Slack Status: The Dot, Custom Status, and Whether Slack Is Down

Slack status means two things. The first is the presence dot next to your name: solid green when you are active, hollow when you are away. Slack sets it for you from your activity, and on a computer it turns away 10 minutes after your last keyboard or mouse input in any app (Slack desktop 4.52.178 code, checked 7 Oct 2026). Slack Green keeps that dot green from a server with the laptop closed, free for 7 days with no card. The second is your custom status: an emoji and up to 100 characters of text, such as 📆 In a meeting, that you set yourself and that clears at the time you choose. If you searched for Slack's service status because Slack is not loading, check slack-status.com, Slack's official status page.

This page covers all three and links to a detailed guide for each question. The one part of Slack status you cannot set is the green dot. For what to set and when, see Slack status etiquette.

What are the Slack statuses?

Slack's help center uses the words the same way: a status is a message that lets others know what you are up to, and availability is the dot next to your name.

Slack presence: green, away and the z

The dot has two states. Solid green means active: Slack is open and in use on a computer, or open on screen on a phone. Hollow or grey means away. A small z on either dot means the person paused notifications. Slack has no separate offline state.

• • Every icon and shape next to a name, from the z to the guest triangle: Slack status icons meaning.
• • What the grey dot tells coworkers: Slack away status meaning.
• • How Slack decides, and the 10-minute rule: how Slack active status works and how long does Slack stay active.
• • Showing away while you work: why Slack keeps showing you as away and how to stop it.
• • Looking away on purpose: how to appear offline on Slack.
• • What Slack does with no internet: does Slack work without internet.

The only presence controls Slack gives you are Set yourself as away and Set yourself as active, and "active" only undoes a manual away. To keep the dot green through meetings and reading, a server-side tool keeps it active on its side on a schedule you pick, with nothing installed on your computer. Every method is compared in how to keep Slack active.

A custom status does not keep the dot green, and Slack still sets you away 10 minutes after your last keyboard or mouse input. A server-side tool keeps your Slack dot green with no input, even with the laptop closed or the phone locked.

Custom status: how to set one

• Click your profile picture in the sidebar.
• Click Update your status.
• Type a message and pick an emoji, or choose a suggestion such as 📆 In a meeting, 🚌 Commuting, 🤒 Out sick, 🌴 Vacationing or 🏡 Working remotely.
• Choose when it clears under Remove status after.... Optional: check Pause notifications.
• Click Save.

This is the dialog in Slack's web app on 3 October 2026. Recent statuses sit on top, with the clear time each one used, and Slack's own suggestions, with default durations, below:



On mobile, tap your profile picture, then the status field, then Clear after and Done. Full steps for both, and how to clear a status: how to change your status on Slack.

Slack status options and limits

• • Text: up to 100 characters, no formatting or mentions.
• • Emoji: one, standard or custom. With no emoji, Slack shows 💬.

We checked both limits with Slack's API (users.profile.set) in a test workspace on 3 October 2026:

status_text of 100 characters  -> ok: true, saved 100 characters
status_text of 101 characters  -> error: too_long
status "At my desk", no emoji  -> ok: true, status_emoji saved as :speech_balloon:
presence after each change     -> active (the status did not touch the dot)

• • Duration: don't clear, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, today, this week, or a date and time you choose. Details in Slack status clear after.
• • Scheduled: up to five statuses set in advance with a start and end time. See how to schedule a Slack status.
• • Visibility: everyone in your workspace, and people in shared channels depending on your organization's settings.

If a status keeps vanishing, it usually has an expiry you did not notice or an app replacing it: Slack keeps clearing my status. If it will not change at all, see Slack status not updating.

Automatic statuses

Some statuses set themselves:

• • Huddles, focus mode and after working hours. In Preferences, Automatic statuses lets Slack mark you when you are in a huddle, in focus mode, or outside your working hours.
• • Calendars. The Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar apps set In a meeting during accepted events with other invitees and Out of Office for OOO or PTO events: sync Slack status with Google Calendar.
• • Out of office. On Enterprise plans, a ⛔ Out of office status sends your message to anyone who mentions you: Slack out of office.

What to put in your Slack status

• • For work: Slack status examples, 50 lines to copy.
• • For a sick day: Slack status for sick days.
• • For fun: funny Slack status ideas.
• • For a short break: what does AFK mean in Slack.
• • By situation, generated for you: the Slack status ideas tool.
• • A custom emoji of your own: the Slack emoji maker. How to upload it: how to add custom emoji to Slack.

A useful status answers the question a coworker would ask: where you are, when you are back, and who to ask meanwhile. "In workshops until 3, @maria for urgent" does all three in 39 characters.

Is Slack down? Check Slack's service status

If Slack will not load, messages will not send, or everyone looks offline at once, check whether the problem is Slack's:

• slack-status.com is Slack's official status page. It lists current incidents by feature, such as messaging, calls or login, and the history of past ones. It also has a public API, so you can check from a terminal:

$ curl -s https://slack-status.com/api/v2.0.0/current
{"status":"ok","date_created":"2026-10-01T05:39:35-07:00","date_updated":"2026-10-01T11:59:35-07:00","active_incidents":[]}

That is the answer we got on 3 October 2026: "status":"ok" and no active incidents. During an outage active_incidents lists each incident with the affected services.

• @SlackStatus on X posts incident updates.
• If both say everything is fine, the problem is on your side: restart Slack, reload the tab, and check your VPN or proxy. If every coworker suddenly shows grey, see Slack showing everyone offline. For missing alerts, see Slack notifications not working.

FAQ

What does 👀 mean in Slack?

As a reaction, "I have seen this and I am looking at it." It is a team convention, not a Slack feature. More reactions in what does the eyes emoji mean in Slack.

Does a custom status change my green dot?

No. They are separate. In our test the dot stayed active through every status change, and "At my desk" next to a grey dot is common.

How long until Slack status goes inactive?

The dot goes away 10 minutes after your last input on a computer, and within seconds of leaving the app on a phone. A custom status stays until the time you chose.