How do I disable the visits log or the visitor profile feature?

For privacy compliance you can disable some features that show every action a visitor took (raw data) in the user interface and API. You can easily disable these features by following below steps.

Note: When the Visitor Profile is disabled, the User ID and Visitor ID dimensions will not be available as segments. This restriction is in place for privacy reasons. If you create a segment for a website where Visitor Profiles are disabled, the User and Visitor ID dimensions will not appear.

Disable for all websites

If you are using Matomo On-Premise 4 (or newer), Matomo for WordPress 4 (or newer) or Matomo Cloud

  • Log in as a super user
  • Go to “Administration -> System -> General settings”
  • In the “Live” section you can either disable visitor profile feature only or the visits log and the visitor profile
  • Confirm the changes by clicking on “Save”.

Note that for example disabling the visits log also disables related features that are built on top of this such as the segmented visits log, the real time map and the real time widget.

The feature can be enabled again any time.

Disable only for specific website(s)

  • Log in as a super user or Admin user
  • Go to Administration -> Websites(Measurables) -> Manage
  • Click “Edit” for the website
  • Then you can turn off visits log and visitor profiles, or only turn off Visitor profiles:

  • Click “Save”

If you are using Matomo On-Premise 3 or earlier

  • Log in as a super user
  • Go to “Administration -> Plugins”
  • Deactivate the “Live” plugin

Should you change your mind you can simply activate this feature again.

Previous FAQ: How do I anonymize the referrer information?