# What Does the Green Dot Mean on LinkedIn? Active Status > What does the green dot mean on LinkedIn? A solid green dot means someone is active now. Learn what the other icons mean and how to turn off Active Status. Canonical: https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/what-does-the-green-dot-mean-on-linkedin Last updated: 2026-10-23 Category: LinkedIn. What does the green dot mean on LinkedIn? A solid green dot on someone's profile photo means they're **active on LinkedIn right now**. It's part of LinkedIn's **Active Status** feature, which shows whether people are currently online so you know when a message is likely to get a quick reply. A hollow green circle, by contrast, generally means the person isn't active at the moment but can still be reached, often on the mobile app. You can control who sees your own status, or hide it completely, under **Settings & Privacy → Visibility**. The rest of this guide explains each indicator, where it appears and how to change your settings. LinkedIn updates its interface regularly, so labels are described as they appear at the time of writing. ## Quick answer: what the green dot means on LinkedIn | Indicator | What it usually means | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Solid green dot | Active now | The person is using LinkedIn at this moment | | Hollow green circle (green outline, white center) | Away, or reachable on mobile | Usually means not active right now but likely to get notifications | | No dot | Offline, or Active Status is hidden | You can't tell which, by design | LinkedIn's help pages are the best source for the exact meaning of the hollow circle, which has been described in slightly different ways over time. In practice, treat a solid dot as "online now" and a hollow circle as "not online right now, but may see your message soon". ## Where you'll see the green dot The indicator appears in the bottom corner of a member's profile photo in a few places: - **Messaging**: in your conversation list and at the top of an open conversation. - **Search results and "My Network"**: next to people's names and photos in some views. - **Profile cards and pop-ups**: when you hover over or tap someone in certain parts of LinkedIn. You won't see the dot on everyone. It only appears if the other person's Active Status settings allow you to see it, and if your own settings allow you to see others. ### Is the green dot the same as "Open to Work"? No. The green **#OpenToWork** frame is a separate feature: a green ring with text around a profile photo that tells recruiters, or everyone, that someone is looking for a job. The small green dot is only about whether they're online. The two can appear at the same time. ## What a green dot does and doesn't tell you ### What it tells you - The person is currently active on LinkedIn, on desktop or in the app. - If you message them, there's a good chance they'll see it soon. ### What it doesn't tell you - **That they've read your message.** Read receipts are a separate setting. - **That they're available to talk.** They may be scrolling the feed, posting or answering someone else. - **What they're looking at.** Active Status doesn't reveal whether someone viewed your profile. Profile viewing is controlled by separate profile-viewing settings. A green dot is a hint about timing, not an invitation to send several follow-ups in a row. If someone is active and doesn't reply, give them time. ## How to turn off the green dot (Active Status) on LinkedIn If you'd rather not show when you're online, you can limit or hide your status. ### On a computer 1. Click the **Me** icon (your photo) at the top of the LinkedIn homepage. 2. Select **Settings & Privacy**. 3. Click **Visibility** in the left-hand menu. 4. Under "Visibility of your LinkedIn activity", click **Manage active status**. 5. Choose who can see when you're active. ### On the mobile app 1. Tap your **profile photo** in the top-left corner. 2. Tap **Settings**. 3. Tap **Visibility**. 4. Tap **Manage active status**. 5. Choose an option. ### The options you can choose | Setting | Who sees your green dot | | --- | --- | | Your connections only | First-degree connections | | All LinkedIn members | Any LinkedIn member, including people you aren't connected to | | No one | Nobody: your status is hidden | The option names may differ slightly depending on your app version. If you can't find the page, use the search box at the top of Settings & Privacy and type "active status". ### A trade-off to know about LinkedIn has said that if you hide your status, you may not be able to see other people's Active Status either. Check the description shown under the setting before you switch it off, because LinkedIn explains the effect there. ### Read receipts and typing indicators These are separate from Active Status. If you also want to stop people seeing when you've read their messages, go to **Settings & Privacy → Data privacy → Messaging experience → Read receipts and typing indicators** (at the time of writing) and switch it off. As with Active Status, turning it off may mean you can't see other people's read receipts either. ## Should you hide your green dot? It depends on how you use LinkedIn. ### Reasons to keep it visible - **Recruiters and clients can see you're responsive.** If you're job hunting or selling, showing that you're active can encourage people to message you. - **It makes networking easier.** Contacts may reach out when they see you online. ### Reasons to hide it - **You browse during work hours** and would rather your manager or colleagues didn't notice. - **You're researching** companies, people or a job move and want to keep a lower profile. - **You don't want to feel pressure** to reply immediately to every message. There's no penalty for hiding your status. It doesn't affect how your posts or profile appear in search or the feed. ## Being visible on LinkedIn without being online all day If you want people to see you regularly on LinkedIn, the green dot is less important than posting consistently. A steady rhythm of useful posts keeps you in your network's feed, whether or not you're online when they appear. You can plan posts ahead and publish them at set times with a scheduling tool. Schedule For You posts to LinkedIn from the same calendar as your other channels, with up to 3,000 characters, up to 9 images, or a video per post, and checks each LinkedIn caption against that limit as you write. That way your posts go out at good times while you choose when to actually be online and reply. Before you post, two free resources can help: - The [LinkedIn text formatter](https://scheduleforyou.com/tools/linkedin-text-formatter) lets you add bold or italic (Unicode) styling and bullet lists, and shows roughly where the "…more" cut-off will fall. - Our guide to [image sizes for LinkedIn posts](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog/image-sizes-for-linkedin-posts) covers the dimensions that display cleanly in the feed. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does a solid green dot mean on LinkedIn? A solid green dot means the person is active on LinkedIn right now. It's part of Active Status, and it suggests that a message you send will probably be seen soon. ### What does a hollow green circle mean on LinkedIn? A green circle with a white center generally means the person isn't active at the moment but can still be reached, often through the mobile app and its notifications. LinkedIn has described it in slightly different ways over time, so treat it as "away but reachable". ### Can people see when I'm online on LinkedIn? By default, some or all members can see a green dot when you're active, depending on your settings. You can limit it to your connections or hide it completely under Settings & Privacy → Visibility → Manage active status. ### Does the green dot mean someone viewed my profile? No. Active Status only shows whether someone is online. Profile views are tracked separately, and what you see there depends on the viewer's profile-viewing settings. ### If I turn off Active Status, can I still see others? Usually not. LinkedIn has said that hiding your own status can also hide other members' status from you. Check the description under the setting in your account for the current behavior. ### Does the green dot show when I'm only using the mobile app? Yes, you can appear active while using the app. When you're not active but have the app installed, some members may see a hollow circle instead of a solid dot. ## Related - [All guides](https://scheduleforyou.com/blog) - [Pricing](https://scheduleforyou.com/pricing)