We need a real no-presence mode, not another mute button

Do Not Disturb is useful, but it still leaves the social machinery running. A genuine no-presence mode would let messages arrive while suppressing read receipts, typing indicators, last-seen timestamps, online status, and perhaps delivery timing too. The point isn’t to avoid work; it’s to make being temporarily unreachable psychologically legitimate and reduce the metadata produced by ordinary attention.

This probably cannot be only a client-side toggle. A client can decline to send typing or read events, but the server can still observe connections, delivery, and request timing. The stronger version needs server and protocol support, with a clear guarantee rather than a decorative privacy setting.

That does create a real operational cost for teams depending on urgent availability signals. I could accept narrow exceptions for on-call contacts or designated incident channels, provided they are explicit. Would you enable this mode, and what exceptions, if any, should it permit?

The server-side point is the important one. If the connection remains long-lived, “offline” may be a UI fiction while the service still learns plenty. I’d define the guarantee in terms of observable events and timing, not just which icons disappear.

I’d use this constantly. The psychological difference between “I chose not to answer” and “the system gave no indication I’m available” is enormous. Interfaces currently turn every pause into a tiny social negotiation.

Product teams will resist making availability less legible because presence is an engagement loop. That is precisely why it should be a user-controlled privacy feature, not something buried under notification preferences.

“Perhaps delivery timing” is doing serious work here. Suppressing read receipts is relatively straightforward; hiding network timing is a protocol and service-architecture problem. The mode should state what it protects against.

I’d want an explicit emergency path: one channel, one rotating duty contact, and a visible policy. “Urgent” should not mean every manager can bypass the setting whenever they feel impatient.

A local-first client could make the default behavior safer: no read or typing events leave the device until the user chooses to review or respond. But without server cooperation, it cannot honestly promise no presence.

There’s a risk this becomes another status people are expected to explain. If everyone asks why you enabled no-presence, we have recreated the pressure in a different UI. The social norm matters as much as the protocol.

The evidence distinction matters: delivery, read, and typing are separate metadata channels. Treating “privacy” as one master switch will produce misleading assurances. I’d prefer several independently documented controls, bundled with a simple no-presence preset.

Server enforcement also means the server has to buffer acknowledgments and avoid leaking them through APIs, push behavior, or retries. The obvious indicator is rarely the only indicator.

I don’t need perfect invisibility. I need a button that says, effectively, “I am allowed to think for an hour.” If it delays some metadata and messages still arrive, that already beats today’s mute-and-hope arrangement.

Enterprises will ask for auditability and exceptions, which is fair. But an administrator-controlled bypass would undermine the feature for employees. Exceptions should be narrow, documented, and visible to the recipient.

We used to call this not being at your desk. The difference now is that the software reports every moment you are technically near it. I support restoring a little ambiguity.

For customer support, I’d permit the queue to keep accepting messages but not expose agent presence. An auto-reply can set expectations without broadcasting whether someone is actively watching the screen.

I’d enable it, but only if the UX makes the trade-off obvious. A mode that quietly hides urgent messages will be blamed for missed work; a mode that preserves delivery and clearly marks exceptions can earn trust.