diff --git a/sdk/src/firetower_sdk/client.py b/sdk/src/firetower_sdk/client.py
index c4f4f2ea..e976cd4e 100644
--- a/sdk/src/firetower_sdk/client.py
+++ b/sdk/src/firetower_sdk/client.py
@@ -94,6 +94,14 @@ def get_incident(self, incident_id: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
         """Get an incident by ID."""
         return self._request("GET", f"/api/incidents/{incident_id}/")
 
+    def get_incident_status(self, incident_id: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Get the status of an incident by ID.
+
+        Returns only the incident's id and status. Requires the
+        `incidents.view_all_incident_statuses` permission on the server.
+        """
+        return self._request("GET", f"/api/incidents/{incident_id}/status/")
+
     def list_incidents(
         self,
         statuses: list[IncidentStatus] | None = None,
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/migrations/0017_alter_incident_options.py b/src/firetower/incidents/migrations/0017_alter_incident_options.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6e18939c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/migrations/0017_alter_incident_options.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.14 on 2026-05-15 19:22
+
+from django.db import migrations
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ("incidents", "0016_schedule_demo"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterModelOptions(
+            name="incident",
+            options={
+                "ordering": ["-created_at"],
+                "permissions": [
+                    (
+                        "view_all_incident_statuses",
+                        "Can view status of all incidents, including private",
+                    )
+                ],
+            },
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/models.py b/src/firetower/incidents/models.py
index 76b9e04e..ecb27b69 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/models.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/models.py
@@ -248,6 +248,12 @@ class Meta:
             models.Index(fields=["status", "-created_at"]),
             models.Index(fields=["severity", "-created_at"]),
         ]
+        permissions = [
+            (
+                "view_all_incident_statuses",
+                "Can view status of all incidents, including private",
+            ),
+        ]
 
     @property
     def incident_number(self) -> str:
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/permissions.py b/src/firetower/incidents/permissions.py
index b42cb169..a6fd85ff 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/permissions.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/permissions.py
@@ -22,6 +22,20 @@ def has_permission(self, request: Request, view: "APIView") -> bool:
         return request.user and request.user.is_authenticated
 
 
+class IncidentStatusPermission(permissions.BasePermission):
+    """
+    Permission for the incident status endpoint.
+
+    Requires the django-admin `incidents.view_all_incident_statuses` permission,
+    which grants access to the status of any incident (including private ones).
+    """
+
+    def has_permission(self, request: Request, view: "APIView") -> bool:
+        if not (request.user and request.user.is_authenticated):
+            return False
+        return request.user.has_perm("incidents.view_all_incident_statuses")
+
+
 class IncidentPermission(permissions.BasePermission):
     """
     Permission class for incident CRUD operations.
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/serializers.py b/src/firetower/incidents/serializers.py
index 7a5c6cb3..d2622ddb 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/serializers.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/serializers.py
@@ -220,6 +220,17 @@ def get_participants(self, obj: Incident) -> list[ParticipantData]:
         return participants_list
 
 
+class IncidentStatusSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
+    """Serializer that exposes only the incident's status."""
+
+    id = serializers.CharField(source="incident_number", read_only=True)
+
+    class Meta:
+        model = Incident
+        fields = ["id", "status"]
+        read_only_fields = ["id", "status"]
+
+
 class IncidentReadSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
     """
     Serializer for reading incidents via the service API.
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/tests/test_views.py b/src/firetower/incidents/tests/test_views.py
index e103e574..3a9e02ed 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/tests/test_views.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/tests/test_views.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission, User
 from rest_framework.test import APIClient
 
 from firetower.incidents.models import (
@@ -1481,3 +1481,154 @@ def test_list_tags_sorted_by_usage(self):
 
         assert response.status_code == 200
         assert response.data == ["UsedTwice", "UsedOnce", "Unused"]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+class TestIncidentStatusRetrieveAPIView:
+    """Tests for GET /api/incidents/{id}/status/."""
+
+    def setup_method(self):
+        self.client = APIClient()
+        self.user = User.objects.create_user(
+            username="test@example.com",
+            email="test@example.com",
+            password="testpass123",
+        )
+        self.other_user = User.objects.create_user(
+            username="other@example.com",
+            email="other@example.com",
+            password="testpass123",
+        )
+
+    def _grant_view_all_statuses(self, user: User) -> None:
+        perm = Permission.objects.get(codename="view_all_incident_statuses")
+        user.user_permissions.add(perm)
+
+    def test_returns_only_id_and_status(self):
+        """Response exposes only id and status — no title or other fields."""
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Secret Title",
+            description="Sensitive description",
+            status=IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+        )
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.data == {
+            "id": incident.incident_number,
+            "status": IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+        }
+
+    def test_visible_user_can_read_public_incident_status(self):
+        """User with normal read visibility (public incident) gets status."""
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Public",
+            status=IncidentStatus.MITIGATED,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P2,
+            is_private=False,
+        )
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.data["status"] == IncidentStatus.MITIGATED
+
+    def test_captain_can_read_private_incident_status_via_visibility(self):
+        """Captain of a private incident has visibility, so no special perm needed."""
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Private",
+            status=IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+            is_private=True,
+            captain=self.user,
+        )
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.data["status"] == IncidentStatus.ACTIVE
+
+    def test_user_without_visibility_or_perm_is_denied(self):
+        """User who can't see a private incident and lacks the perm is denied."""
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Other's Private",
+            status=IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+            is_private=True,
+            captain=self.other_user,
+        )
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 403
+
+    def test_user_with_view_all_perm_can_read_private_status(self):
+        """User without visibility but holding view_all_incident_statuses gets through."""
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Other's Private",
+            status=IncidentStatus.DONE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+            is_private=True,
+            captain=self.other_user,
+        )
+        self._grant_view_all_statuses(self.user)
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.data == {
+            "id": incident.incident_number,
+            "status": IncidentStatus.DONE,
+        }
+
+    def test_unauthenticated_user_denied(self):
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Public",
+            status=IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+        )
+
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code in (401, 403)
+
+    def test_superuser_can_read_private_incident_status(self):
+        superuser = User.objects.create_superuser(
+            username="admin@example.com",
+            email="admin@example.com",
+            password="testpass123",
+        )
+        incident = Incident.objects.create(
+            title="Other's Private",
+            status=IncidentStatus.ACTIVE,
+            severity=IncidentSeverity.P1,
+            is_private=True,
+            captain=self.other_user,
+        )
+
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=superuser)
+        response = self.client.get(f"/api/incidents/{incident.incident_number}/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.data["status"] == IncidentStatus.ACTIVE
+
+    def test_invalid_format_returns_400(self):
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get("/api/incidents/INVALID-123/status/")
+
+        assert response.status_code == 400
+
+    def test_not_found_returns_404(self):
+        self.client.force_authenticate(user=self.user)
+        response = self.client.get(
+            f"/api/incidents/{settings.PROJECT_KEY}-99999/status/"
+        )
+
+        assert response.status_code == 404
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/urls.py b/src/firetower/incidents/urls.py
index 42d5406e..f54e3bd1 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/urls.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/urls.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
     AvailabilityView,
     IncidentListCreateAPIView,
     IncidentRetrieveUpdateAPIView,
+    IncidentStatusRetrieveAPIView,
     TagListCreateAPIView,
     incident_detail_ui,
     incident_list_ui,
@@ -30,6 +31,11 @@
         IncidentRetrieveUpdateAPIView.as_view(),
         name="incident-retrieve-update",
     ),
+    path(
+        "incidents/<str:incident_id>/status/",
+        IncidentStatusRetrieveAPIView.as_view(),
+        name="incident-status-retrieve",
+    ),
     path(
         "incidents/<str:incident_id>/sync-participants/",
         sync_incident_participants,
diff --git a/src/firetower/incidents/views.py b/src/firetower/incidents/views.py
index 91556adb..093e5122 100644
--- a/src/firetower/incidents/views.py
+++ b/src/firetower/incidents/views.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
     TagType,
     filter_visible_to_user,
 )
-from .permissions import IncidentPermission
+from .permissions import IncidentPermission, IncidentStatusPermission
 from .reporting_utils import (
     build_incidents_by_tag,
     compute_regions,
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
     IncidentListUISerializer,
     IncidentOrRedirectReadSerializer,
     IncidentReadSerializer,
+    IncidentStatusSerializer,
     IncidentWriteSerializer,
     TagCreateSerializer,
     TagSerializer,
@@ -265,6 +266,46 @@ def get_object(self) -> Incident:
         return obj
 
 
+class IncidentStatusRetrieveAPIView(generics.RetrieveAPIView):
+    """
+    Service API for retrieving an incident's status only.
+
+    GET: Get incident status
+
+    Accepts incident_id in format: INC-2000
+
+    Access is granted if either:
+    - The user has normal read visibility to the incident (IncidentPermission), or
+    - The user has the `incidents.view_all_incident_statuses` permission
+      (IncidentStatusPermission), which grants status access to any incident
+      including private ones.
+    """
+
+    permission_classes = [IncidentPermission | IncidentStatusPermission]
+    serializer_class = IncidentStatusSerializer
+    lookup_field = "id"
+
+    def get_queryset(self) -> QuerySet[Incident]:
+        return Incident.objects.all()
+
+    def get_object(self) -> Incident:
+        incident_id = self.kwargs["incident_id"]
+        project_key = settings.PROJECT_KEY
+
+        incident_pattern = rf"^{re.escape(project_key)}-(\d+)$"
+        match = re.match(incident_pattern, incident_id, re.IGNORECASE)
+
+        if not match:
+            raise ValidationError(
+                f"Invalid incident ID format. Expected format: {project_key}-<number> (e.g., {project_key}-123)"
+            )
+
+        numeric_id = int(match.group(1))
+        obj = get_object_or_404(self.get_queryset(), id=numeric_id)
+        self.check_object_permissions(self.request, obj)
+        return obj
+
+
 class SyncIncidentParticipantsView(generics.GenericAPIView):
     """
     Force sync incident participants from Slack channel.