Your presence indicates your availability in the workspace. It has two parts:
Presence: A colored dot that shows your availability state (Online, Away, Busy, or Offline).
Status text: An optional custom message that appears next to your name.
The two are independent. You can be Online with the text "Out for lunch," or Busy with the text "Deep work mode."
Reference: For a full breakdown of how presence resolves across sources (internal, manual, and external claims), download
Rocket.Chat supports four built-in presence states, plus Invisible:
Online (green dot): You are connected and available. Set automatically when you are active, or set manually.
Busy (red dot): You don't want to be disturbed. Set manually, automatically while you're in a voice call, or automatically by Outlook calendar integration on Desktop.
Away (yellow dot): You are idle or have stepped away. Set automatically after a period of inactivity, or set manually. The idle time limit can be configured in Default User Preferences.
Offline (grey dot): You are disconnected.
Invisible: You appear offline but remain connected.
How is your presence decided
Several things can set your presence. When more than one applies at the same time, Rocket.Chat shows the highest-priority one, in this order:
In-app events (such as a voice call) → A status you set manually → Outlook calendar → Automatic (your connection and on-screen activity).
A lower-priority status isn't lost. When the higher-priority source ends, Rocket.Chat restores the exact status it replaced, the same dot and text, instead of clearing it. Invisible is the exception: while you're Invisible, nothing else can change your presence until you change it yourself.
Some common situations:
Situation | Presence shown | Why |
|---|---|---|
Connected and active, no status set | Online | Automatic |
No activity for 5+ minutes by default | Away | Automatic |
Active on phone, idle on desktop (signed in on both) | Online | Automatic — the most-available device wins |
You set Busy with the note "Focusing" | Busy — "Focusing" | Manual |
You have "Busy — Focusing" and an Outlook meeting starts | Busy — "Focusing" (unchanged) | Manual outranks the calendar |
No status set, and an Outlook meeting starts | Busy — "In a meeting" | Outlook calendar |
You have "Busy — Focusing" and join a voice call | Busy — "On a call" | A voice call outranks a manual status; "Focusing" is saved |
That voice call ends | Busy — "Focusing" (restored) | The saved status returns |
You set "Busy until 4:30pm" and 4:30 passes | Previous status (or Online) | The status expires and clears |
You're Invisible and a call or meeting starts | Offline (unchanged) | Invisible blocks all other sources |
Manual and automatic presence
Rocket.Chat manages your presence in one of two ways:
Automatic: Active when your status is Online. The auto-away timer runs, and on Desktop, system events such as screen lock or sleep can change your presence.
Manual: Active when you set your status to Busy or Away. Your status persists across sessions, reconnections, and logout/login. Auto-away is suspended.
To return to automatic management, set your status back to Online.
Auto-away
When your status is Online, Rocket.Chat automatically changes your presence to Away after a period of inactivity.
Default idle time: 5 minutes
Minimum idle time: 60 seconds
Where to configure: My Account → Preferences
If you have manually set your status to Busy or Away, auto-away is suspended until you set your status back to Online.
When auto-away is enabled, the following events change your presence automatically:
Event | Effect |
|---|---|
Idle for configured time | Away |
Computer sleeps (Desktop) | Away, then Offline |
Screen locked (Desktop) | Away |
App moved to background (Mobile) | Away |
Network disconnected | Away |
Idle is not the same as Offline. When you go idle, you remain connected, only your presence changes from Online to Away. Offline only happens when the connection is actually lost.
Screen lock (Desktop) and app moved to background (Mobile) are explicit system events. They change your presence even when auto-away is disabled.
What counts as activity depends on your platform. See Platform differences section for more details
Status
Status text is an optional custom message that appears alongside your presence.
Maximum length: 120 characters
Emoji: Supported
Visibility: Shown alongside your presence. If you're Offline and have set custom text, that text is still shown; with no custom text, only the grey dot appears. Not shown when you're Invisible.
A status can also have an expiration. Its a real end time after which it clears itself and your previous status returns automatically. This is different from writing "until 3pm" in the text, which is just words; an expiration makes Rocket.Chat revert on its own when the time arrives.
Status text persists across sessions and reconnections. When you select a built-in presence (Online, Away, Busy, or Offline) from the status menu, your custom text is cleared. When you select an admin-created custom status, your text is set to the name of that status.
Workspace administrators can disable custom status text by turning off Custom status under Manage → Workspace → Status and presence → Settings.
Set a status message
Click your avatar at the top left of the workspace.
From the drop-down menu, select Custom Status.
In the Edit Status dialog, enter your status message.
Click Save.
Custom status
Workspace administrators can create organization-wide custom statuses in addition to the four built-in options. Each custom status maps to one built-in presence type. When a user selects a custom status, the presence dot reflects the mapped type, and the custom status name appears as their status text.
For example:
Custom status | Mapped presence | Result for the user |
|---|---|---|
On Vacation | Away | Yellow dot, text "On Vacation" |
In a Meeting | Busy | Red dot, text "In a Meeting" |
Working Remotely | Online | Green dot, text "Working Remotely" |
To manage custom statuses, go to Manage → Workspace → Status and presence and select the Custom status tab.
Add a custom status
On the Custom status tab, click New custom status.
Enter a name for the status.
Select the presence to map it to: Online, Away, Busy, or Offline.
Click Save.
Edit or delete a custom status
Go to Manage → Workspace → Status and presence and select the Custom status tab.
Search for and click the custom status you want to modify.
To edit, update the details and click Save. To delete, click Delete.
You can also manage user statuses using the Custom User Status API endpoints.
Where your status appears
Your presence and status text appear in different parts of the workspace, with different update behaviors:
Location | Status dot | Status text | Updates |
|---|---|---|---|
Sidebar and DM conversation header | Yes | No | Real-time |
Room members list | Yes | No | Real-time |
User card (hover or click) | Yes | Yes | Real-time |
User info panel | Yes | Yes | Real-time (dot), on-load (text) |
@mentions autocomplete | Yes | No | Real-time |
Search results | Yes | No | Real-time |
Admin user list | Yes | No | On page load |
Your own status (header menu) | Yes | Yes | Real-time |
Video conference panel | Yes | No | Real-time |
Video conference ringing dialog | Yes | No | Real-time |
Real-time updates appear within a second. On-load updates appear when the component is opened or refreshed.
Invisible mode
Invisible mode lets you appear offline while remaining connected. Messaging, typing indicators, and read receipts work normally, and you do not appear in the online users count.
To set Invisible:
Click your avatar at the top left of the workspace.
From the drop-down menu, select Offline.
Like Busy and Away, Invisible suspends auto-away. You remain Invisible regardless of idle time or system events until you change your status manually.
Workspace administrators can disable Invisible mode. When disabled, users who were already invisible remain invisible until they change their status.
Status visibility .svg)
Available from Rocket.Chat 8.8.0 and later. Before users can access this feature, a workspace administrator must enable User status hiding under Manage → Workspace → Status and presence → Settings. From Rocket.Chat 9.0.0, Show status and Manage user status must also be turned on. User status hiding stays inactive until both are on.
If your workspace used User status hiding before 9.0.0, turn on Manage user status after upgrading to keep it working. It's off by default.
Status visibility allows you to selectively hide your presence and custom status message from specific users. While active, those selected users see you as Offline and your status text is not shown to them, regardless of your actual activity.
To hide your status from someone:
Click your avatar at the top left of the workspace.
Select Hide from... (below Custom Status).
Select the people you want to hide from and save.
You can also manage the list from My Account → Profile → Hide status from users.
To stop hiding your status:
Open the Hide from... menu again.
Remove the users from your list.
Click Save. Your real presence restores instantly for those users..
Users on your hidden-status list will see the following:
You appear Offline in the sidebar, room member lists, user cards, direct messages, and search results.
Your custom status text is not visible.
There is no indication that you have hidden your status. Your presence appears the same as it would if you were genuinely offline.
Hiding your status is not the same as blocking someone. Users on your list can still send you messages and mention you. This rule applies to administrators as well, meaning they will see you as offline if they are on your list. If an administrator turns off User status hiding setting for the workspace, everyone's real presence becomes visible again. Your list is preserved, so it will apply automatically if the setting is ever re-enabled.
Manage user status as an admin
Available from Rocket.Chat 9.0.0 and later on Commercial, Government, and Defense plans.
Workspace admins can turn status off for the whole workspace or for one user, set a user's status message, and hide a user's status from selected people. These options are in Manage → Workspace → Status and presence, which has three tabs: Settings, Custom status, and Managed users.
Status settings
The Settings tab holds the workspace-wide status settings:
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Show status | Lets users see each other's status. When off, every user always appears Offline and users can't change their status. |
Custom status | Lets users set their own status message. |
Offline status | Lets users appear offline while they are online. See Invisible mode. |
Manage user status | Lets admins control an individual user's status, status message, and status hiding. Stays inactive until Show status is on. Turning it on can affect presence service performance. |
User status hiding | Lets users hide their status from people they choose. See Status visibility. Stays inactive until Show status and Manage user status are both on. |
After you change a setting, click Save changes.
Manage a user's status
The Managed users tab appears once Manage user status setting is enabled. Only workspace admins can manage another user's status.
To manage the status setting for a user:
Go to Manage → Workspace → Status and presence and select the Managed users tab.
Click Manage user status.
In User, select the user.
Set the options you need:
Show status: Turn off to make the user always appear Offline to everyone. The user can't change their status while it's off.
Status message: Sets the user's status message. It overrides any message the user set.
Hide status from: Select the users to hide this user's status from. You can select users only, not roles.
Status message and Hide status from are inactive while Show status is off.
Click Save.
A confirmation message appears and the user is listed on the Managed users tab. The Status column shows Hidden when their status is turned off and Visible otherwise. The Hidden from column shows Everyone when their status is turned off, or the usernames you selected in Hide status from.
To update the status settings for a user :
Click the kebab menu from the list in the Managed users tab.
Select Manage user status to update the settings.
Select Reset managed status settings to return to the workspace defaults. It clears the user's status message, including a message the user set themselves.
A user whose status is turned off appears Offline and can't change their status.
You can also manage a user status setting here when creating or editing the user information.
Voice and video calls
When you join a voice call, your presence is set to Busy with the status text "On a call." A voice call takes precedence over a status you set manually and over a calendar event, and your previous status is restored when the call ends.
Video conferencing does not currently change your presence. Support for video-driven presence is planned for a future release.
Platform differences
Presence behavior varies between Desktop, Web, and Mobile:
Feature | Desktop | Web | Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
Manual presence change | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Status text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Auto-away on idle | Yes | Yes | No |
Screen lock detection | Yes | No | No |
System sleep detection | Yes | No | No |
Outlook calendar integration | Yes | No | No |
Voice call sets Busy | Yes | Yes | Platform-dependent |
How activity is detected
Platform | Activity source | Scope |
|---|---|---|
Desktop | Keyboard, mouse, system events | Entire computer (all applications) |
Web | Mouse and keyboard | Browser tab only |
Mobile | App foreground or background state | App only (no idle timer) |
Multiple devices
When you are signed in on multiple devices simultaneously, two rules determine your final status:
Connection priority: The best connection state across active devices is used, in this order: Online > Away > Offline.
Device 1 | Device 2 | Device 3 | Final status |
|---|---|---|---|
Online | Away | Offline | Online |
Away | Away | Offline | Away |
Offline | Offline | Offline | Offline |
Manual override: If you have manually set your status to Busy or Away, that status is shown regardless of connection priority, as long as at least one device is connected.
Limitations
Desktop on Linux: Locking the screen does not automatically trigger Away. You remain Online until the system detects a disconnect.
Web:
Activity in other browser tabs or applications does not prevent auto-away.
Locking the computer does not trigger Away in the browser.
Computer sleep is detected only when the connection drops.
Mobile:
No idle detection. You stay Online until the app is moved to the background.
Locking the phone does not automatically trigger Away.
Reconnect behavior
If you were idle (auto-away) when your connection dropped, you may briefly appear Online after reconnecting until the idle timer triggers Away again.
If you had manually set your status to Busy or Away before disconnecting, that status is preserved on reconnect.
Outlook Calendar integration
The Rocket.Chat Desktop app can integrate with Outlook to update your presence based on your calendar:
When a calendar event marked Show as: Busy starts, your presence is set to Busy.
When the event ends, your previous status is restored.
Requirements:
Rocket.Chat Desktop app with Outlook or Exchange connected
Outlook calendar integration enabled by your workspace administrator
Calendar event marked as Show as: Busy
Outlook is the only supported calendar integration. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and other providers are not supported.
Video conferencing inside Rocket.Chat does not change your presence. Calls have their own state (Calling, Started, Ended, and so on) that is separate from presence.
Presence service cap
Premium plans have no presence service limit. Community workspaces are capped at 200 concurrent connections. When a workspace exceeds this cap, the presence service is disabled automatically, users can no longer see real-time status updates, but sending and receiving messages continues to work normally.
To enable the presence service:
Go to Manage → Workspace → Status and presence.
Click the Presence service button.
Enable the Service status option.
When the presence service is disabled automatically due to the connection cap:
Workspace users and administrators are notified that presence is inactive.
Real-time status updates stop being broadcasting (you may still see others' last known statusuntil the service is re-enabled).
An administrator must manually re-enable the presence service after the connection count drops below 200.