Disable 'observe' mode

 I’ve never heard anyone say that multiplayer mode / observe feature violates their privacy or makes them feel uncomfortable

Yet here we are in this thread, which has been active for 4 years.

The entire point of Figma is collaboration and visibility.

No it’s not. It’s a design tool, just like all the creative design tools that survived perfectly fine in isolation for decades before it came along.

The collaboration is a feature, a poorly thought out one, that could be much more useful if there were granular controls so you can adapt it to how you and your team like to work.

Good for you if you’re team is happy with it. We just want better controls.

If it’s done properly you have nothing to worry about and you and your team still work however you like.

Since figma isn't doing anything about it. I found a small "hack" to avoid your boss from looking over your shoulder all the time. I go to the page in figma where I want to edit something. Turn of my WiFi, do the design changes and then go online in figma. It's not a great hack but it's better than having your boss seeing your every px move. This will make sure you can use components and styles that you are using already (compared to having a separate figma file)

Let's hope figma will prioritise this soon. 

How is this still not possible?!

I wish Figma would stop shipping “flashy” things like AI and redesigning an interface that worked just fine, and started focusing on things that matter and actually improve our day to day work life

From a design director with anxiety (often about how I work and process), I fully support this idea and can’t believe its still not a thing.

Completely agree that this should be a feature. 

I’ve resorted to using branches for occasional “freedom to explore” but it’s not ideal either.

An “Offline” status or “Ghost mode” would be nice for those times when someone is micromanaging you.

I don't want to be monitored by colleagues or leaders for what I am doing at work. Can you invent a feature to hide my personal trace? It can show that I am online but not tracked for what I am doing. Whether to display the trace can be turned off or on according to personal preference! Please, please!

I don’t even see Figma staff’s comments here. Some clarity would be nice. If Figma isn’t going to make any changes, this should be closed. Otherwise, there should be an indication that this is going to be taken care of, at least.

Is there an actual discussion somewhere else, and this post is not the place to subscribe to?

Even Google Slides lets you turn off cursor display

https://support.google.com/docs/answer/13853477?hl=en

I am not sure if this has been mentioned or not but I foresee real-world issues arising from the current implementation. For example, a neuro divergent designer that struggles with the pressure of seeing their manager’s mouse and initials appear when they are having a look at the work going on in the team. Managers and other senior staff members will want to have a look from time to time. I have a couple of company Directors that drop in and have a look around what we are up to. Imagine one of them suddenly appearing on your screen. It would cause a panic and a major distraction for certain individuals. While people should be robust enough to handle that, it isn’t always the case. Not allowing users to stop their mouse from being shown is a pretty serious omission.

I work on a separate source for my clients. And sometimes I don't want them to see me online in Figma. It would be great if you could enable offline mode for this.