Appear Offline to Some People on Facebook

When you log in to Facebook, you're automatically signed on to Facebook chat, which allows you to chat with anyone else who is also logged in. However, you may only want to chat with a few people -- or even just one person -- while appearing offline to the rest of your Facebook friends. To appear offline to some people on Facebook, create a list of people you do not want to talk with and turn on chat for everyone outside of that friends list, or create a list of people you do want to talk with and turn off chat for everyone outside of that list. The best strategy will depend on your own circumstances.

Steps

Blocking Some Friends from Seeing You Online

  1. Log in to your Facebook account. Type in your email address and password.
  2. Click on the "Friends" link. you can find it on the bottom left side of your Facebook home page. This will bring you to a new screen.
  3. Click "Create List." You can find this option at the top of the screen. This feature will allow you to create a list of people you want to appear offline to when you are logged in to Facebook.
  4. Create a name for your list. Since this will be the list of people that won't be able to see you online, you can call it "Offline friends" or "Invisible chat" or something similar. Type this name under "List name."
  5. Type in the names of the people that you want to block from seeing you online. Just type in as many names as you like.
  6. Click "Create." This will place all of those people in your new list.
  7. Click "Options" on your chat box. You can find this option on the box -- it will look like a little wheel.
  8. Select "Advanced Settings."
  9. Type the name of the list you created under "Turn on chat for all friends except." Click "Save" when you're done. This will block all of the people on the list from seeing you online.

Allowing Only Certain People to See You Online

  1. Click "Friends." You can find this option on the bottom left of your home page.
  2. Click "Create List."
  3. Name the list. You can call it "Chat Friends" or "Online Friends." This will be the list of people that will be able to see you online. Everyone not on the list won't be able to see you online, after you're done with this process. Type the name under "List name."
  4. Type in the names of people you'd like to chat with. Type in all of the names of the people you'd like to be able to see you online.
  5. Click "Create." This will create the list of friends you want to chat with.
  6. Click "Options" on your chat box.
  7. Select "Advanced Settings."
  8. Select "Turn on chat for only some friends."
  9. Type in the name of your list. This is a great option if you only want to be able to chat with a few of your Facebook friends. This will be less time-consuming than excluding a large amount of your Facebook friends on a different list.
    • If you'd really only like to chat with a few people, you can skip creating the list and just type in the handful of names here. If you've forgotten someone from the list, you can add his name here.
  10. Click "Save."

Appearing Offline to Everyone

  1. Click "Options" on your chat box.
  2. Select "Advanced Settings."
  3. Select "Turn off chat."
  4. Select "Save." Now none of your friends will see you online. This is a great option if you want to log on to your Facebook for another reason but don't have time to chat.

Appearing Offline to Everyone While Being Able to See Who is Connected

  1. Click "Options" on your chat box. To do so, open your chat window, and click the button in the upper right corner that looks like a little wheel.
  2. Select "Advanced Settings." This will be the second option down.
  3. Select "Turn off chat." This will turn off your chat completely—you will appear offline to your friends and your friends will appear offline to you.
  4. Select "Save."
  5. Get the 'Sneak Online' Facebook app. This will allow you to view who is online without exposing your own status.
  6. Click 'Install' to install the App. Once it is installed, none of your Facebook friends will see you online, but you still be able to know who is connected. This is a great option if you want to log on to your Facebook to speak to a certain person without getting bothered by others.

Tips

  • You may also want to browse Facebook applications that allow you to appear offline to certain people. In the Search field at the top of any Facebook session, type a related phrase such as "appear offline" or "go offline" to view details for these applications.
  • This information may be out of date. Some have experienced difficulty getting it to work recently.
  • If you want to appear online to this List again in the future, just delete the list to toggle it back to an online status.

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Sources and Citations

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