You can disable the chat feature for some or all of your Facebook friends via the Facebook website by modifying the feature settings through the chat window. On the mobile platform, the chat feature is managed via the Messenger app from Facebook. You can turn off your online status by touching the slider in the “Active” section of the “People” menu (“Friends”).
Step
Method 1 of 2: Logging Out of the Network on the Messenger App
Step 1. Open Messenger
If it's not already available, you can get it from the App Store or Play Store.
Step 2. Log in to your Facebook account
Type in the username and password, then touch the “Log in” button.
Step 3. Touch the “People” button (“Friends”)
This button looks like three horizontal lines with dots in front of them. You can find this button on the bottom menu bar (iOS) or top menu bar (Android). Once touched, you will be taken to the contact list.
Step 4. Touch “Active” (“On”)
It's at the top of the contact list.
Step 5. Touch the slider next to your name
The name will appear at the top of the contact list. The slider color will turn gray on iOS devices, or disappear on Android devices to indicate that you are no longer on the network.
Touch the slider again to enable online status (iOS). On Android devices, you need to touch the “Home” (“Main”) tab, swipe down from the screen to update the list, and touch “Turn On” when prompted to re-enter the network
Method 2 of 2: Turning Off Chat Feature on Facebook Website
Step 1. Log in to your Facebook account at
Step 2. Click the “Chat” window (“Chat”)
It's in the lower-right corner of the Facebook page.
Step 3. Click the gear icon
It's in the upper-right corner of the “Chat” (“Chat”) window.
Sometimes it's in the lower-right corner of the window
Step 4. Click “Turn Off Chat” (“Turn Off Chat”)
A window with several options for deactivating the feature will appear.
Step 5. Select the radio button next to the desired option
You can choose one of the following options:
- “Turn off chat for all friends”
- “Turn off chat for all friends except…” (“Turn off chat for all friends, except…”)
- “Turn off chat for only some friends…”
Step 6. Enter the names of friends in the text field (optional)
If you choose to disable chat with multiple friends, a text field will be displayed and you can type in the names of the friends you want (or are excluded from deactivation).
Facebook will fill in the full names of friends automatically when you start typing a name
Step 7. Click “Okay” (“Okay”)
The Facebook chat feature will now be turned off based on the options or settings you set.
