Rocket.Chat Auto Away: Change the 5-Minute Timer or Turn It Off

Rocket.Chat sets you to Away after 5 minutes without activity by default. To change it, click your avatar, open My Account > Preferences > User Presence, and either turn off Enable Auto-Away or raise the Idle Time Limit, which is in seconds (the minimum is 60). Workspace admins set the default for new users under Default User Preferences in the workspace settings. Locking your screen in the desktop app, or moving the mobile app to the background, still sets you Away with Auto-Away off.

These rules are from Rocket.Chat's own "User Presence and Status" and "Manage Your Account Settings" docs, which we read on 28 September.

Rocket.Chat status colors and what they mean

Rocket.Chat has four presence states plus Invisible:

A status message is separate from the dot. It can be up to 120 characters, can include emoji, and can have an expiry time, after which your previous status comes back.

When Rocket.Chat sets you Away

While your status is Online, Rocket.Chat manages it for you. These events change it:

• • Idle for the time limit (5 minutes by default): Away.
• • Computer sleeps (desktop app): Away, then Offline.
• • Screen locked (desktop app): Away.
• • App moved to the background (mobile): Away.
• • Network disconnected: Away.

Rocket.Chat's docs call screen lock and the mobile background "explicit system events". They change your presence even with Auto-Away turned off. Idle is not Offline: when you go idle you stay connected, and only the dot changes. You go Offline only when the connection drops.

If you set Busy or Away yourself, auto-away stops until you pick Online again. That status also survives a logout and a new login.

How to turn off auto away in Rocket.Chat

• Click your avatar at the top left.
• Select My Account, then Preferences.
• Open the User Presence section.
• Turn off Enable Auto-Away, or leave it on and set Idle Time Limit in seconds: 900 is 15 minutes, 1800 is 30 minutes.
• If nothing changes, reload the page. Rocket.Chat's docs give this tip for the same setting.

There is a cost. Rocket.Chat pushes your mentions to your phone when you are idle on the web or desktop app. The account settings doc says that with auto-away off you get no push notifications unless your screen turns off. If you rely on phone alerts, raise the time limit instead of turning it off.

The same idea in Slack, where you cannot change the timer, is in how long does Slack stay active.

Change the idle time limit for everyone (admins)

Each user's setting starts from the workspace default. To change it as an admin:

• Open Administration (Manage in newer versions), then Workspace > Settings > Accounts.
• Open Default User Preferences.
• Set Enable Auto Away and Idle Time Limit, then save.

The default applies to users who have not changed their own preference. A 2022 thread on the Rocket.Chat forum shows the default value as 300, which is the same 5 minutes. Admins also control whether people can pick Invisible (Allow Invisible status option) and whether they can write a custom status message (Allow Custom Status Message), both under Accounts. Custom statuses such as "On Vacation" live under Workspace > User Status; each one maps to one of the four dots.

Why you still show Away with auto away off

• You use the web app. In a browser, Rocket.Chat only sees mouse and keyboard in its own tab. Work in another tab and the timer runs.

• Your screen locked. The desktop app sets Away on a lock, whatever the setting. On Linux the desktop app does not detect the lock, so you stay Online.

• Your phone app went to the background. The mobile app has no idle timer: it is Online in the foreground and Away in the background.

• You reconnected. After a dropped connection you may show Online for a moment until the idle timer sets Away again.

• You are signed in on several devices. Rocket.Chat shows your most available state across devices: Online beats Away, Away beats Offline.

• The presence service is off. Community workspaces stop live status updates above 200 concurrent connections, until an admin turns the service on again under Workspace > User Status > Presence service. Then everyone shows their last known status.

Set your Rocket.Chat status from a script

Rocket.Chat's REST API has users.setStatus and users.getStatus. You need your user ID and a personal access token (My Account > Personal Access Tokens). This request sets Busy with a message that expires at 17:00 UTC; expiresAt needs Rocket.Chat 8.6 or later:

curl -X POST "https://chat.example.com/api/v1/users.setStatus" \
  -H "X-User-Id: $RC_USER_ID" \
  -H "X-Auth-Token: $RC_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"status": "busy", "message": "Deep work", "expiresAt": "2026-10-01T17:00:00.000Z"}'

curl "https://chat.example.com/api/v1/users.getStatus" \
  -H "X-User-Id: $RC_USER_ID" \
  -H "X-Auth-Token: $RC_TOKEN"

status takes online, away, busy or offline. Offline and invisible only work if the admin allows Invisible. Setting online does not pin you Online: it hands your presence back to the automatic rules, so the idle timer runs again. To stay green, raise the Idle Time Limit.

For Slack's version of status scripts, see how to schedule Slack status. Status text ideas for any chat app are in our status ideas tool.

Rocket.Chat vs Mattermost, Slack and Teams away timers

Rocket.Chat is the only one of the four that gives each user a timer setting. In Slack the timer is fixed.

FAQ

How long does Rocket.Chat take to show Away?

5 minutes without activity by default. You can change it in My Account > Preferences > User Presence, down to 60 seconds.

How do I disable auto away in Rocket.Chat?

Avatar > My Account > Preferences > User Presence, then turn off Enable Auto-Away. Screen lock and the mobile app in the background still set Away.

How do I appear offline in Rocket.Chat?

Pick Offline in the status menu. That sets Invisible: you stay connected, can send messages, and look offline to others. Your admin can turn this option off.

Why does Rocket.Chat show me online when I'm not?

You may be signed in on another device, which wins over the idle one, or the presence service may be off in a Community workspace with more than 200 connections.

Can I keep Rocket.Chat always online?

Turn off Auto-Away, or set a long Idle Time Limit. Keep the desktop app from locking the screen, and keep the mobile app in the foreground.