What is Slack Presence?
Quick Definition
Slack presence is the indicator (green or yellow dot) next to your name showing whether you're currently active or away in Slack. It's automatically determined by Slack based on your recent activity and connection status.
Understanding Slack Presence
When you're actively using Slack—typing, clicking, or scrolling—your presence shows as a solid green dot (active). When Slack detects inactivity for roughly 10 minutes, or when all your connected devices disconnect, it switches to a hollow circle (away). Unlike your custom status (the emoji and text you can set manually), presence is automatic and can't be directly controlled through Slack settings. Slack determines presence using WebSocket connections between your device and Slack's servers. Each connected client (desktop app, mobile app, browser tab) maintains its own connection, and Slack aggregates these signals. If any client shows activity, you appear active. When all clients go silent, Slack's server-side timer starts counting down. The approximately 10-minute threshold has remained consistent since Slack introduced automatic presence, though the exact implementation details aren't publicly documented. For remote workers, this creates a fundamental challenge: your actual availability during work hours doesn't always match the activity signals Slack requires. Reading documents, attending video calls, or reviewing code in another application produces no Slack interaction, causing the green dot to disappear even though you're actively working. This disconnect between real availability and perceived availability is why presence management tools exist.
Key Points
- Green dot = active (you've interacted with Slack recently)
- Yellow/hollow dot = away (no recent activity or disconnected)
- Presence updates automatically based on device activity
- Different from custom status, which you set manually
- Visible to everyone in your workspace
Examples
Active presence
When you're actively reading messages, scrolling through channels, or typing, Slack shows a solid green dot next to your name.
Away presence
If you close your laptop, your phone loses connection, or you simply don't interact with Slack for about 10 minutes, the green dot turns to a hollow circle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I manually set my presence to active?
Can my manager see my presence history?
What's the difference between presence and status?
How Idle Pilot Helps
Idle Pilot maintains your Slack presence as active during your scheduled work hours, even if you close your laptop or step away briefly. Instead of relying on constant mouse movement, it uses cloud-based scheduling to keep you consistently active during the hours you choose.
Try Idle Pilot freeRelated Terms
Slack auto-away is the automatic system that switches your presence status from active (green) to away (yellow) after a period of inactivity. Slack typically triggers this after approximately 10 minutes with no interaction.
The green dot in Slack is a presence indicator showing that a person is currently active. It appears as a solid green circle next to their profile picture and name, indicating they've recently interacted with Slack.
A presence scheduler is a tool that automatically maintains your Slack presence status (active/online) during specified time windows, typically matching your work hours. Unlike mouse jigglers or scripts, modern presence schedulers run from the cloud.