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By Jacob Kastrenakes / @jake_k
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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
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The Verge Guide to Instagram
My Instagram profile probably reveals more personal details about me than any other social network page. As a result, I started to get creeped out after I realized just how many people were following me I didn’t actually know.
Locking down your privacy on Instagram can be as simple as setting your profile to “private.” But you can get a lot more granular than that, and there is a range of other protections you can put in place. You can keep your account public but make it a little more protected, or even add stricter protections than simply flipping the private profile switch gives you.
If you really want to keep your account safe, here’s what you can do.
Setting your account to private is the simplest thing you can do to lock down your profile. It means that, going forward, no one can see your photos or stories unless you approve them.
Once your account is private, new people who visit your profile will only see your name and profile image. From there, they can request to follow you, and you have to confirm their request before they can see your photos or stories.
To set your account to private:
One important caveat: anyone who already follows you at the time you change your account to private will still be following you.
That means if there’s anyone you want to deny access to, you have to remove them from your followers list.
To remove someone who’s following you:
Instagram lets you limit who sees your stories (the reel of images that disappear after 24 hours) and stop people from sharing them even further.
To hide your story from specific people:
You can also prevent people from sharing your story:
” Turning this off will prevent people from messaging your stories to others.Finally, you can use Instagram’s Close Friends feature to limit the reach of your stories to specific people.
When it comes to protecting the photos and videos posted to your feed, it’s much more of an all-or-nothing scenario than it is with stories.
If you don’t want to go private, you can still block individual users:
On their profile page, tap the three-dotted menu in the upper-right corner. Note: you can also restrict people from this menu. If you restrict them, they can still see your content, but their comments will only appear to you, and they won’t be able to see when you’re online.
There are a few things you can do to make yourself a little bit harder to find (and give out less information about yourself in the process).
First, you can stop sending your contacts to Instagram. You might have given Instagram access to your contacts initially to help find your friends when signing up, but it means that Instagram knows who’s in your phone book. To turn it off:
You can also stop Instagram from suggesting your account to others. This happens when someone follows a new account: Instagram will then display accounts it believes are “similar,” which you could be grouped into.
You can’t change this using your mobile app. To turn this off:
Finally, it’s worth checking to see whether any of your Instagram posts come up in a Google search. By default, Instagram doesn’t let Google find your photos, but if you ever signed into a third-party web viewer (and you might have in the years before Instagram was available on the web), it’s possible that site is scraping your profile and posting it for all to see.
If one or more of your posts does come up in your search, the first step to getting rid of it is to cut off third-party apps’ access to your Instagram account. You can do that on the mobile app:
You can drill down even further in limiting what in your account is visible to other people.
One big thing you can do is turn off your activity status so people can’t see when you’re online. (Be aware that, if you disable this, you won’t be able to see when other people are online either.)
You might also want to review tagged photos before they’re posted to your profile. If you have a public account, reviewing every tag can stop spammers from filling up your profile. And if you have a private account, this can stop your friends from sticking an unflattering picture on your profile. To do this:
You may not actually want to save the photos and videos you post to Instagram, especially your disappearing stories. There are a couple of things you can do to stop that.
To stop your stories from being saved:
The first is “Save to Camera Roll” (on iOS) or “Save to Gallery” (on Android), which saves your stories to your phone. The second is “Save to Archive,” and turning that off stops Instagram from hanging onto your stories for you to view later after they’ve disappeared.If you also want to keep your feed posts inside of Instagram:
This will prevent the posts from being stored locally on your phone, but it also means that your only copy will be on Instagram.
Instagram ads are based on websites you visit and apps you use. If you want to put a stop to this, it’s a little bit trickier. You actually have to hop over to Facebook, which owns Instagram.
To disable ad personalization, you first need to go to Facebook’s ad settings.
Most Popular
Who isn't on Instagram? From your neighbour next door to your friend who lives miles away, almost everyone uses it.
But there are a lot more people than that. And who you follow on Instagram can be a source of unnecessary drama. For instance, your friend might argue with you for following someone they don't like.
Another prime concern can be that of privacy. Instagram has blurred the lines of what’s private and what’s not. Instagram gives other people insight into your interests, relationships, and the content you view. Therefore, you must take some precautions.
In a weird turn of events, other Instagram users could potentially use this information against you. So, it’s always best to protect your privacy as much as possible.
Therefore, we’re going to discuss multiple ways how you can hide who you follow on Instagram!
The question people often ask is how to hide who you follow on Instagram? Unfortunately, for Instagram users, this is not something you can do.
The number of people that you follow on Instagram and how many people are following you remains visible when people click on your Instagram profile. However, there are other things that you can tweak with respect to choosing who sees what.
Regardless of which account you use, you cannot hide followers & following lists on Instagram. So, even for a business account, the number of followers remains visible to everyone on the platform.
Instagram has rolled out a bunch of features so far but nothing on this. Therefore, you can't do anything about this problem. We are still waiting for Instagram to add more privacy-related features.
Many people don’t consider keeping their social media account private. Apart from celebrities and influencers, everyone should keep their profile private. You never know how others may use your photos or post.
On a private account people who don't follow you, cannot view your details.
However, when using a public profile this is visible to all. Even on a private account your followers and following list remain visible. But only those who follow you can see it. The rest can just see the numbers. On the other hand, on a public account, anyone can see both.
The reason why social media platforms want the number of followers to remain visible is that this is why they exist. Social media apps are driven by the number of followers a user has on its account.
People are obsessed with the number of followers. This is what keeps them coming back to the platform. Hence, the app will not make it easy for you to hide followers on Instagram. Instagram has now added the feature to hide likes. This has been done owing to the concern over the digital well-being of users. But nothing has been done further in this domain.
Unfortunately, you can’t do this either! Then, what can you actually restrict? Don't worry we'll discuss this in a while.
The actual numbers represent your following and following. They are always visible. It doesn’t matter what type of account you have – you can’t hide the numbers. It’s one of the areas where Instagram is uncompromising. But there may be a to hide who you follow.
It does make sense though. As said before numbers drive social media. It would be counterintuitive to their business if you could just hide the Following and Followers list on Instagram. You would leave everyone to speculate. But there are things you can do to manage who sees what in your account.
Let's see what things you can restrict!
Maybe in the future, Instagram might allow users to hide followers. But we don’t see that happening any time soon. However, you can control your visibility on the platform and what people can see on your profile.
Here are some routes you can take to limit visibility on your Instagram account:
1.
Restrict a user’s account
2. Switch to private mode
3. Block / Remove user
Now let’s take a look at each one of them.
Restricting a person means limiting what a person can view on your profile. When you restrict someone they don't get to know. For instance, a restricted user cannot view when you are active or stories. The user also cannot see your online status or if you have read a message they sent you. Here's how to do this:
If you ever decide to unrestrict them then follow the same steps as above!
By switching to a private profile you can hide the people you follow on Instagram.
You still cannot hide the number of followers. But you can hide who is following you and who you follow.
This is how you can do it:
Once you switch to a private account, anyone who wants to follow you must seek your permission.
You can then decide if you would allow that person to view your profile.
If you do not want certain people to view your profile then the best things you can do is to completely block them.
Blocking can seem a little extreme but it’s the only way to hide followers on Instagram from certain people.
Follow the steps below to hide followers on Instagram :
Blocking someone is extreme. Instead, you can remove the user. Even this is easy! When you remove them, they will not be notified. In place of this, when they click on your profile only then they will know. Also, they will need your permission to view your profile again.
By removing followers and keeping your profile private you can't hide followers on Instagram. However, all they can see is the number of followers and not the list of people actually following you.
You can easily do this by going to your Followers' list. Just search the username and press "Remove" next to their name!
If you've tried to follow someone recently but couldn't, click here to see the fix.
Well, we have so far discussed the topic of how to hide who you follow on Instagram. Let's dive and see other doubts on this issue!
Yes, you can and without further ado, we'll tell you how!
This will allow you to browse on Instagram with others not knowing that you are actually active on the app.
Instagram introduced a new feature that lets you stop updates from a particular user without having to remove or block them. All you have to do is mute them. You can unmute them whenever you would like to view their posts again.
The best thing about this feature is that the person you muted will never know that they have been muted.
This setting is quite simple to activate but has nothing to do with Instagram settings. In your phone’s settings, scroll to applications and locate Instagram.
From there, turn off contact accessibility, and the permission will be removed from the application. Additionally, no one from your contacts list will be able to find you using your contact information.
That's all on how to hide who you follow on Instagram, but keep reading for more!
On the advice of your friends, you have finally signed up for Instagram , so now you can post photos and videos and share them with people all over the world. You are happy with your choice and, in order to increase the number of subscribers, you yourself began to subscribe to different people. Subsequently, however, in an effort to maintain your privacy, you became concerned that other users might see the names of the people you follow.
If this is the case and you are looking for an answer to the question, how to hide your following on Instagram ? You will be happy to know that in the next chapters of this guide, I will show you in detail what solutions you can use to do this, acting through the official social network app for Android and iOS, as well as from the web and through the Instagram app for Windows 10.
Before than to explain how to hide who you follow on Instagram , I have to give you a very important preliminary information. You should be aware that in the current state of things, there is no special feature that allows you to hide the people you follow. Don't worry : you can still succeed in your design by taking two alternative solutions: make your account private or block users who you want to make your data and content inaccessible to.
Activating private mode for your profile means that all the contents of your account (published photos and videos, as well as the names of people you follow and who follow you) can be viewed only your current subscribers or those you approve as new subscribers.
However, if you decide to block an individual on Instagram , not only will they no longer be able to see who you follow on the social network, but they will also no longer be able to find your account, view your profile and everything related to you , including your photos, videos and comments.
The choice of solution is up to you, your needs and preferences. In any case, do not worry: both options are completely reversible operations.
After reviewing the prerequisites, the following lines will show you how to boost your profile details through the Instagram app for Android or iOS, as well as through the web and the Windows 10 app.
To make your profile private using the Instagram app for Android or iOS, you must first launch the respective app and access your account.
After that, click on the little man icon (or profile thumbnail ) located in the lower right corner to go to your profile section. Then press the button Menu (three horizontal bars) located in the upper right corner and press the item Settings at the bottom of the menu.
Then go to item Privacy → Account privacy , and then activate the toggle switch located opposite entry Closed account to confirm the operation.
If necessary, you can return to the Instagram section you just indicated and move the switch that you will find in the “My Account” item to the “OFF” position so that your profile becomes public again.
If you want to make your Instagram account private, you can also do it from the Internet or using the Windows 10 app. The procedures to be followed are the same in both cases.
To get started, connect to a well-known photography social network by logging into your account from the official website or launching the Windows 10 app from the icon located in the Start menu.
Then click your profile thumbnail located in the upper right corner to access your profile screen, click the button with the gear icon and in the menu that appears, click on the "Privacy and Security" item. Finally tick Closed account .
If you later decide to deactivate the privatization of your profile, uncheck the box and confirm the privacy changes by clicking OK.
Are you considering blocking someone on Instagram to hide your profile and all information about you? In that case, follow the instructions I'll provide you with in the following paragraphs and you'll learn how to do it with the Android, iOS app, or with the web version of Instagram and the Windows 10 app.0005
Do you want to hide the list of people you follow and the rest of your Instagram content for a specific user? In this case, in order to do so through the Instagram app for Android or iOS, you must first launch it and access your account.
Once this is done, identify the profile of the person you want to block by clicking on their name via Instagram stream or manually through a search engine (magnifying glass icon).
When the corresponding user's profile is displayed, press the ... button located in the upper right corner; then click on the item Lock in the displayed menu and confirm the lock by clicking the Lock button again.
In case of doubt, you can access the section dedicated to the list of blocked users to reverse the action. To do this, click on the icon man located at the bottom and press the menu button located at the top right.
Now in the displayed menu, click Settings , then go to Privacy → Blocked Accounts to find the list of blocked users.
To unblock a user, press his name and confirm the procedure by double-clicking the Unblock button.
As for blocking an Instagram user through the official website or Windows 10 app, the procedure is just as simple.
To start , log in to your Instagram account on the main page of the service or by launching the app for Windows 10 through the Start menu.
Find the user you want to block via thread or search. Once this is done, click on the vertical ellipsis button located in the upper right corner and click on link Block this user from the menu shown to you.
To unblock the user, find the corresponding user's profile again and double-click the Unblock button.
Content
There are three ways to hide followers on Instagram. The function may be useful for those who do not want to show visitors their contact lists.
In the privacy settings of the social network, you can find: close an account or disable commenting. There is no standard function on how to hide basic information about yourself.
Three ways to hide followers from others on Instagram:
For example, business account holders will not be able to make the page private. To do this, you need to switch to personal status, which affects the ability to view statistics and promote publications.
The second profile can be blocked by Instagram if you do not post any posts on it regularly. The social network closely monitors fakes and blocks inactive profiles.
Blocking certain users may not bring the desired result: another person can create a second profile and view publications using it. At the same time, the problem: “is it possible to hide subscriptions on Instagram” remains relevant.
The main advantage of a closed profile is the ability to sort subscription requests. Users who have not been added will not be able to view Posts, Stories, and contact lists.
To make your profile private:
Business account holders will see the inscription: " Switch back to personal ". The method is not suitable for online stores and large communities. By switching, statistics information, active ad-campaigns will be deleted.
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In a closed profile on Instagram, you can post any information. None of the services is able to show the posts that are in the account. Previously added to subscribers will remain and will be able to view the profile (subscriptions). You can unsubscribe a person using blocking: go to his page - three dots above - Block.
Subscriber applications can be accepted or rejected.
Appear in the notification section, a separate list. There are two buttons next to the nickname: a cross and "Confirm application".
You can hide Instagram subscriptions from a specific person through blocking. Possible with two functions: " Block " and " Report spam ".
In the second case, the system will automatically send another user's page to " Blacklist ". To remove any profile from blocking: Settings - Privacy and security - Blocked accounts.
A user who is blacklisted will see an inscription on the page: " No publications ". Viewing subscriptions and subscribers will not be available.
Instructions on how to block:
The second function is needed if you want to hide Stories or some posts. You can disable:
Complete blocking means that there is no access to subscription and viewing posted materials. A blocked visitor can only create another account to subscribe.
If more than ten people need to be able to close the profile or block, you can create a second account. This option is used by bloggers and media personalities on Instagram who do not want to show personal comments and lists of friends. From the first page, you can clear subscriptions by using large-scale unsubscribe applications.
The maximum number of unsubscribes per day is no more than 2000 (for accounts older than six months).
To create a second profile:
In the top line, next to the nickname, an arrow will appear and a profile selection for working with Instagram. In order for the page not to be blocked, the owner must publish photos or videos at least once every two weeks. Linked pages will not be visible to other users.
You can hide followers on Instagram by unfollowing all accounts. If the profile is open, friends and acquaintances will be able to write in private messages. The previous correspondence is saved, so you can send a notification to the already created chat.
The second profile will help you keep important contacts and not lose your audience. Such a page can be made private and, if necessary, put a link in the main account. Friends and acquaintances will be able to subscribe to the "spare" page if there is a possibility of blocking or other sanctions from Instagram.
