How to make posts private on instagram
How to make posts private on Facebook, TikTok, and more
This story has been updated. It was originally posted on February 16, 2017.
Most of us are aware that we need to be careful with what we post on social media, but do you know exactly who can see your recent vacation photos and status updates? Here are the privacy controls you need to know about on four of the biggest social networks.
How to make your Facebook posts private
You can customize who sees each Facebook post you publish. David NieldWhenever you post something on Facebook—whether on the web or in a mobile app—there’s an audience selector drop-down menu nearby (usually just set to “Friends”). This gives you precise control over who can see your next post, photo, or check-in.
Tap or click the drop-down to see more options. You can make your posts public (so anyone can see them), restrict their visibility to certain friends, or even post updates that only you can see. You can also create your own lists of friends: Go to Facebook in a web browser, click Friends in the sidebar to the left of the News Feed, then Custom Lists, and select Create List.
If you’re prepared to put in the time to create your own lists—and many of us aren’t—you can create all sorts of combinations. You might want some updates to be seen just by people at work, or only your sports club, or everyone on your friends list except your ex (with whom you’re still connected for whatever reason).
You might be justified in complaining about some of Facebook’s data collection policies, but there’s no doubt the site actually does a comprehensive job when it comes to letting you choose who can see your posts. It’s just a question of taking the time to set up the friends lists you need and applying them. You should note that once you’ve made a choice (like “work friends”), that setting stays in place for all your future posts, until you change it again.
Tagging adds more complications to your privacy options. If you tag a friend or two in a photo, all of their friends will be able to see the posts as well. The same goes when you post something on someone else’s profile page: The audience is set by that person, not by you.
This doesn’t mean you need to forgo sharing entirely—just bear in mind that tagged images can be seen by people outside your intended audience.
As for public posts, there are certain updates (like your profile picture) that are always public by default, so anyone who happens across your profile page can see them. To check what information you’ve made public, head to your profile page on Facebook, click the menu button (three dots) on the right under the edit profile button, and choose View As from the menu that appears. If sensitive posts still show up, simply change their visibility settings.
How to make posts private on Instagram and Twitter
Instagram and Twitter both let you set your account to public or private. David NieldInstagram and Twitter have similar privacy settings for posts—and you don’t get the same sort of granular control you do on Facebook. On both services, your account, and everything you post from it, is in one of two states: public or private.
There are, however, some privacy-focused tools built into each platform that offer you a little bit of audience management power (we’ll get to those at the end of this section).
But in general, for your profile and posts, public is exactly what it sounds like: anyone can open up your Instagram or Twitter page and view all of your posts. Here’s Barack Obama’s Instagram. Here’s Beyoncé’s Twitter. Other people don’t have to be your friends or connected to you on these sites to see your public posts. In fact, they don’t even have to be on Instagram or Twitter at all—they just need a web browser.
[Related: Why the web version of Instagram is better than the app]
Of course, your humdrum tweets are unlikely to get worldwide attention, even if they are public. But if you want to hide your posts on these networks from the wider world, you need to make your whole account private. On Twitter in a web browser, tap More, Settings and privacy, Privacy and safety, Audience and tagging, and check the box next to Protect your Tweets.
In the app, the steps are the same, but you start by tapping your profile picture and end with a toggle switch instead of a check box.
On Instagram, tap your profile picture in the app, then the menu button (three lines) in the top right, followed by Settings and Privacy. Finally, turn on the toggle switch next to Private Account.
The effect is the same in both cases: No one can see your tweets or Instagram posts unless you’ve specifically approved them as a friend. And if you switch from a public to a private account, all your existing friends will automatically get approved along the way.
While this breaks some of the functionality of these networks—you can’t retweet a private tweet, for example—it’s the only way to keep your main profile hidden from the wider world.
We mentioned some exceptions earlier, and they’re Instagram’s Close Friends and Twitter’s feature that lets you choose who can reply to your tweets.
The former is the most privacy-focused, because it makes your Instagram Story posts (the ones that stick around for only 24 hours) invisible to anyone who isn’t on a curated list. To create a Close Friends list, go to your Instagram profile, tap the menu button (three lines), then Close Friends to start selecting followers for your list. Later, when you want to post something to a Story only those people should see, choose Close Friends from the bottom of the screen instead of Your story.
On Twitter, you can restrict tweet replies to people you follow, only people you mention, or leave it open for everyone. When you draft a tweet, this option is under the text field and if you have a public account it probably says “Everyone can reply.” Tap this to choose something else. Everyone on Twitter will be able to see your post, only your chosen audience will be able to reply.
How to make a TikTok post private
TikTok has made a big splash in the world of social media, and this video app’s approach to privacy blends a bit of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
If you want to keep your whole account private and post videos only your followers can see, tap Profile in the bottom right-hand corner of the app, then the menu button (three lines) in the top right, followed by Settings and privacy, and Privacy. Then turn on the toggle switch next to Private account. Once you put up this wall, you’ll get to manually approve any new followers, but your existing ones will stay. From this same screen, you can also poke through the app’s safety options and decide who can comment on your videos and otherwise interact with you.
To make individual posts private, create a video as you would normally, and when you get to the last page (the one with a big red “post” button at the bottom), tap Who can watch this video. A menu will appear and you can choose from Everyone, Friends (followers you follow back), and Only me.
Even with all these settings in place, you should still be careful—screenshots of your updates can still be grabbed and shared by any of the friends you approve. By this metric, of course, nothing you post online is truly private.
How to Make Your Instagram More Private: 8 Useful Tips
As social networks continue to grow, being active on them can be risky. You often don't know half the people that follow you, and you could even have someone cyberstalking you.
This possibility is especially terrifying on media-only platforms like Instagram, which are engineered to urge you and others to discover more users by putting your pictures and videos on display through the Explore tab.
However, it is possible to enjoy a more private Instagram experience. We'll show you eight tips to make your Instagram profile more private.
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There's a good chance that you're active on Facebook and Instagram for different purposes.
The former enables you to stay in touch with your family and friends, while the latter is probably more for updates you're not comfortable sharing with people you know in real life.
Therefore, the first step towards a more isolated Instagram experience is to unlink your Facebook profile from Instagram. That way, Facebook won't be able to share both your profiles' data to, for instance, let your acquaintances on Facebook know you're on Instagram.
To unlink your Facebook account from Instagram, head over to your Instagram profile page. There, tap the hamburger icon situated in the top right corner and enter Settings. Tap Accounts Center > Accounts and profiles and select your linked Facebook account. Tap Remove from Accounts Center and hit Continue on the next page. Finally, tap Remove [Facebook account name] to unlink your Facebook profile.
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Set Your Instagram Account to Private3 Images
The ultimate option to cocoon yourself away from Instagram's huge user base is to simply make your account private. You can then cherry-pick who can follow you and view your stories or posts.
To turn your Instagram profile private, go into Settings > Privacy and switch on the Private account option. Tap Switch to Private in the pop-up to finish. Do note that your existing followers won't be affected. Therefore you may want to check your followers' list to ensure only the people you know have access to your gallery. Tap Review followers from the pop-up to check.
3. Pick and Choose Your Close Friends
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Private profiles come with their downsides. You won't have a large follower count, or users like your relatives might constantly bug you to let them in.
To counter those issues, we recommend curating a Close Friends list through which you can share your stories to a specific set of users without upsetting the rest of your followers. This feature makes sure you can share more personal moments without worrying about your parents or even strangers watching them, all while still maintaining a public profile.
To configure the list, tap the hamburger menu on your profile and select Close Friends > Get Started. Select your friends from Suggested or use the search bar to find the specific user(s). Finally, tap Create List. The Suggested section includes Instagram recommendations based on how frequently you interact with those users.
Once done, you can share only to your list by selecting the Close Friends option before publishing a new story. Select that to share a story only with users on your Instagram Close Friends list. In addition, down the road, if you want to remove a person from the list, you can do so easily since Instagram won't alert them.
4. Take Control of Your Stories
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If you'd like to establish more stringent rules for who can watch or even share your stories, there are a ton of options for that too. To access them, head into Settings > Privacy > Story. To block any user from viewing your stories, add them to Hide story from under Viewing and tap Done.
You can also disable sharing that lets anyone reshare your stories or forward them as direct messages. If you have a public profile, you even have the ability to ban replies from everyone or a specific set of people. Scroll down to the Sharing section and switch off Allow sharing to story.
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Unlike Messenger or WhatsApp, you're most likely not using Instagram DMs for anything more than forwarding pictures and memes to your friends.
Hence, there's probably no need for the last-seen status on Instagram, and it's best for you to switch it off. The option to disable the last-seen status on Instagram is located at Settings > Privacy > Activity Status. Disable Show Activity Status.
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With over a billion users, Instagram can be occasionally negative and spammy, just like every other social network. If your profile faces these issues far too often, try tweaking your comment controls.
Instagram lets you decide who can and cannot comment on your posts. You could go either way—create a whitelist if you only want a few people leaving comments on your posts or a blacklist for prohibiting some users and allowing the rest. The option to do this is situated in Settings > Privacy > Comments. What's more, you can enable filters for automatically hiding offensive comments or manually add a set of words and phrases you'd like to block.
To filter comments by certain words/phrases, go to Settings > Privacy > Hidden words. Tap Manage list under Custom words and phrases and add your list of words. Once done, go back and enable Hide comments to start filtering your custom words.
7. Stop Automatic Posting
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By default, Instagram automatically adds pictures or videos you're tagged in to your profile's rightmost tab. Sometimes, however, these posts are simply spam or pictures you simply don't like.
To review these before they're added to your profile, go to Settings > Posts. Choose who can tag you and enable Manually Approve Tags to disable tagged photos and videos from automatically displaying in your profile. You can even remove existing tagged pictures of you.
8. Hide Your Whereabouts
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Your location is one of the most sensitive pieces of information that social apps like Instagram and the people on it can exploit.
Therefore, it's safer to avoid geo-tagging your posts and even granting GPS permission to Instagram.
On iOS devices, open Settings, scroll down to the app section, and select Instagram. Tap Location and select Never under Allow Location Access.
On Android, open your Settings app, then tap Privacy > Permission manager. Select Location to see the apps that have access. If Instagram is available, select it and choose Don't allow on the next page. Steps will vary across devices, but you can manage your Android permissions using third-party apps that standardize the whole process.
Enjoy More Privacy on Instagram
By applying these measures, you should be able to enjoy a more private experience on Instagram. But there are still a few more ways Instagram is spying on you. If you're not comfortable with this, the only option left open to you is to leave the platform altogether.
However, if you're on iOS, you can disable pervasive tracking by denying the app tracking permissions.
Privacy on Instagram. How to maintain privacy where it is practically impossible
Hide your posts and stories from prying eyes.
Your profile on Instagram probably contains more personal information about you than any other page on the social network. The number of people following your stories and posts can be really intimidating.
If you still decide to use Instagram, then you can't hide from the eyes of Facebook, but you can try from curious strangers. nine0003
Hide your private life on Instagram is easy enough: change your profile type to private . However, there are a number of additional options to help you stay private. You can even keep your account open by tweaking your profile settings a bit.
Sit back and get ready to explore useful options in your Instagram privacy settings.
Make your account private
Surely the first thing that comes to mind. A closed account is the easiest way make your profile private . Be sure that after changing the page type, no one else will be able to view your posts and stories. Of course, if you do not allow it to be done.
Once your account is closed, users who visit your page for the first time will only see your name and profile picture. They will also be able to submit a request to follow you. Only after you confirm this request, new followers will see your photos, videos and stories. nine0003
To make your account private:
- Go to Instagram settings menu . It is hidden on your profile page in the upper right corner. Click on the gear at the very bottom to open the settings.
- Next, follow the path: " Privacy > Account Privacy" and enable the option " Closed account ".
An important point: anyone who is already following you at the moment you change your account type to private will still be able to follow you.
This means that if you want to block access to information about you to a certain person, you need to remove him from your list of subscribers. nine0003
To remove a specific person from your followers:
- Go to your profile and open your followers page.
- Scroll through the list and click on the " Delete " button next to the name of the subscriber you want to get rid of.
Protect your Stories
Instagram allows you to limit the number of people who can see your stories, as well as prevent users from sharing them with others.
To hide your stories from specific people:
- Go to the following path: " Settings > Privacy > History".
- Select the option " Hide stories from ". Next, you will see a list of your subscribers - mark those users who will no longer be able to view your stories by selecting their accounts by clicking on the circle next to the profile name.
You can also prevent people from sharing your stories with others:
- Follow the same path (" Settings > Privacy > History "). Scroll to the very bottom of the page where you will find a section called " Reposts ".
- You will see an option labeled " Allow sharing ". Disabling this feature will prevent users from sharing your stories with others.
- You can also disable the " Allow reposts in stories " setting to prevent people from adding your posts to their stories.
- To stop sharing your stories on Facebook, turn off the “ Share my story on Facebook .” Your stories will be available exclusively on your Instagram page.
Alternatively, you can use Instagram's " Close Friends " feature to allow only specific people to view your story:
- Settings > Privacy > History ".
- Section Close friends » Start adding people who will see your specific stories.
Blocking users
When you want to hide photos and videos posted on your page, you have to act more drastically than in the case of stories.
If you don't want to make your account private, you can block individual users:
- To block a person, you first need to go to their Instagram profile. At the top of the page, click on the three vertical dots. nine0030
- Select the option " Block ".
Note : You can also restrict access to a specific user in the same menu. If you do this, they will still be able to view your posts and photos, but the person's comments will only be visible to you. Moreover, the chat with this user will be moved to chat requests, so he will not be able to understand if you have read his message.
Make your account less visible to others
There are several ways to make your account harder to find.
First, you can prevent your phone from sharing contacts with Instagram.
Usually, the application asks you to provide access to the phone book to help you find friends when you sign up for a social network. However, this also means that Instagram knows what numbers your contacts have.
To prevent Instagram from viewing your phonebook:
- Go to the following path: " Settings > Account > Contact sync ".
- Deactivate the " Connect contacts " function.
You can also prevent Instagram from recommending your account to other users . This often happens if a person monitors the emergence of new users on a social network. Instagram recommends accounts that are similar to each other or have a large number of joint followings. This feature cannot be disabled in the mobile app. To do this:
- Go to the Instagram website and sign in to your profile.
- Click on the button " Edit Profile ".
- Uncheck " Recommend your account to potential followers".
Finally, it's worth checking if one of your posts can be found in Google search. Instagram doesn't allow Google to show your photos by default, but if you've ever logged in to sites using the credentials of the page of this social network, it's possible that information about you is quite easy to find on the Internet. nine0003
If one or more of your posts do show up in searches, you need to prevent third-party apps from accessing your account. You can do this by opening the mobile app:
- Navigate to the following path: " Settings > Security > Apps & Sites > Active "
- Remove all apps from the list that you no longer use.
Prevent users from tracking your activity
You can also prevent other users from following your activity on Instagram.
Turn off your online status so people can't see when you're online. Keep in mind that if you turn off this feature, you yourself will not be able to see when other users are online.
- Go to the following path: " Settings > Privacy > Network Status ".
- Disable the function " Show network status ".
You can view your tagged photos and videos before they appear on your profile. If you have a public account, checking and verifying each tag will prevent spammers from attacking your profile. If you have a private account, it will help save your reputation if one of your friends posts a provocative photo and tags you. To take control of photos you've been tagged in:
- Go to the following path: " Settings > Privacy > Tags". nine0006
- Enable the function " Approve labels manually ".
Stop saving your published posts and stories
You may no longer want to save the photos and videos you post on Instagram (especially Stories). There are several settings to help you do this:
- Navigate to the following path: " Settings > Privacy > History".
- Disable two options: the first is " Save to gallery ” (Instagram saves your stories to your phone), the second is “ Save stories to archive ” (Instagram saves your stories in a separate menu in the app).
If you don't want to save published posts either:
- Go to the following path: " Settings > Account > Original Posts".
- Disable all three options (" Keep original publications", "Keep published photos" and "Keep published videos ").
This will prevent photos and videos from being stored locally on your phone, their only copy will be on Instagram.
Turn off personalized ads
Your Instagram ads depend on the websites you visit and the apps you use. If you want to prevent personalized ads from showing, you will have to go to Facebook:
- On your mobile device, in the Facebook app, navigate to the following path:0005 Settings & privacy > Settings > Advertising > Advertising settings ".
- In a browser - just follow this link and open the menu " Advertising settings ".
- Two options should be disabled: " Data about your activity from our partners " and " Advertising based on your activity on Facebook and our apps ". After that, you will no longer see personalized ads on Instagram.
Based on The Verge. nine0253
Cover image: Alex Castro / The Verge
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How to hide photos on Instagram and how to get them back?
For years, when it came to Instagram, you were forced to either delete a photo or leave it open for the public to see. Of course, you could make your Instagram profile private (private) and not delete anything, but then you could lose such a social aspect as likes and comments from people outside your inner circle.
Yes, it's not a perfect solution. nine0003
We are all human and, of course, we can add some photos that seem normal to us at the moment, but may lose their relevance over time: be it a photo from a party where you are not quite, say, in a sober state, or photos, where you are with your former lovers and you may not want to delete them and would rather resort to simply not displaying them on your page.
If you have some photos in your account that you don't want the world to see, you can now hide them from your profile so they're still there and you're the only one who can find them. Yes, the only point is that if someone "reposted" your photo on Instagram, then of course it will be available to everyone if the person who made the "repost" does not delete it. nine0003
How to hide photos on Instagram?
Hiding a photo on Instagram is pretty easy, just follow the instructions below.
- 1 -
Launch Instagram and click on the photo you'd like to hide.
Above the photo, you will see three dots. Touch these dots to open a small pop-up menu.
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Click on the "Archive" button and that's it, your post is no longer available to everyone, only to you personally.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the post we have hidden is not showing up on our profile. nine0003
All hidden posts are available only to you. Comments, likes are saved, but people who left comments and likes will not have access until you decide to publish your photo/post again.
If suddenly you have resumed your love relationship with your soulmate, then without any problems you can return all the photos to their place, as if nothing had been deleted.
How to view hidden photos on Instagram and get them back on your profile?
- 1 -
Launch Instagram, click on the clock icon and navigate to archived images. (see screenshot)
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Click on the photo you want to republish.
