. On these two platforms, the green dot indicates that the relevant person is online right at that moment. On Snapchat, however, it can appear even when an individual is no longer on the platform (for up to 24 hours since they were last active).

Note that the green dot will only be visible if a user has turned on their activity indicator. You might also need to be part of each other’s networks (i.e., as friends or followers).

  • Check Their “Last Seen” Status

Snapchat’s Snap Map feature provides a “last seen” update next to a user’s avatar whenever someone uses the app. (It might say something like, “here 2mn ago” or “here just now”).

Instagram has a similar mechanism. If you and the person in question have messaged each other in the past, IG will mention when they were last online under their profile picture (e.g. “Active 1h ago”) in the Messages section.

The same goes for TikTok.

But as with the green dot, a person should have enabled their activity status on these platforms for you to see a “last seen” update.

  • Review Their Posts 

Has the person you are curious about shared any stories or snaps (videos or photos) on Snapchat? Stories on this platform only last a day (before they are removed automatically). So, if you see content uploaded by someone, it is a sure sign that they were around not long ago.

You can use this method with other platforms, too. But in some social media, you might need to be a friend or a follower to see a posted time on content.

Pro tip: Most platforms (like Snapchat, etc.) let you set up notifications so you can get alerted the moment one of your friends shares a post or Story. By activating it, you can figure out when they were online faster.

  • Find Out Who’s Viewed Your Posts

An easy way to catch someone online is when they view your content. Once you share a Story on Snapchat, for instance, click your Bitmoji on the top left of your screen, select the Story, and tap the eyeball icon at the bottom. This will bring up a list of who has viewed your post.

Remember, Snapchat Stories only last for 24 hours. So, if the relevant person is on this list, then you know for sure that they were recently active on the platform. And if their name is on top of the list, they might even still be around. (This platform also lets you send a Snap to a specific person and find out when they opened it).

You can try this with TikTok and Instagram, too. For example, on TikTok, you could learn who has checked your videos by turning on “Post view history” under the Privacy settings. (But activating this will also allow others to know when you view their content).

  • Keep Tabs on Their Platform Interactions

Likes, comments, followings, and profile views can all signal that a person is active on social media (sometimes in real time).

Take, for example, TikTok. By screening someone’s “Following” list and what they “like” (by clicking the heart icon on the top right of their profile page) over a period of time, you can easily figure out whether they have been active lately on the platform.

Snapchat’s Snap Score, which appears next to a user’s Bitmoji on their profile, is another useful feature. This indicates their level of activity—the higher the score, the higher the engagement. An increasing Snap Score is a sign that the user has been logging in and interacting with content on Snapchat.

A Few Final Thoughts

Today, there are plenty of ways to find out if someone is active on sites like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. But learning whether they are actually online could be fairly challenging in some cases.

For instance, certain features that alert you to a person’s active status might not work when they block you or if you are not mutually connected (as friends or followers). Technical glitches and slow network connections could also lead to delayed status updates. And sometimes, these indicators might give an inaccurate reading when, say, someone leaves the app running in the background without actually using it.

Plus, most networking platforms let users go completely off the radar by hiding their visibility or hibernating their accounts.

Keep these in mind when assessing someone’s activities, and remember to respect their privacy without resorting to overly intrusive practices.