How to hide your contacts on instagram
How to Prevent People Who Have Your Contact Information from Finding Your Instagram Account « Smartphones :: Gadget Hacks
- By Nelson Aguilar
- Instagram 101
- Social Media
Sharing your personal information can come up for any number of reasons: you may want to get in touch with a colleague after work or you've been involved in a car accident and need to stay in contact with the other driver. Unfortunately, giving out information can be the key for others to find your social media accounts, such as Instagram, whether you want it to happen or not.
Anyone with your phone number saved in their contacts or who has added you on Facebook can find your Instagram account — especially if they're intent on stalking you. All they have to do is go to their Instagram account and go to their Find Friends page. Inside they'll find every account associated with the phone numbers saved in their contacts, which could mean your account. If you want to maintain your profile privacy, here are a few tips you should follow.
Step 1: Remove Your Phone Number from Instagram
The first and most important tip is to remove your phone number from your Instagram account. When you create an account, you're asked to insert a phone number as a means to add contacts from your phone on Instagram. By removing your phone number from your Instagram account, you stop your account from appearing in the Find Friends section, under Contacts.
However, before you can remove your phone number from Instagram, you must 1) have a verified email attached to your account and 2) not have two-factor authentication enabled.
To add a verified email to your Instagram tap on your profile icon in the bottom-right, go to "Edit Profile" and add an email under Private Information. You'll then be sent an email to verify your account.
Next, you must disable phone number-based two-factor authentication (2FA), if it's enabled. If it's already disabled, skip the next paragraph and pick back up with the phone number removal instructions.
To disable 2FA on your Instagram profile, tap your profile icon in the bottom-right, hit the three-dash menu, tap on "Settings," go to "Privacy and Security," and tap on "Two-Factor Authentication" (if you don't see this option, 2FA is already disabled). Once in the Two-Factor Authentication menu, tap on the toggle next to "Text Message" to disable it. You can leave the "Authentication App" toggle enabled if you'd like to continue using 2FA with apps like Google Authenticator and Authy.
Now you can remove your phone number. To do this, tap on your profile icon in the bottom-right, tap on "Edit Profile," and remove your phone number under Private Information.
Once your phone number is removed, your account should no longer show up under Contacts in the Find Friends section on other people's phones. In the screenshots below, you can see the Instagram account appears under Contacts when the phone number is linked (left) and it's gone when the phone number is removed (right).
Step 2: Unlink Your Facebook from Instagram
In addition to your phone number, if someone has you added on Facebook, they can find your Instagram account under Follow Facebook Friends.
If you want to remove your Instagram profile from appearing under Follow Facebook Friends on other people's Instagram accounts, you must go to your Instagram profile, tap on the three-dash menu, hit "Settings," tap on "Account," and finally on "Linked Accounts.
" Under Linked Accounts you'll see a number of accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Tap on "Facebook" and hit "Unlink Account" to remove your Facebook account from Instagram. You will no longer show up under the Follow Facebook Friends setting on Instagram in anyone's phone that may have you added on Facebook.
Although Twitter and the other apps under Linked Accounts do not share their contact information with Instagram, you might want to unlink every account just in case.
Step 3: Disable Similar Account Suggestions
Your final step in preventing your contacts from finding your Instagram account is to disable Similar Account Suggestions. When someone follows an Instagram profile, they'll see suggestions of similar profiles they might also want to follow, such as mutual friends or other people they might possibly know. One of the profiles that shows up could be yours, but fortunately you can easily disable this feature.
Strangely enough, you can't access this feature from the Instagram app on your smartphone.
Instead, you have to log into your Instagram account on a web browser, either on your phone, tablet, or computer. Once you're logged in go to your profile and either tap or click on "Edit Profile." At the bottom of the page, you'll see Similar Account Suggestions. Uncheck the box and you will no longer appear as a suggestion on someone else's profile.
Step 4: Other Tips
If you want to make your Instagram profile even harder to find, here are a few simple tips that could help:
- Make your account private.
- Don't show your face in your profile photo.
- Remove your name, website, and bio, all of which could point to the account being yours.
- Use an anonymous email. Although users can't find you using just your email address, this could change in the future.
- Block users as a countermeasure.
Don't Miss: Go Incognito on Instagram by Turning Off Your Green Dot Activity Status
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How to Hide Instagram Account and Prevent Other Users from Finding You
By default the images you share on your Instagram profile can be viewed by virtually anyone that signed up with an account on the app.
If you’d rather stay under the radar instead, there are a few things you can do to hide your Instagram account and prevent your contacts and other people from finding you on the social network.
For example, by removing specific information, even if someone has your phone number, they won’t be able to find you on Instagram. Follow along with this guide, as we detail additional options that will help you stay hidden from prying eyes.
Content
- Remove Your Facebook Account From Instagram
- Make Your Account Private
- Remove Your Phone Number from Instagram
- Turn Contact Syncing Off
- Prevent Your Friends From Finding You in Similar Accounts
- Turn Your Online Status Off
- Temporary Deactivate Your Account
- Frequently Asked Questions
Remove Your Facebook Account From Instagram
To make sharing easier, Instagram allows you to link your Facebook account to the app (and vice versa.) If you want to prevent people from finding you on Instagram, we advise against it.
Linking the two accounts means both apps will have access to the others’ friend list. So whenever a Facebook friend of yours creates an account on Instagram, your profile will show up as a friend suggestion. Since this is something we want to avoid, go ahead and remove your Facebook connection from Instagram.
- Open the Instagram app on your Android device.
- Tap on your circular profile icon on the bottom right.
- Go to the hamburger menu located in the upper-right corner of your profile and select “Settings” from the menu that pops up.
- Scroll down and tap on “Accounts Center” at the bottom.
- Tap on “Accounts” under the “Account settings” section.
- Press on the “Remove” button next to your Facebook account name.
- Instagram will ask you to confirm whether you want to “disable connected experiences for your account.” Tap on the blue “Continue” button.
- Confirm your choice by pressing the “Remove” button on the next screen.
- You can also do this from Instagram on PC. On your feed page, click on your profile icon in the upper-right corner of the display.
- Select “Settings.”
- On the left side, scroll down and click on the “Accounts Center” option.
- Select “Accounts” on the left and then click on your Facebook account.
- Press the “Remove” button next to your Facebook account.
Once you unlink your Facebook account, you will no longer risk appearing as a friend suggestion for any of your Facebook friends joining Instagram.
Make Your Account Private
Setting your account to private is one of the easiest ways to make your profile less visible. Even if someone does eventually find you, they won’t be able to see your posts unless you give them express permission to do so.
- You can activate the privacy mode on mobile by heading to “Settings -> Privacy.
”
- Then toggle on the “Private account” option at the top.
- On PC, go to “Settings -> Privacy and Security” and tick the “Private Account” option.
Remove Your Phone Number from Instagram
Before you go ahead with removing your phone number from Instagram, keep in mind that you won’t be able to have the two-factor authentication feature enabled. You also need to have a verified email address for this to work, since Instagram does require at least one verified way to contact you in case of emergency.
You can disable two-factor-authentication by going to “Settings -> Security -> Two-Factor Authentication” and turning it off from there.
- To remove your phone number, tap on the profile icon and select “Edit profile.”
- Swipe down to “Personal information settings.”
- Delete your phone number from the dedicated field.
- On PC, click the “Edit profile” button next to your Instagram profile name.
- Scroll down and make sure the “Phone number” section stays empty.
Once your phone number is removed, people who have saved your digits to their mobile won’t be able to find you once they activate “Connect Contacts.”
Speaking of which, you’ve probably used the option yourself back when you were setting up your Instagram account for the first time. Still, if you wish to stay hidden, you should relinquish this functionality. You’ll need to use your mobile device for this.
- Go to “Settings -> Account” on your device.
- Hit the “Contacts syncing” option.
- Disable “Connect contacts” from there.
Prevent Your Friends From Finding You in Similar Accounts
The person you’re trying to hide from can easily find you if they happen to follow an account similar to yours. To prevent this from happening, go to Instagram on your desktop browser. Strangely enough, you won’t be able to turn off this option from your phone or tablet.
- Go to your Instagram profile on your PC and hit the “Edit Profile” button, just like we showed you above. Scroll to the bottom, where you’ll see a box you can uncheck that will prevent your account from appearing in any similar account results.
- Click on the blue “Submit” button.
From here, it’s also possible to add or remove your phone number, in case you didn’t follow the steps described above.
If you want even more privacy, turning your online status off is a step in the right direction. To hide your online status from others on Instagram for mobile:
- Go to “Settings -> Privacy.”
- Tap on “Activity Status.”
- Toggle off the “Show Activity Status” button. If the button is blue, that means it’s on, and if it’s gray, it’s off.
- Alternatively, you can do the same from PC. Just go to “Settings -> Privacy & security” and uncheck the box next to “Show Activity Status” on the right.
Block Certain Accounts
Want to make absolutely sure someone can’t find you no matter what? Block their account if you know their username.
- On mobile, simply navigate to their profile and tap on the three-dot menu in the corner of the display.
- A pop-up menu will show up from the bottom of the display. Select “Block” from there.
- On your PC, find the three-dots next to their Instagram user name and select “Block” from the pop-up window.
Temporary Deactivate Your Account
The only way to be 100% sure someone will never find you is if you erase your account. But since that’s a bit drastic, you can opt instead to temporary disable your account and get some peace of mind.
This means your photos, likes, and comments will be hidden until you decide to log back into the app.
Note: You can only deactivate your account once a week.
To deactivate your account you must use Instagram on a PC or log into your account into a mobile browser.
- Go to your profile and press the “Edit profile” button.
- Click on the “Temporary deactivate my account” option at the bottom.
- Select a reason why you’re deactivating your profile and type your password once again.
- Click “Temporary Deactivate Your Account” and then “Yes” to confirm your choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I control who messages me on Instagram?
If you wish to control who you interact with on Instagram via Direct Messages you can. Go to “Settings -> Privacy -> Messages” and set up “Message Requests” for people who follow you and those who don’t. This means Direct messages won’t automatically go to your Instagram Inbox, but will be lodged in a “Request” tab from where you can quickly delete them. Also make sure you tweak the settings for who can add you in “Group chats” and to “Groups” if you don’t want to socialize more than you have to.
How do I remove an Instagram follower?
Go to your profile and tap on “Followers” next to your profile picture.
The list of accounts that follow you will become visible. Tap on the “Remove” button next to the account you want to get rid of to delete them from your list. Instagram won’t notify that particular account that you’ve removed it.
If I block an account, can the person behind it still contact/follow me via another account?
Unfortunately, yes. This is why we recommend making your account private, so you can screen any account that wants to follow you and identify any potential shady accounts you don’t want to have in your list.
Image credit: Ibadah Mimpi via Pexels. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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how to remove, delete phone number
To configure security settings, you need to know how to hide a number on Instagram. The phone is easy to tether for faster and more secure access and data storage. However, if there is such a binding, then the application has access to the contacts on the device.
It turns out that for additional options you have to share confidential data with a social network. If you do not plan to do this, read the article below.
Contents
- Find the other person
- Why some people are not displayed in subscriptions
- We go into the shadow
- Clients with customers
- Translation to other channels
- through Facebook
-
Find the other person
One of the main reasons to provide your data is the ability to use the search function for other users.
If the information is recorded in the phone book, then Instagram can automatically find a page with the same link. That is why many clients are looking for information on how to hide a phone number on Instagram. To search by this principle, you need to perform the following steps:
- Save the contact of the desired person in your smartphone address book.
- Open a social network.
- Log into your account in the app. This is done through the avatar thumbnail in the lower right corner of the main toolbar.
- Press the menu button, which is indicated by an icon with three parallel horizontal stripes (in the upper right corner of the screen).
- We find the line under the heading "Interesting people". It is also indicated by the icon of a man with a plus sign.
- We select the item "Connecting a list of contacts" in the list that appears.
- All profiles associated with phone numbers will be searched automatically.
- A list of received matches will be displayed.
It will be possible to subscribe to all or some of the people.
However, service customers do not always want to share additional personal information so easily. Therefore, there is a need for how to hide the number on Instagram so as not to get into the search results.
Why some people are not displayed in subscriptions
If the search using the above algorithm did not return the right person, there are a number of reasons. By which this happened:
- the account was not tied to a mobile phone at all, this information was not entered initially and deliberately;
- the active profile is registered to another operator, which is not recorded in the contact information;
- there is a fake page on the specified sequence of numbers or the profile cannot be identified; User
- figured out how to remove a phone number from Instagram.
The last option shows the person's desire not to light up the page.
To perform this operation, you will have to use the instructions. At present, this operation is controversial. On the one hand, it allows you to protect confidential information. On the other hand, it creates obstacles to digital openness, and also reduces the number of available functions. However, competent management and flexible settings can reduce these risks. Going into the shadows
To understand the privacy tools, use the diagram below. It will help solve the problem of how to remove a number from an Instagram profile. This will protect against unnecessary contacts and the appearance of unwanted persons among the subscribers.
- The simplest case is to leave this item blank when creating an account. The social network works quietly in conjunction with other channels or an email address. Nonetheless. it's not the most convenient way. In case of blocking or losing the access password, recovery will be almost impossible, since the page will be considered semi-legal.
- Binding can be via virtual fax. However, this is also not the best option. Due to the fact that you are not the actual owner of the tool, access to the page can be restricted at any time. Search for the culprits will take a long time and unsuccessfully.
- The case when your head will not hurt about how to remove the number on Instagram when it is created specifically for Instagram and other social networks. This may be a separate SIM card without a monthly fee, which will need to be used periodically in order not to be included in the disabled list.
In terms of cyber security, the last case is optimal. But, you see, few people think about it when creating their profile. It is more difficult to maintain anonymity when using an active real mobile phone.
Communication with clients
Another common option when a business account is opened and communication with potential buyers needs to be built. Insta has the ability to configure all possible communication methods, including the good old voice communication.
By default, when filling out the commercial page, the option “How to call” will appear. Thanks to this key, a potential consumer will see a sequence of numbers for a call. The one that was specified during registration is automatically installed. But what if this communication channel is not relevant and it is more convenient to transfer communication to channels via e-mail or whatsapp? How to hide the phone number on Instagram in this situation? This is especially true when the page is created on a personal gadget, and then another sim card is purchased specifically for sales.
Transfer to other channels
- Contact details are set up without leaving the main mobile application, through the "Edit profile" section. It is located at the top of the page, above the "actual stories" block.
- In the drop-down list, scroll down to 'Methods of communication'. The default setting is "Phone". An email address may also be included.
- In the corresponding line, you can change the sequence of numbers to a variant specially created for business.
- The settings also include the "How to call" or "Write SMS" functions.
- If a decision is made to perform the operation, how to remove the number from the instagram, this column can be left completely empty.
The last action will result in Nome. That the “How to call” button will not be displayed at all for customers when viewing your page.
Also read: Instagram activity chat - what is this tool and how to use it
Via Facebook
on a computer or laptop. The main thing is to ensure the relationship of profiles. The PC version has an important "Public Company Information" section, which is simply not available in the mobile app. There is an option how to remove the number from instagram. Here's what to do:
- when creating a business instance, pay attention to the "Link to Facebook" block;
- system prompt "select page";
- open a personal page on Facebook;
- we find the settings section, which is encrypted with a triangle in the upper right corner;
- find the item "Instagram";
- "Edit" button will appear in the right part of the active window;
- Change or delete unnecessary information.
Sooner or later, with a serious approach to business, this operation will have to be done. This is extremely important from the point of view of further progress. All advertising campaigns are configured through a personal account on Facebook.
The exchange of registration data in both social networks occurs automatically. If the question of how to hide the phone on Instagram is still relevant, work with the display options in the Facebook personal account.
The correct implementation of the above steps guarantees the transfer of communication to other channels of communication and communication preferred by you.
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All useful about Instagram - Instagramer.info
Official site - www.instagram Instagram is becoming one of the main online platforms not only for communication, but also for doing business of various types. If you need constant communication with customers, you are ready to receive calls often, including on your mobile phone, then everything is done for maximum convenience. When you switch your profile to a Business account, a button with contacts appears above the feed of posts and photos, including the How to call button.
By clicking on it, the user will see your phone number and will be able to make an automatic call. The number itself is copied automatically from your profile information. But what if you don't need this option. For example, you want to leave only your email address in public contacts.
Or another situation. You need to communicate with customers by phone, but the SIM card to which the Instagram page is linked is most often your main number used in everyday life. It would be nice to replace it with a work company number used exclusively for business. Consider ways to remove a phone number on Instagram or how to replace it with your work number, which is different from the one to which the Instagram profile is linked. Learn how to delete all tweets on Twitter at once on our blog.
Deleting a number in the Instagram mobile application
All actions can be performed without leaving the mobile application.
- On the main page of your account, click the Edit Profile button.
- Scroll down the list of settings to the Public company information section. In it, click on the item Communication methods.
- This specifies the phone number and email address shown in the contacts of the business account.
You can change the telephone number present there to one that is used only for business, sales. It is also possible to replace the How to call button with Send SMS.
When you click on it, your page visitor will be automatically prompted to write a text message to their phone. If you delete the phone number from this column, then the How to call button will disappear from your page.
Delete or change contact phone number via Facebook
The above method of deleting or replacing a phone number cannot be used on a PC. In the web version of Instagram, there is simply no section Public information about the company, and you will not see such settings there. But on a PC, this operation can be repeated in the Facebook interface. In general, Instagram and Facebook are closely related to each other for a long time. At the stage of creating your profile on Instagram, you are immediately invited to log in through Facebook, create a new page in it, linking it to your Instagram profile.
When switching to a Business account, one of the steps will also ask you to link your profile to Facebook. If you plan to actively promote your business on Instagram, it is advisable not to ignore this link, because it will open up a lot of opportunities, for example, detailed settings for advertising campaigns, promotions, etc. But at the moment we are interested in changing or removing your phone number from contacts. To do this, we do the following.
- Go to the Facebook page linked to your business Instagram account
- Go to settings (triangle in the upper right corner).
- In the left column Select Instagram.
- To the right of the Instagram Account Information item, click the Edit button. There you will find the same settings that were present in the mobile version. In the contact information for the company, delete the phone number completely or enter the one you want to use for your business.
Information from the Facebook page is automatically imported to your Instagram.
