Stay Unseen 2.0.0 — Make yourself
comfortable.

Start with the essentials

Use Stay Unseen on supported websites in desktop Chrome, Edge or Firefox. Free privacy controls work without a licence key.

Find your way around the dashboard

• All Protection: review the overall status, pause controls and platform settings. Each platform has individual switches and an “All” control.
• Platform sections: choose Instagram, Messenger & FB, WhatsApp Web, Threads or TikTok to see the relevant controls.
• In-Page Utilities: manage download buttons, the floating pill, Mark Seen, unread markers, Focus mode, screen privacy and the download queue.
• Live Telemetry: see local blocked-signal totals, recent activity and charts. These statistics stay in your browser; this is not an analytics upload.
• Pause protection: choose 15m, 1h or 24h, or select Resume to end the pause early. Pausing allows privacy signals through across supported sites.

Core privacy switches start enabled. Pro switches unlock after activation. Focus mode, screen privacy and the download queue start off, so turn them on when you need them.

Status and counters describe settings and observed blocked signals. They do not prove what another person sees, and repeated signals may be grouped together.

Read inline feature health

Feature rows show local activity, a runtime-health badge and, where available, a separate public verification date. For example, a blocked count and “last” time come from this browser; Working describes required local components; Verified comes from a manually recorded compatibility test.

• Working: required local components responded. This does not prove end-to-end suppression.
• Ready: open a supported tab to check its content scripts.
• Degraded: a required signal failed or only some open tabs are healthy.
• Offline: no fresh content-script response; it does not necessarily mean your internet is offline.
• Disabled / Pro / Checking: the switch is off or protection is paused, a Pro entitlement is required, or a check is running.

Hover, focus or click the badge to see exact local reasons, such as a missing hook, an older content build or one of several tabs not responding. Reload affected tabs and check site access. Read the public Status page separately for published compatibility; its API receives no local health evidence.

What works where

Tools appear when the current page has a supported chat, profile or media item. The table below separates the original Free privacy features from Pro additions.

Pro also includes the status pill on all six platforms and the queue for supported Instagram, Facebook and TikTok media. These controls apply to websites, not the native mobile apps.

Activate Lifetime Pro

Lifetime Pro is a one-time $9.99 USD purchase for up to three browser installations, with no subscription. Separate browsers or browser profiles count as separate installations.

1. Get Lifetime Pro and keep the licence key from your purchase email.
2. Click Stay Unseen’s toolbar icon and find the licence card in the dashboard.
3. Paste your key into Licence key and select Activate. You need an internet connection for this step.
4. Wait for the card to show Pro, then review your platform and utility switches. Refresh open social tabs to load the current tools.

After activation, the extension checks its signed entitlement locally and attempts renewal through the Stay Unseen API about daily and when needed at startup or near expiry. A longer-lived refresh credential can recover access after an offline gap. Offline Pro works only until the current entitlement expires. Refunded or revoked purchases cannot renew; an offline browser may keep access until expiry. Using social websites and downloading media still requires their normal internet connection. See what activation sends.

Already activated? The licence-check improvements preserve valid Pro activations. Update normally and reload open social tabs; this change does not require releasing your device, buying again or reactivating Pro.

Move Pro to another browser or computer

On the old installation, choose Release this device. Select Release. After release succeeds, activate that key on the new installation. Releasing a device frees its slot and does not cancel your purchase.

Release before uninstalling or clearing extension data. If the old installation is no longer accessible or you reach the device limit, contact support.

Ghost Pill: the floating status pill

PRO Look for the Stay Unseen icon near the bottom-right corner of a supported page. Select the pill to open quick controls for that site.

• Check status: Active means the site’s privacy switches are enabled; Partial means some are off; Off means none are enabled; Paused means a temporary protection pause is running. TikTok shows whether its tools are On or Off.
• Change utilities: toggle the download buttons, follow badge, Mark Seen button, Focus mode, screen privacy or other utilities offered for the current site. Shared utility settings apply across supported tabs in the same browser profile.
• Pause or resume: on privacy-supported sites, pause protection for 15 minutes or resume immediately. This pause applies across supported sites. Use the dashboard for 1-hour or 24-hour pauses.
• Mark the open chat as seen: this shortcut appears only when the supported chat action is available. Mark Seen works on supported Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp Web chats.
• Open dashboard: jump to the full set of controls.
• Hide status pill: the choice is saved. To bring it back, click the extension’s toolbar icon, open In-Page Utilities and enable Floating status pill.

The pill remains usable while screen privacy blurs and locks the page. Use it to turn screen privacy off, or use the dashboard. Press Esc or click outside to close quick controls; Tab moves between controls.

Try the homepage’s status pill demo. It only changes the website preview.

Send a read receipt when you choose

PRO Enable Mark Seen button in In-Page Utilities, then open a supported Instagram, Facebook, Messenger or WhatsApp Web conversation. The button sits just above the active message composer.

Select Mark Seen when you want to send the receipt for that chat. This deliberately lets the messaging service know you have read it.

• Receipt sent: the extension observed the receipt being handed to the service.
• Receipt submitted: WhatsApp’s native receipt step completed; sender confirmation is unavailable.
• Read requested: the site’s read action ran, but delivery was not confirmed.
• Retry Mark Seen: reopen the conversation or refresh the tab and try again.

Availability depends on the site’s current chat layout. Mark Seen is not supported on Threads or TikTok. For sender-visible blue ticks in a WhatsApp personal chat, WhatsApp’s own Read receipts setting must allow them; the button does not override that privacy setting. A local result does not guarantee that the other person’s screen has updated.

Save media and organize downloads

PRO Turn on Video & story downloads for Instagram/Facebook media, or Video downloads in the TikTok section.

1. Open the media you want. For a video, start playback so the site makes its media available.
2. Use Video on a supported Instagram/Facebook player, Download Media in a supported story viewer, or Save Audio beside an available voice note.
3. On TikTok, use Download video at the top right of the video. If clean playback media is unavailable, play the video and retry.
4. Check your browser’s downloads for the saved file. “Download started” means the save has begun; it is not a completion notice.

Downloads use media the supported page makes available. TikTok photo slideshows are not included, and marks embedded by the uploader cannot be removed. Chrome and Edge currently support TikTok downloads up to 128 MB.

Use the download queue

Enable Download queue under In-Page Utilities, then use a supported media download button. Remote Instagram, Facebook and TikTok media can be queued one at a time; media available only as a temporary in-page file saves directly.

• Pause queue stops the next item from starting. An active download continues.
• Resume queue continues pending items; Cancel stops a selected pending or active item; Retry retries a failed item.
• Organize new queued downloads saves new queue entries under Stay Unseen / platform / date in your downloads folder.
• Clear finished removes finished, cancelled and failed queue entries. It does not delete files already saved to your computer.

If a media link has expired, return to the original post, play the media again and select its download button.

See whether a profile follows you

PRO Enable Show following status in the Instagram, Threads or TikTok section. Instagram and Threads share the same preference. Sign in to that website and open a profile.

The badge reports whether that account follows you, or identifies your own profile. Instagram places the badge below the Follow/Following control; Threads places its rounded badge after the username. An explicit non-follower result is different from missing relationship data. If the site does not provide enough information, it shows an unavailable result or a retry option. Reopen the profile or retry after its details finish loading.

Focus mode and screen privacy

PRO Both are optional switches in In-Page Utilities. They start off and can also be controlled from the pill where available.

• Focus mode hides supported home feeds and reel surfaces on Instagram, Facebook and Threads. Messaging remains available. Turn it off to show the feed again.
• Screen-sharing privacy blurs and locks Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp Web and Threads pages. Turn it off from the pill or dashboard to interact with the page again.

If something needs a retry

For more help, email contact@stayunseenapp.com with your browser, extension version, affected site and the message shown. There is no need to include private conversations.