We’ve all been there — after a long day at work, you come home to relax with a game on your Xbox One or Xbox One X, only to receive notification after notification from players looking to chat or have you join their party. Xbox Live enables players from around the world to communicate, but that isn’t always what we want to do when we use the console. For those of us who wish to play games undisturbed, the Xbox One has a few different settings that allow you to avoid getting pestered, even when you’re connected to Xbox Live. We have everything you need to know about how to appear offline on Xbox One.
Method 1: Appear offline to everyone
If you want to appear offline to everyone, including any friends, you can do so in just a few steps. Once you signed into Xbox Live, hit the Xbox button on your controller to be taken to the quick menu.
Next, scroll all the way to the left until you highlight and select your profile image. Click it, and you will see a drop-down menu with a few different options — select “appear offline” and you’re ready to game without distractions!
It’s worth noting that there is no way to appear offline through the Xbox iOS app, and after selecting “appear offline” on the console, the app still showed us as online. You might want to avoid opening the app if you don’t want to be bothered!
Alternatively, you can also change your online status by going to your full profile. From here, the menu in the top-right corner will give you the option to appear offline. You will also see another option here labeled “privacy settings.” That is where the next method comes into play.
Method 2: Customize your online status
Want to appear online to your friends, but not to random strangers? You can affect who sees your online status by changing the privacy settings for your Microsoft account. Go to your Xbox One settings and you will find the “account” option on the menu to the left. Once you select that, choose the “privacy & online safety” tile from the menu to the right.
Next, you will be taken to a page with a few preset privacy options for different types of players. The “adult defaults” option will automatically make your online status viewable to all users, regardless of whether or not they are your friends. The “teen defaults” and “child default” options limit online status to friends. These choices come with additional restrictions around viewing mature content online, though, so we suggest choosing the “custom” option if you are just looking to keep the noise down.
Once you’ve chosen “custom,” select “view details & customize” to be taken to the “online status & history” page. From here, hit the drop-down menu under the “others can see if you’re online” option. You have the choice to allow everyone to see, just your friends, and no one at all, if you’re a complete hermit. This page also gives you the option to change who can see what you’re watching or listening to but those who can’t see your online status will not be able to see these activities.
Updated on 7-18-2018 with information on online status in Xbox app.
