Set your online status
Control how your availability appears to other community members.
What is online status?
Your online status shows other community members whether you're available or away. Root displays a colored indicator next to your profile picture:
| Online status | Indicator | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online | Green |  | You're active and available |
| Away | Orange |  | You're temporarily unavailable |
| Offline | Gray |  | You appear offline to others |
How online status works
Root calculates your visible online status using two factors: your global online status and whether you're attached to a specific community.
Global online status
Your global online status reflects your overall activity across all Root clients (Desktop and Mobile). Root tracks whether you're actively using the app, idle, or disconnected.
Community attachment
When you open a community, you become attached to it. This means Root knows you're actively viewing that community. When you switch to a different community or close Root, you become detached.
If you have multiple devices (for example, Desktop and Mobile), each device can be attached to different communities simultaneously. Root tracks each device separately and shows your online status based on whether any of your devices is attached to the community you're viewing.
Online status visibility rules
What other members see depends on two things: whether you're attached to their community, and whether you're friends:
| Your situation | What friends see | What non-friends see |
|---|---|---|
| Attached to this community | Your actual online status (Online/Away) | Your actual online status (Online/Away) |
| Online but viewing a different community | Online elsewhere indicator | Offline |
| Away but viewing a different community | Away elsewhere indicator | Offline |
| Offline | Offline | Offline |
Friends can see that you're online even when you're in a different community. Non-friends only see your online status when you're actively viewing their community.
Online elsewhere indicator
When viewing a community, you may notice some friends have a green or orange status indicator with a small cutout (a hole in the center). This means the friend is online but currently viewing a different community.
| Indicator | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| Solid green | | Friend is online and viewing this community |
| Green with cutout |  | Friend is online but in a different community |
| Solid orange | | Friend is away and viewing this community |
| Orange with cutout |  | Friend is away but in a different community |
This indicator only appears for friends. Non-friends who aren't currently viewing the community appear offline.
Automatic online status changes
Root automatically adjusts your online status based on your activity:
| Situation | Online status change |
|---|---|
| No mouse or keyboard activity for 5 minutes (Desktop) | Changes to Away |
| App is minimized or in the background (Mobile) | May change to Away or Offline |
| App is closed or loses connection | Changes to Offline |
| Activity resumes or app returns to foreground | Restores to Online |
These automatic changes help others know your true availability without requiring you to manually update your online status.
Manual online status as a limit
Your manual online status setting acts as an upper limit. If you set your online status to Away, Root will never show you as Online, even if you're actively using the app. This lets you stay less visible when you don't want to be disturbed.
| Manual setting | Possible displayed online statuses |
|---|---|
| Online | Online, Away, or Offline (based on activity) |
| Away | Away or Offline only |
| Offline | Offline only |
Change your online status
Manually setting your online status establishes the maximum visibility level described in Manual online status as a limit. Your setting persists until you change it, even after signing out or switching devices.
- Desktop
- Mobile
- Select your profile picture in the top-right corner.
- Select your preferred online status from the dropdown menu.
- Tap the Profile tab in the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap your current online status below your profile picture.
- Select your preferred online status from the list.