How To Tell If Someone Is Online in the Line Chat App

Since you are reading this article you already know that it’s quite hard to tell if someone is online on Line. In fact, there is no small green or blue dot, or any other indicator that signals a user’s status. And it’s safe to assume that this is some kind of privacy feature that protects you and the other Line users from the overly chatty admirers.

Therefore, you are left to guestimate whether a person is online or not. But is it really all you can do? Of course, not. We’ll give you some tips and tricks to make a more accurate guess about your friend’s online status. Plus, there are some tips and tricks you might find useful to hide your online status and avoid read recipient.

Line Online Status – More Than a Guessing Game

The quickest way to determine if someone is online is to send the person a message and check if he or she reads it.

You can also go to the person’s timeline and look for the latest posts. To navigate to their timeline, tap on the user’s profile and select Posts from the bottom left.

You can switch between the Posts and Photos/Videos tabs to preview the latest updates (if there are any). It’s worth noting that these methods may be effective, but there are some drawbacks.

First of all, Line is not exactly a social network so your friends might rarely post anything, a person might just ignore your message, or they aren’t getting cellular service. Moreover, there are hacks to work around the read recipient feature.

Status Messages

Some users do partake in Line’s Status Message function. This feature allows users to update a message that can be found under the ‘Posts’ tab from their profile.

If you’re lucky enough, the person you’re interested in will have left a Status Message letting you know they’ll be away for a bit. To check for a Status Message follow these steps:

Step 1

Open the Line app and navigate to the profile of the person you’re interested in by tapping on their name in the list that appears.

Step 2

Tap on ‘Posts’ in the lower left-hand corner just as you did before. You can also tap on their profile and see the message just under their name.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the user set their Status Message to say “Not Online.” Although it isn’t likely that your friends and contacts will be this proactive, it is worth checking their profile for any updates.

How to Trick Read Recipient in Line

Is there a switch to turn off read recipient in Line? No, there isn’t. Though this doesn’t mean it’s impossible, you just have to think outside the box, so to speak.

The thing you can do from within the app is to disable message notifications. Tap on the gear icon, select Notifications, and choose one of the options. You can completely toggle them off or disable message and thumbnail previews.

Ignoring the group chat or individual chat tags is also easy. Just tap on the button next to Mentions to toggle it off. Turning off all notifications may be useful, but the read recipient is still there once you open the message.

Some users go the extra mile to hide their online status. They turn on the Airplane mode and then read the message. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to see the read recipient as soon as they switch the Airplane mode off.

Self-Destructing Chats, Deleting Photos, and Third-Party Trackers

Aside from the non-existent status indicator and read recipient workarounds, there are other ways to hide in plain sight on Line. But you should know that Line keeps updating the app and privacy policy. This means you might not be able to utilize some of the features based on the Line version you use.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

This one comes straight from the spy movies. Regardless of the recipient’s online status, you can set a Line text to self-destruct after a certain time.

To do it, open a chat and hit the name of the recipient, then tap Hidden Chat. Plus, there’s a timer that makes the message disappear after the set period.

Note: This feature might not be available with the latest Line update.

Removing Photos

It would be really cool if you could set photos on Line to self-destruct, but there is still no such feature. You need to do it the old fashioned way and delete or hide the photos manually. Here’s how to do it.

Access the Activity Log and select All, choose the photo, and tap “Hide from Timeline” or “Delete Photo.” This way you may prevent someone from guessing if you are online or not.

Note: If the photo is in an album, hit the Share icon and select Remove.

Third-Party Spy Software

In this section, we won’t recommend any of the third-party tracking apps because very few are actually available on App or Play Store. However, this doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of spy apps out there.

Most of these apps are designed to keep tabs on the user’s chats, location, activities, data usage, etc. And while they might be useful to determine their online status, it’s advisable to approach these apps with caution. The spy apps seem to pick up on a lot of private information and there’s no way to tell how well the information is protected.

Don’t Cross the Line

One way or the other, you can never be 100% if someone is online on Line. So how do you tell if your friends are available for Line chats or call? Do you send them a message and wait for a reply? Or maybe, do something else? Drop us a comment and share your experience with the rest of the community.