Hinge Active Status: What "Active Now" and "Active Today" Mean

You're scrolling Discover and notice two small words next to someone's photo: "Active Now". Or a friend sends you a message that starts with "don't freak out", followed by your partner's profile and the words "Active Today". Same label, two very different evenings.

Either way, you'd like to know exactly what those words mean before you read anything into them.

Short answer: Hinge shows "Active Now" or "Active Today" next to a profile photo to give "an approximate idea" of when someone last used the app. Your matches cannot see it. It appears only in Discover, Standouts and Likes You. You can hide yours, but then you stop seeing everyone else's.

The first half of this page is for anyone who uses Hinge: what the labels mean, who sees yours, why they go missing and how to hide them. The second half is for readers who saw the label on a partner's profile and want to know what it's worth.

What "Active Now" and "Active Today" mean, in Hinge's own words

Hinge's explanation is short, and most of what's interesting is in what it leaves out.

Active Now. Hinge calls it part of a "Last Active" feature that gives "an approximate idea of when a member was last active on the app". It doesn't say how many minutes or hours the label covers.

Active Today. Hinge says the status is missing when someone has not "been active on the app in the past day". It doesn't say which actions count as being active.

No label. There are three possible reasons, listed further down. What you won't get is a "last seen" time. Hinge shows no timestamp.

Source: Hinge Help Center, "Last Active Status", last edited in December 2025.

So the safe reading is this:

• Active Now: used the app very recently. No one outside Hinge knows the exact window.

• Active Today: used the app within about a day.

• Nothing: no conclusion yet.

Five things you'll read elsewhere that Hinge never said

Much of what ranks on this topic adds details that Hinge never published. If one of these is why you're worried, or why you're relieved, check it against the source.

"Active Now means active in the last 2 hours." No duration is given anywhere. Only "an approximate idea".

"Active Now is a green dot." Hinge describes a label: "You'll see 'Active Now' or 'Active Today' next to their profile photo".

"Active Now means they are on the app this second." The feature is described as approximate.

"Hinge has no activity feature." Outdated. The Last Active article exists and is current.

"The status shows next to your matches in the chat list." Hinge says the opposite: "Your Matches won't see your Last Active status".

Who can see your active status, and where

In Hinge's words, the status is "only visible to other members when they view your profile in Discover, Standouts, or their Likes You tab".

Say you matched with someone on Tuesday, sent a message, and by Thursday there's still no reply. You'd love to know whether they've even opened the app. You can't: once you've matched, Hinge gives you no way to see whether the other person has been on it.

Why you can't see someone's status

Hinge lists three reasons, and the third is the one people miss.

"They've hidden it." No label on their profile doesn't mean they're inactive.

"They haven't been active on the app in the past day." That doesn't mean the account is deleted either.

"You've turned off the Last Active status on your profile." In that case you see no label on anyone, and it says nothing about them. Check your own setting first. If your own status is hidden, every profile you look at will appear without a label.

And if their profile never comes up at all, there are three more ordinary explanations: they paused, your filters exclude them, or they aren't on Hinge. None of those proves they left the app.

How to hide your active status, and what you lose

1. Open your settings in Hinge.

1. Find the section called "Show Last Active Status".

1. Tap the toggle. Purple means shown, gray means hidden.

With the toggle on purple, others see Active Now or Active Today on your profile, and you see their status unless they hid it. With the toggle on gray, they see nothing on yours, and you see nothing on theirs.

Hinge states the trade-off plainly: "If you hide your status, other members cannot see it, and you cannot see theirs."

There's no watching from behind a curtain on Hinge. Hide, and you stop seeing.

How to tell if someone is active on Hinge

The label isn't the only clue, and two of the others are reserved for subscribers.

Two things not to confuse with the active status:

• Signals is a separate badge. Hinge says it reflects "thoughtful participation and follow-through", not a time of last use.

• New Here tells you when the account was created, not when it was last opened.

If your real question is whether the person has a profile at all, start with how to know if someone is on Hinge.

Active, paused, uninstalled or deleted

A label is one thing. The state of the account behind it is another.

Three things follow from this.

A paused profile still counts as an account. Hinge refers to an "active Hinge account (even if their account is paused)". A like sent before pausing can still turn into a match.

Removing the app from a phone changes nothing on Hinge's side. The profile "will remain intact". Hinge doesn't say how long such a profile keeps being shown, so any number of days you read elsewhere is a guess.

A label requires recent use. An account whose app was removed months ago shouldn't show "Active Today".

Does Hinge have read receipts?

Hinge's Help Center describes no read receipt feature. We searched all of its articles on 6 October 2026 and found none.

In practice, Hinge gives you no documented way to know whether a match has read your message. For the Tinder equivalent, see does Tinder have read receipts.

What an "Active" label proves about a partner

Some readers land here because a friend spotted a partner's profile. If that's you, seeing "Active Today" next to that face is a jolt, and wanting to understand it isn't paranoia. So let's be exact about what the label carries.

It establishes three things: the account exists and isn't deleted, the app was used recently, roughly within a day, and their status setting is switched on.

It leaves four things open. It doesn't show that they're talking to anyone. It doesn't show what they did: swiping, replying, or only opening a notification. It doesn't show that they met someone. And it doesn't tell you why the account is still there.

Suppose your friend saw the label on a Saturday night. All you know is that the app was opened at some point in roughly the day before. Thirty seconds to clear a notification or an hour of conversation: the label looks identical. Whether simply being on the app crosses a line is another question, covered in what counts as cheating on a dating app.

Before you act on it:

• Check the label twice, a day or more apart. One sighting of "Active Today" is a single data point.

• Screenshots may not work. Since October 2026, Hinge says that "in some regions" it "blocks attempts to screenshot or screen record certain pages that feature another dater's profile or photo". The page goes dark. Hinge doesn't list the regions. Write down the date and what you saw.

• You only see profiles the app chooses to show you. A friend's account, in another age range or area, may never be shown the profile. The routes that don't depend on what the app shows are in our six ways to check whether he's on dating apps.

If you don't have an account that can see them, a dating profile search is the other way to check. CheatEye searches Tinder from a first name, an age, a gender and a location, and it covers Hinge as part of its other-apps option, alongside Bumble, Happn and OkCupid. When a matching profile is found, the report shows what's on it, including the bio and the photos. The person isn't notified, and you don't need their phone. What it won't do: search by phone number or email, read messages, or show a live location. And a profile that comes up is where a conversation starts, not where it ends. And if the app in question is a different one, we explain what still works to find someone on OkCupid.

Run a search on CheatEye. Hinge itself has no search bar, which we explain in can you search people on Hinge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Hinge show when you were last online? Only as "Active Now" or "Active Today". There's no time or date, and nothing is shown after about a day without activity.

Can my matches see when I'm active on Hinge? No. Hinge states that matches don't see your Last Active status.

How long does "Active Now" last on Hinge? Hinge doesn't say. The two-hour figure that many articles repeat doesn't come from Hinge.

Can you tell if someone paused their Hinge? Not directly. A paused profile stops being shown to new people, but existing matches and chats stay in place, and Hinge displays no "paused" label.

Does uninstalling Hinge remove the "Active" label? Uninstalling doesn't delete the account. The label depends on recent activity, so it disappears after about a day without use. A subscription is a separate matter, covered in how Hinge shows up on a bank statement.

Does Hinge automatically update your location? No. Hinge writes that it "does not automatically update your location". We cover location in how to find someone on Hinge.