Instagram is famous for the heart button users can double-tap posts to show content some love. Until recently, like counts were public throughout the Instagram app, but changes are already happening.
Instagram has taken its community’s feedback on board1 and decided to become a place where people can comfortably express themselves without feeling pressured to generate high engagement.
The decision is part of the platform’s founders’ efforts to transform Instagram into a place where users can focus on the media they share – not the number of likes that might set them apart from more popular accounts.
Let’s take a closer look at how, exactly, these changes have been rolled out, how they are going to affect marketing on Instagram, and how to see likes on Instagram regardless of those changes (including hidden likes).
Wondering how to see hidden likes on Instagram? Use NapoleonCat and check the number of likes under your posts and competitors’ accounts as well. Try it for free:
Try NapoleonCat free for 14 days. No credit card required.
You may be wondering – why can’t I see likes on Instagram?
The changes come down to the fact that Instagram will no longer publicly display the number of likes generated by posts if a user chooses to hide likes on his IG posts.
This means that the exact number of likes given to any individual photo or video will only be known to the user who posted it.
Prior to Instagram’s updates, this is how the platform’s users would see how many likes a post has generated:
The New YorkerThe post-rollout view is different: the information beneath posts with multiple engagements mentions that the image or video has been “Liked by username and others.”
Instagram hiding likes – source: Bon AppetitThe word ‘others’ is a link that, once tapped, redirects to a complete list of users who have liked the post.
It is, therefore, technically possible to manually count the number of likes of any given post – but, in the case of large posts with thousands (or millions!) of engagements, it would be a ridiculously tedious task.
The rollout started in Canada in April 2019. The update was later introduced in Ireland, Japan, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
Instagram is currently one of the world’s largest social media platforms. Focused on visual content, Facebook’s sister app has proven to have an enormous impact on modern culture.
Over the last decade, Instagram has been instrumental in shaping fashion and beauty trends. It was the birthplace of original, sometimes odd phenomena (virtual celebrities, pet influencers, and even the Instagram face).
It brought fame and money to many – and sparked the dream to pursue fame and money online in many more.
Finally, the platform played a substantial role in the creation of high-quality and aesthetic standards for what people share online.
Every Instagram user knows the seemingly effortless yet stunningly stylish snippets of other people’s daily lives (#iwokeuplikethis), travels, meals, and so on.
Unfortunately, not everyone is able to tell that some – if not most – of them are meticulously staged and hardly representative of anyone’s real life. Thanks, Dan Bilzerian!
The fact that professional influencers coexist with ‘casual’ users on the platform and the lines between both groups are blurred was bound to cause some issues.
With all content ‘judged’ with one universal tool – likes – Instagram has, over time, become a popularity contest of sorts.
And since certain lifestyles, beauty standards, and activities consistently collected higher numbers of likes than others, large parts of Instagram’s user community eventually started feeling insecure and inadequate about their own content, and, in consequence, their lifestyles, resources, and overall wellbeing.
This brings us to the point.
The decision-makers at Instagram name their concern for the platform’s users’ mental health as the main reason to give users the possibility to hide likes. Adam Mosseri, Instagram’s CEO, tweeted:
Our interest in hiding likes really is just to depressurize Instagram for young people. It’ll likely effect how much some people engage on Instagram, probably liking a bit less and posting a bit more, but the main thing we’re trying to learn is how this effects how people feel.
So, to sum it up: Instagram is changing the way users view likes to bring back the joy of posting to those who were negatively affected by the competitive implications of publicly displayed engagement scores.
The platform’s management is hoping to see more users post regularly and publish what they truly want to share without worrying about how their content will be received and how it will rank against popular posts on Instagram.
The way Instagram decided to look out for the mental health of its users is a much-needed act of social responsibility that will hopefully inspire other social media giants.
But over the last few years, the platform has become more than just an outlet for self-expression.
In 2019, over 25 million brands big and small were using Instagram as part of their social media marketing strategies. How will Instagram’s decision to hide likes affect their efforts?
Likes are a social media marketing metric that has traditionally been used to measure the success of Instagram content.
Brands will still be able to apply this to their own posts – as we mentioned before, every Instagram account owner will have access to the exact number of likes their posts generate.
But success is relative. Without being able to check in on how activations similar to yours are going on competitors’ accounts, how will you know whether your campaign is actually going well?
Wondering how to see hidden likes on Instagram? Easily access the number of Instagram likes for your competitors’ profiles with one simple tool.
Try it for free:
Try NapoleonCat free for 14 days. No credit card required.
Engagement is also an important metric that defines the success of Instagram influencers. Brands are willing to invest significant sums into influencer campaigns if they know that the person they work with has a loyal and interactive following.
Without public access to the likes metric, the process of scouting influencers for paid campaigns and negotiating rates will likely become a bit more complicated.
As Instagram became a popularity contest, the desire to collect high numbers of likes got out of hand. Several businesses bypassing Instagram’s terms of service and selling likes popped up, and many personal and business accounts used such services to boost their visible engagement and appear more credible on the platform.
Since likes are going to be less visible on Instagram, fake engagement will no longer serve its questionable purpose, and the shady practice of buying likes is bound to disappear naturally.
Yay!
Instagram is doing what it can to protect its community – and that’s great news. But the platform is not turning its back on businesses in the process, even if the implications discussed above might seem like a burden to marketers.
Here’s the thing: you will still be able to view Instagram likes, just not on Instagram.
While the vanity metric is no longer going to be a concern of the general public, marketers will be able to still access it through specialized social media management tools.
Here’s how to see Instagram likes – tools like NapoleonCat still allow you to view the exact numbers of likes – and other engagements – for any public Business or Creator Account you follow.
You will be able to see the number of Instagram likes for each post, and you’ll be able to set a completely custom time period for your analysis, too.
This means that you can still conduct a proper social media competitive analysis as well as verify whether what influencers tell you about their social performance is accurate.
So, you’ll be able to see the total likes on your Instagram account, as well as on any other public Instagram business profiles.
Reminder: After you connect your Instagram accounts to NapoleonCat, please wait up to 24 hours for the tool to fully sync your Instagram analytics data.
Can’t see the number of likes on Instagram for a particular post? No worries, you’ll also be able to access data for each post:
How to see likes on Instagram for specific posts.And here’s a little video we’ve made to show you how checking Instagram likes with NapoleonCat looks in action:
Wondering how to see likes on Instagram? Use NapoleonCat and check the number of likes for your own accounts and your competitors’ profiles as well, even hidden likes. Try it for free:
Company emailTry NapoleonCat free for 14 days.
No credit card required.
Instagram’s decision to hide likes is rooted in how influential the platform has become for modern culture. And while experts predict the changes will have a positive effect on the platform’s users, the update will also pose some challenges for brands using Instagram as a marketing and sales tool.
Influencer marketing will have to adapt to the new reality – but specialized social media management tools with access to Instagram’s API will allow for a smooth transition.
Stay tuned for more Instagram updates!
Time for a quick summary of the article. Here are the most important facts:
In 2022, Instagram users can choose to either show or hide their likes under specific posts.
Yes. Even if you can’t see likes using the native platform, you can still use third-party tools, like NapoleonCat, to check the number of likes under your own and other users’ posts.
You can use NapoleonCat to check the total number of your Instagram likes. You can set a custom time period for your analysis and get more historical data about your likes. You can also generate automatic reports or analyze any other public Instagram accounts that are connected to a Facebook Page.
The short answer is no, Instagram did not remove the option of seeing what you’ve liked on Instagram – it’s just located in a different place within the IG app.
Below you can check how to look at your likes on Instagram.
Wondering how to see posts you’ve liked on Instagram? It’s really easy, but it’s now done in a different way than in the past.
To see your likes on Instagram (from the last 300 days):
And that’s it! You can also sort your likes by dates 🙂
Likes and comments are still an important indicator on Instagram to analyze whether posts and content are well received by the community.
The experts at Fanpage Karma have studied how many interactions you need to be better than average.
What do you look for if you had to tell whether an Instagram post is successful or not? Many people would instinctively take a look at the number of likes and comments first. And there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with that.
Even if metrics like the interaction rate or the number of sales give more information about the success of an Instagram channel, the likes and comments still help very well to analyze the acceptance of the users.
Or, to put it another way, if an Instagram account achieves a relatively high number of likes and comments, it can be assumed first of all that the community likes the shared content. (We’ll leave out the scam variants at this point).
And if the fans of an Instagram profile interact a lot with posts, the Instagram algorithm naturally honors that as well.
This in turn results in even more potentially interested people seeing the posts on the Discover page.
This is a question many account owners ask themselves. After all, it’s not always easy to assess how their own content compares to the competition. It is not always easy to tell from the outside whether an account is highlighting certain posts and interactions through advertising.
That’s why the experts at Fanpage Karma analyzed a total of 120,000 Instagram profiles. In doing so, they looked at the question of how many likes and comments occur on average for accounts of certain sizes.
These averages can then be used to reconstruct whether you and your posts are better or worse than average.
Let’s first take a look at likes as the first of two metrics we examined. Here, as already touched upon, the following applies: Even if a Like is supposedly given away quickly, it is still possible to deduce very well from the mass of Likes how well your Likes are performing.
Meanwhile, a similar picture emerges for comments on Instagram. For example, the top ten percent have more than twice as many comments as the average on Instagram.
This pattern continues as the accounts grow. Thus, the top ten percent in the next categories record 561 comments (up to 500,000 fans) or 1,170 comments per day (from 500,000 fans).
If you only look at likes and comments in your Instagram analysis, you’re making a mistake. But if you ignore these values, you’re also making a mistake. Basically, two findings can be noted.
On the one hand, there are always significantly more likes than comments. On the other hand, the gap between the average and the top accounts grows visibly with increasing size. Looking at the average values in particular helps many social media managers to better assess their own work.
Instagram limits apply to any kind of content: the number of likes, comments, subscriptions, messages, and the like. The site algorithm checks the user's actions and blocks suspicious activity in the profile, and also warns against using "gray" promotion methods.
Note . You can read about the Community Guidelines in the Meta Help and the Instagram Guide.
The site has a negative attitude towards:
For one violation you will receive a warning, which can be viewed in the "Notifications" tab. If the moderators notice a large number of identical actions in the account, you will receive a warning, followed by blocking or deleting the profile. Particularly strict requirements apply to new accounts that have been in existence for less than six months.
If you notice a sharp drop in reach within a few days, this is a sign of a shadowban. Recommended reading! Learn how to unblock Instagram.
You may also receive a warning for content that does not comply with platform standards. Because of him, account holders fall under the shadowban. To find out the status of your account, go from your profile to the menu and go to the "Settings" section.
Then go to the "Account" tab.
"Account" tabAnd check "Account Status".
Account Status tabHere you can check the list of violations, see recommendations and options on how to get deleted posts back.
Check your profile for prohibited contentCreate a chatbot, automate communication with customers and improve sales in Instagram Direct.
Let's consider violations for which some functions can be limited or even blocked forever.
To increase the reach and attract users' attention to the profile, account holders put likes.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account is over a year old | |
| Daily | 300 likes | 500 | 900 |
| per hour | 12 likes | 20 | 50 |
| Minimum break | 1-2 minutes | ||
The site monitors the observance of the personal space of users - mass mailing to strangers who did not consent to correspondence is perceived negatively.
Community members can file a complaint and your account will be blocked. Therefore, keep track of the number of messages sent to Direct.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 20 messages | 35 | 50 |
| per hour | 3-5 messages | 10 | 15 |
| Minimum break | 10 minutes | ||
Accounts are often blocked due to comments - make sure that they are different and contain text, not just emoji.
Identical comments are treated as spam. This is followed by a warning, and if the action is repeated, the account is blocked.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Per day | Not recommended to use in order not to get banned | 140 comments | 200-250 |
| per hour | Not recommended to use in order not to get banned | 7 comments | 8 |
| Minimum break | - | 4-5 minutes | |
The algorithm takes into account the total number of followers and unfollows per day. Therefore, if you have subscribed to a large number of users, it is better to postpone the unsubscribe to the next day so as not to get banned.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 100 subscriptions | 300 | 500 |
| per hour | 20 subscriptions | 30 | 40 |
| Minimum break | 8 minutes | 5 minutes | 30 seconds to 1 minute |
You can start unsubscribing from 300 non-reciprocal and 200 mutual subscriptions per day, gradually increasing this number.
But do not forget about the total amount of subscriptions and unsubscriptions per month - otherwise the account will be blocked.
| Account age from 3 months | Account age from 6 months | Account age over a year | |
| Daily | 500 unsubscribes | 1400 | 2000 |
| per hour | 20 unsubscribes | 50 | 80 |
| Minimum break | 2 to 5 minutes | ||
Let's look at other limits that do not lead to blocking, but limit the number of posts - for example, stories or hashtags.
Up to 100 stories can be added per day. If you upload another one, the very first story will be automatically deleted and the total number will be one hundred.
Up to three users per hour can be mentioned in comments, and up to 20 per day for new accounts.
For profiles that have existed for more than six months, up to 50 users can be mentioned per day.
Up to 2200 characters can be added to the post. If this is not enough for you, you can overlay text on the image and add it to the carousel, as in the screencast below.
Carousel text exampleUp to 10 images can be added to a post. Up to 20 publications can be published per day with an interval of 5-10 minutes, but practice shows that it is enough to upload 1-2 posts per day, and send the rest of the content to stories. This way you won't bore your audience.
Up to 30 tags with target and near-target keys can be added to a post. And for Reels, it is recommended to prescribe no more than 5 hashtags. You can also use tags in stories - geolocation, brand or thematic query.
Use spaces or periods in the text to separate tags.
An example of delimiting tags in the text for publication Brands and bloggers constantly use account blocking: fakes, spam, trolls, competitors, and the like.
At the same time, mass blocking is perceived negatively by the platform - so do not rush to take such measures so as not to receive a warning. It’s better to try to calm the person down or pause between blocks so as not to attract undue attention from the moderators.
Recommended reading! Learn more about Instagram:
Rules, tips, examples”; In this article, we looked at the new Instagram limits that are updated every year. You can learn about changes only by trial and error - the site does not talk about the operation of the algorithm and how it reacts to mass actions.
If you are banned, follow these precautions:
You can automate the process of communication with users using the chatbot on Instagram, which will send mailings to those who have agreed to the correspondence.
The SendPulse bot allows you to set up answers to frequently asked questions, create any chains, send data to CRM, place orders and notify customers about delivery.
SendPulse Chat Bot BuilderAnd also connect our other tools for comprehensive promotion: create multilinks using the landing page builder, send email, Viber, SMS and push notifications, set up chat bots in instant messengers and social networks — Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram!
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The time when it was possible to subscribe, like and bombard everyone with spam comments without restrictions around the clock with impunity has passed. Instagram limits in 2022 are much tougher and in order not to see the terrible “You are temporarily blocked on Instagram”, you need to take into account the limits of subscriptions and subscribers, likes and comments, and be aware of content restrictions. So you will not get banned on Instagram (the page will not be blocked).
Limits primarily apply to those who use third-party services and programs for Instagram promotion (mass following, promotion tasks). As a rule, the service itself will tell you the allowable limits and restrictions of Instagram, but you still need to know them.
Ban on Instagram can be obtained precisely for exceeding the limits on subscriptions per day, likes per day and comments. For everyone who does not use mass following or cheating, does not subscribe to everyone all day long, there is nothing to worry about - manually you are unlikely to like / subscribe so much. But you can also get banned for the content itself, so pay attention to the official Instagram restrictions.
In December 2018, new rules for 18+ content appeared , and in April 2019 they were further tightened and new restrictions were introduced for those who “asks for likes”. More on this at the end of the article.
Content:
We write about all Instagram updates in our account @grammarhelp
Instagram limits for brand new accounts (under 6 months old) are much lower than for older accounts.
Instagram looks at newbies more closely and strictly monitors their activity. Therefore, if you have just registered an account, then do not immediately rush to subscribe to everyone in a row, and do not turn on mass following. Big risk of getting banned on Instagram. So far, take care of filling your account, promote it with free methods.
| Limits for accounts from 6 months. | ||
| Subscriptions + unsubscribes* | 60 per hour | 1440 per day |
| Likes | 60 per hour | 1440 per day |
| Comments** | 60 per hour | 1440 per day |
| Mentions (@accountname) | 5 in every comment | |
| Limits for new accounts | ||
| Subscriptions + unsubscribes* | 30 per hour | 720 per day |
| Likes | 30 per hour | 720 per day |
| Comments** | 30 per hour | 720 per day |
| Mentions (@accountname) | 5 in every comment | |
* Instagram follows and unsubscribes together, i.
e. for example, if you follow 60 people in an hour, you can only unsubscribe in the next hour. The maximum follow limit on Instagram is 7500. If you want to continue following, you must first unfollow some to be less than 7500.
** All comments must be different. You can’t write the same “Great photo!” under all posts! or put the same smiley everywhere. Same comments=Spam=Ban on Instagram.
Limits on Instagram may change, the current ones are in the developer section on the Instagram website.
Update 2019. The link above no longer works. Instagram no longer publishes its official limits. Therefore, now the numbers in the table are approximate. You can still navigate them, because. there is no other official information.
In the table above, the limits that Instagram used to publish for subscriptions/likes/comments per hour. Multiply by 12 and get the limits per day. But at the same time the entire daily limit cannot be used at once , first of all, the limits on actions per hour must be observed.
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An Instagram ban can last from a few hours to a couple of weeks. Or you can permanently lose your account. How long the account suspension lasts depends on the severity of your violations.
The most common message is “You are temporarily blocked on Instagram” you will see for these these reasons:
As a rule, this happens when you use services for posting photos via a computer online or by mass following. Here, it is often simply “thrown out” of the account and you just need to enter your login / password again. Sometimes you will need to reset your password through the mail to which your account is registered. If you use several services at the same time, promote many different accounts, then use a proxy server. If you have been temporarily blocked, you usually just have to wait a couple of hours to a couple of weeks and you will be unblocked. After three such blocking, they can be banned permanently. That is why it is important to be aware of Instagram limits and restrictions if you are actively promoting your account.
Instagram has official rules and restrictions that users often violate without blocking their account.
The principle “not caught is not a thief” works here. Cheating and spam are easy to track using algorithms, and breaking the rules below can only be caught by stumbling upon the offending account in person.
In December 2018 Facebook (and with it Instagram, since the owner is the same) introduces new rules for adult content.
For this reason, many bloggers flew into the ban - both the authors of educational / psychological articles on the topic of relationships, and bloggers with too explicit photos. Now you can not only write about your preferences (or discuss other people's), but also use phrases like "I want to have fun tonight." For a complete list of the new rules for Instagram 2022, see the Facebook Help.
In April 2019 Instagram tightens the screws even more. Content that fell under the distribution:
An example of objectionable content. "High five"; "put a heart on the photo"; “Ask me how to make money without investments”
Such content may not be blocked immediately.
But Instagram will do everything so that it does not spread: remove it from the hashtag search and from the recommended one. Already, some posts in the feed are being blurred and warned about potentially offensive content.
Keep in mind that even if you are not trying to scam anyone out of money, and your photo in a swimsuit is just to show everyone how much you love the gym, such content can potentially be blocked. Especially if there are a lot of complaints about it. But Instagram makes it possible to appeal the blocking and return the content after verification.
Read the full Facebook/Instagram 2022 content restrictions here: Community Guidelines.
In the summer of 2019 , news appeared that now, before deleting an account, they will send an official notification, where they will show for which posts / stories / comments you can be blocked. Moreover, this content can be appealed if you believe that it was mistakenly considered to violate the rules.
