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How to set up privacy on instagram


How to protect your privacy on Instagram

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Keep your stories and feed posts locked down

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.

Set your account to private

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:

  • Go to Instagram’s settings menu. It’s hidden away on your profile page behind the hamburger button in the top-right corner. That will open a side menu with several choices; you can access your settings from the cog that appears at the very bottom.
  • From there, go to “Privacy” > “Account Privacy” and activate the “Private Account” setting.

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: 

  • Go to your profile, and tap on your follower count
  • Scroll through your list, and tap the big “Remove” button beside the name of anyone you want to get rid of

Protect your stories

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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Story” 
  • Choose “Hide Story From.” It’ll open a list of your followers. Tap the circle beside their name to cut off access.

You can also prevent people from sharing your story:

  • Go to that same page (“Settings” > “Privacy” > “Story”). Scroll down to the bottom where there’s a section labeled “Sharing.”
  • You’ll see an option that says “Allow Sharing. ” Turning this off will prevent people from messaging your stories to others.
  • You can also turn off “Allow Resharing to Stories” to prevent people from adding your posts to their stories.
  • To stop your stories from being shared to Facebook, disable “Share Your Story to Facebook.” This means they’ll only post to Instagram.

Finally, you can use Instagram’s Close Friends feature to limit the reach of your stories to specific people. 

  • To set who’s in that group of people, go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Story” 
  • Tap under Close Friends and start adding people. People won’t be notified when they’re added (or removed) from this group.

Block people from seeing your feed

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:

  • To block someone, you first have to go to their account. On their profile page, tap the three-dotted menu in the upper-right corner. 
  • Click on “Block” 

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. 

Make yourself less visible

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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Account” > “Contacts Syncing” 
  • Disable “Connect Contacts”

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:

  • Sign into Instagram’s website, and go to your profile 
  • Select the “Edit Profile” button
  • Uncheck the very last option, “Similar Account Suggestions”

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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Security” > “Apps and Websites” > “Active” 
  • Remove any apps you aren’t using anymore

Protect what people see about you

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.) 

  • Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Activity Status”
  • Disable “Show Activity Status”

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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Tags”
  • Enable “Manually Approve Tags”

Stop saving your posts and stories

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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Story” 
  • Turn off two settings. 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:

  • Go to “Settings” > “Account” > “Original Posts” 
  • Disable all three options (Save Original Posts, Save Posted Photos, and Save Posted Videos) 

This will prevent the posts from being stored locally on your phone, but it also means that your only copy will be on Instagram.

Get rid of personalized ads

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. 

  • On mobile, in the Facebook app, tap the hamburger menu in the top right corner, then choose “Settings & Privacy” > “Settings”> “Ad Preferences” > “Ad Settings” 
  • On the web, just click here to go to the “Your Ad Preferences” page, and then click on “Ad settings” to reveal your options.
  • You’ll want to turn off the top two options: “Ads based on data from partners” and “Ads based on your activity on Facebook Company Products that you see elsewhere.” This will stop Facebook from targeting you based on information it obtains outside of Instagram.

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The ultimate guide to Instagram privacy and how to adjust settings

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Victoria McIntosh Certified Information Privacy Technologist

UPDATED: February 15, 2021

Thinking about signing up with Instagram, but worried about your privacy? Have you ever wondered about how much information you’re giving away when you post, or asked if there are better ways to control who can see your information? We all want to enjoy our social networks to connect with family, friends, and followers, but sometimes we have stories we don’t want the entire world to see. Knowing what your privacy options are before signing up can help you feel more comfortable when using the app and enable you to share moments with confidence.

With over one billion active users per month according to Omnicore, Instagram is a popular social network with a fast, devoted following. Whether you’re a new user who wants to know more about privacy before you join, or you’re an Instagram pro who wants to tweak some privacy options when using the app, here’s what to look out for.

Note: Any settings instructions provided below are for the iOS and may vary slightly for Android and desktop.

1. Pay attention to what you post

This is something every user on Instagram should be doing, yet horrible examples abound of innocent photographers revealing more about themselves than they should. Instagram is now one of the networks regularly scanned by hackers looking for fresh victims who unwittingly provide the keys for successful fraud or detailed information that can be used in a social engineering scam. Here are some examples of items that should never be included in images:

  • Credit cards, bank checks, flight boarding passes, or documents that include financial numbers or account information.
  • Items that include Social Security Numbers in sight, such as Social Security cards from the US or SIN cards from Canada.
  • Tax documents, refunds, or financial forms.
  • Identification cards and documents, such as a driver’s license or passport.
  • Detailed health IDs, such as a health card or insurance number or form.
  • School reports, documents, or application forms.
  • Paper or electronic ballots after voting (these will invalidate the vote!)
  • Images of you breaking local, state, provincial, or federal laws.
  • Images of you goofing off or causing disruption at work—aside from risking an HR call regarding conduct, you may capture confidential information not meant to be shared outside the office.

2. Turn off activity status

Your activity status on Instagram tells other users when you are using or scrolling through the app, signaling to friends when it may be a good time to chat. This can be a good thing when you want to connect, but annoying if you’re doing a quick account check and don’t want to be disturbed.

To turn off activity status so that other users cannot tell when you’re online:

  1. Select the menu button and hit Settings.
  2. Hit Privacy then Activity Status.
  3. Toggle the option to the off position.

3. Use two-factor authentication

Although not invincible, two-factor authentication is popular in security and highly recommended, because it means an outside hacker needs more than your username and password to access your account. With Instagram, you are provided with two options: you can set your account to send a text code to one of your devices when logging in, similar to a second password. You can log into Instagram through a third-party authentication system, such as Google Authenticator.

To activate two-factor authentication on your account:

    1. Select the menu icon and hit Settings.
    2. Scroll down to Security > Two-Factor Authentication > Get Started.
    3. Choose whether you want to authenticate via text message or an authenticator app.

Keep in mind that to use text message two-factor authentication, you will need to add a phone number to your account.

4. Consider locking your account

If you want to stop strangers from viewing your photos, consider locking the account so that only those friends and followers you approve of can see what you post.

To make your account private:

  1. Select the menu icon and hit Settings.
  2. Select Privacy.
  3. Toggle the Private Account option to the on position.

Instagram notes that once your profile is private, new followers will have to send a follow request to see your images; however, posts you share to other social networks may be visible depending on the network preferences.

5. Block or restrict individual accounts

Feel like you’re being put under the microscope by certain parties? Consider blocking the specific account so they can’t see you. Blocked accounts can’t see your images or videos or search for your name, and their comments won’t appear in your Activity. Although you won’t be completely hidden, as users not logged in will still be able to view your account, blocking specific users may save some grief as you know your images are not showing up on their timeline.

To block an account:

  1. Visit the account you want to block.
  2. Go to the three dots next to their username.
  3. Click the red Block option, then click Block again to confirm.

Note that you also have the option to restrict users. When you do this only you and the restricted user can can see comments they add to your posts or their replies to your story stickers.

6. Control comments on your posts

Comment controls won’t protect privacy by hiding your images or data, but they can limit what others post on your pictures and weed out offensive or annoying messages.

For more power over your conversations:

  1. Go to the menu button and hit Settings.
  2. Scroll down to Privacy > Comments.

Here you’ll have the option to allow comments based on who you follow or who’s following you, block comments from specific individuals, or generally hide offensive text.

Just under Comments, you can select Mentions to apply similar controls to who can link your account in their posts.

7. Limit access of third-party apps

Third-party apps—those applications that can access your Instagram account—can allow the user to experience or apply Instagram in unique ways. For example, you might use a third-party app to apply unique filters to your image before uploading, to engage with your followers in different ways, or analyze what your followers are most interested in. There are concerns, however, that not all third-party apps take privacy seriously and may end up collecting or disclosing more information than you’re comfortable with.

Instagram itself implemented new controls for the data it can access as of April 2018, a move some reports have suggested was triggered in part by parent company Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. Before using a third-party app and granting it Instagram access, read the privacy policy and look for red flags or options to limit how much data the app can access.

8. Disable tagging

Not only can your friends view and comment on your pictures, but they can also tag you in images they upload, identifying individuals in the image. Those pictures can also be automatically added to your own profile, where they can be seen by your followers and visitors. Sometimes, however, we’d rather not showcase the image on our own networks.

If this sounds like you, there is an option:

  1. Select the menu icon and hit Settings.
  2. Privacy and select Tags.
  3. Under Allow Tags From, choose who can tag you in images.
  4. Under Tagged Posts, decide whether tags can will be automatically approved or if you want to manually approve them.

9. Use “Stories”

Stories are brief Instagram posts that disappear after 24 hours. They don’t appear in your regular feed, but are instead displayed as a button list at the top of the feed as users browse through and don’t remain in your profile later. They are the perfect way to share a memory briefly without keeping it forever within your profile history.

You can set images and video as stories by hitting the camera button at the top of your profile. In addition, Instagram allows you to toggle off others reshaping your stories, and provides other preferences under Story Controls. While there is no way to block users from sharing pictures uploaded as stories entirely due to screenshots, consider Story Controls as an option.

To set up Story Controls:

  1. Select the menu icon and go to Settings.
  2. Choose Privacy > Story.
  3. Select your preferences from the menus provided.

10. Turn off your location

You’ll need to go into your device’s individual preferences for this one, but if privacy is a concern, it’s never a bad idea to remove location access, either as a general default or by app.

To turn off your location from an Apple device:

  1. Hit Settings and go to Privacy.
  2. Select Location Services.
  3. Turn off location access by specific apps or toggle off location access to all apps entirely.  

11. Limit the metadata contained in photos you upload

Metadata is commonly referred to as ‘data about data.’ It refers to little building blocks of information such as versioning, timestamps, authors, and geographic location. Unfortunately, however, images uploaded to Instagram stamped with the geographic location of where the photo was taken can provide others with more detail than the photographer wants to reveal.

On an Apple device, this can be disabled the same way you limit the Instagram app’s access to your location: by toggling off location services access by the camera. Alternatively, if you want to remove the metadata but leave your location services on, consider an app, free or paid, that will allow you to see and remove metadata before you upload.

12. Check for privacy with new app updates

Like all social media channels, Instagram periodically makes changes to its service, either to introduce new features or set up better security controls and remove unwanted bugs. After you’ve updated, take a quick scan of your privacy settings. You can also search online for the latest version of Instagram along with the word “privacy” to see if there have been any concerns over new features and how to turn them off.

Final thoughts

Since hitting the scene in 2010, Instagram has developed a fast following. One study found that 37 percent of US adults (including 43 percent of women) use the image-sharing social media platform.

Odds are, even if you’re not on Instagram yet, you have been curious about joining. The app is exceedingly popular with its fans, with content ranging from puppy dogs and crazy cats to financial advice, top sporting moments, family fun, and rolls of ‘selfies.’

By setting up a few added privacy and security controls, you can connect on Instagram while limiting the app’s access to personal information. This means you can feel comfortable while engaging with the community and having fun.

See also:

  • Best VPN for Instagram
  • Protecting children’s privacy online
  • Stop Facebook tracking
  • 15 Tips for beefing up your security and privacy on Facebook

Instagram: privacy and security settings

Social network accounts, especially popular ones, are a tasty morsel for attackers. And it is easiest to hack what is poorly protected. Therefore, we regularly remind you that it is worth taking care of the security of your accounts, as far as social networks allow it.

  • Set up privacy and security for your Instagram account
    • The most important security settings on Instagram
      • How to change your Instagram password
      • How to set up two-factor authentication on Instagram
      • How to check in the app if you received a real email from Instagram
      • Where to find the list of apps connected to Instagram
    • The most important privacy settings on Instagram
      • How to close your Instagram account and edit your followers list
      • How to control who sees your Instagram stories
      • How to get rid of spam comments on Instagram
      • How to get rid of spam in direct and adding to the left groups on Instagram
      • How to hide your online status on Instagram
      • How to block or restrict a user from your Instagram
      • How to remove unnecessary push notifications in the Instagram app
  • Do not forget to set up security in other social networks

Unfortunately, security and privacy settings are often difficult to understand. Moreover, developers change them from time to time. For example, Instagram settings have recently been updated. We tell you what is useful in them and where to look for this useful.

Setting up account security on Instagram

New Instagram settings allow you to even more secure against unauthorized account login and identity theft.

To find your security settings:

  • Open your profile.
  • Click on the three bars in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • Select Settings .
  • Go to section Security .

Where to find the security settings in the Instagram app

The password is the head of everything

The first rule of security for any account is to set a good, long, unique password. Attackers will not be able to quickly pick it up and will not find it in the databases that they managed to steal from other sites, which means they will not be able to hack into your account. At least, if you do not give out your password yourself or it does not leak from the social network itself.

How to set up two-factor authentication on Instagram

Turn on two-factor authentication to ensure that your password is leaked. Every time someone tries to log in on a new device on your behalf, the social network will request a one-time code from SMS or from a special application. Thus, you will always be aware of login attempts, and it will be impossible to hack your account without knowing the code.

To enable two-factor authentication:

  • Select Two-factor authentication .
  • Press Start .
  • Choose how you want to receive codes: via SMS or two-factor authentication app .

How to set up two-factor authentication in the Instagram app

An added bonus - after enabling this feature, the social network will give you backup codes . They will help you log into your profile if you don’t have a phone at hand that should receive SMS or on which an application for generating one-time codes is installed (yes, you can do this too - see this post for more details). Write down the backup codes and keep in a safe place.

How to check in the app if you received a real email from Instagram

Instagram developers figured out how to protect their users from phishing via email. Now in the application settings you can see what letters the social network has sent you over the past two weeks. If you received a letter supposedly from Instagram, but it is not in the application, you can safely send it to spam.

To see which social media notifications are real:

  • Select Emails from Instagram .
  • Look for the email you're interested in under the Security tab if it's about login attempts, suspicious activity from your account, and so on. If it's about something else, check if it's on the tab Other .

How to check in the app if you received a real email from Instagram

Where to find a list of apps connected to Instagram

Another source of danger is third-party sites and apps. They are connected to expand the capabilities of the social network, for example, add photo filters or convenient marketing tools. However, if such an application is hacked or its authors are dishonest, your account can be used for criminal purposes. You can view the list of connected applications and sites and remove everything superfluous in the same section Security , in block Applications and websites .

Where can I find the list of apps connected to Instagram

Setting up Instagram privacy?

Instagram allows you not only to keep your profile safe, but also to restrict access to your photos, videos, stories and other data. You can hide personal content from prying eyes, save yourself and friends from offensive comments, and prevent subscribers from sharing your stories and posts with others. For this:

  • Open your profile.
  • Click on the three bars in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • Select Settings .
  • Go to section Privacy .

Where to find the privacy settings in the Instagram app

How to close your Instagram account

If Instagram is not a promotion site for you, but a place to share pictures and videos with friends, you can make your account private:

  • Open Account privacy .
  • Enable Closed account .

How to close your Instagram account

Now only followers you have approved will see your posts and stories. True, there are some nuances. Firstly, everyone who managed to subscribe to you before is automatically considered approved by the social network. If you do not agree with it, then you need to do this:

  • Section Privacy select Accounts you follow .
  • On the Followers tab, find and remove those you don't want to show your posts and stories to.

How to edit your Instagram followers list

Secondly, if you repost an Instagram photo to another social network, it will be seen by everyone who can see your posts on that social network. So if you do this often, don't forget to set up privacy on other social networks as well.

How to control who sees your Instagram stories

If you are an insta-blogger and it is not convenient for you to close your account, you can control access to specific content. For example, Instagram allows you to hide stories from individual users, publish some of them only to your list of close friends, and limit or even turn off the ability to respond to them. All this is done in section Privacy in block History . There you can also prevent readers from sharing your stories in messages and showing your posts in their stories.

How to control who sees your Instagram stories

To protect yourself and your followers from abuse and spam, you can automatically hide inappropriate comments using Instagram filters or your own. You can configure this in section Privacy , in block Comments . There you can also prevent especially gifted spammers from commenting on your photos and videos.

How to get rid of spam comments on Instagram

How to get rid of direct spam on Instagram

The social network allows you to prevent outsiders from writing you private messages and adding you to groups. If you are annoyed by spam in direct or you think that messages are your private space, open in section Privacy block Messages and select Only people you follow for both items.

How to get rid of spam in direct and adding to the left groups on Instagram

How to hide your online status on Instagram

If you don't want your readers to know when you're online, you can hide your online status from them. To do this, select in section Privacy item Network status and deactivate the switch. True, after that you will also not be able to see information about the activity of other users.

How to hide your online status on Instagram

How to hide from specific users on Instagram

Finally, spammers and other annoying readers can be blocked or restricted from accessing your account. To do this, click on the objectionable profile three dots in the upper right corner and select Block or Restrict access .

How to block or restrict someone from accessing your Instagram

Restricted account holders will still be able to view your photos and videos and even leave comments on them, but only you and the author will see these comments.

You can also put the user in silent mode if you are tired of his stories and posts in the feed. This can also be done in his profile:

  • Click the button Subscriptions .
  • Select Switch to silent mode .
  • Enable mute mode for Stories , Posts or both.

Setting the Instagram user to silent mode

Your friend will not know anything about it, and you can take a break from the flurry of his photos and look at them only when you are in the mood - his profile will remain visible to you.

How to remove unnecessary push notifications in the Instagram app

Instagram, like any social network, by default sends more notifications than you need. To avoid annoying pop-up notifications that one of your friends has posted a photo for the first time in a long time, you can turn them off. To do this:

  • Open your profile.
  • Click on the three bars in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • Select Settings .
  • Go to section Notices .
  • Go through the list of push notifications and turn them off for any events you don't want to know about right away. If you don't want to be notified at all, for example when you're playing or watching a series, select Pause all and set how long Instagram will remain silent.

How to remove unnecessary push notifications in the Instagram app

Now you know how to protect your Instagram account and can customize it the way you want. It's time to remember about your accounts in other social networks. Here's what the security and privacy settings look like on Vkontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, and Twitter.

4 important privacy settings on Instagram

December 18, 2019NewsWeb services

Ways to protect your account from strangers without making it private.

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Despite dubious innovations and changes, Instagram* remains one of the most popular social networks. If initially it was a relatively simple service with a minimum of functions, now it has become much more complex. Along with the possibilities, the number of settings has also increased - and they are not at all easy to navigate. We talk about privacy settings that many users are not even aware of.

1.

Stories don't need to be archived

Many people know that Instagram* saves your stories so that you can review them at any time - and perhaps re-post something in a fit of nostalgia. But if you are not attracted by the idea that the service from the owners of Facebook * stores so much of your data, you can turn off automatic saving. To do this:

1. Open the app and swipe right to open the story view.

2. Click the gear icon at the top of the screen.

3. Scroll down to Save.

4. Move the slider next to "Save to archive" to an inactive position. Here you can also choose whether the story will be saved to the image gallery.

2. Set who can comment on your posts

You may not want to receive comments from all users - but blocking a bunch of users is not an option either. Instagram* has a tool to limit the ability to comment. At the same time, users will not receive a notification that you have closed their access, and they will still be able to leave comments - but no one will see them.

1. Open your profile tab and click on the icon in the form of three bars in the upper right part of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Go to the "Privacy" → "Comments" tab.

4. Here you can limit the list of people who can comment on your posts to your followers and those you follow. You can also add users to the blacklist for commenting.

3. Network status can be disabled

All users have online status enabled by default - it allows other users to see that you are online. Similarly, those with this setting enabled can see the status of other users. If you are not interested in keeping track of whether your friends are online or not, and you are not eager to show when you are online, the setting can be turned off. To do this:

1. Open the tab with your profile and click on the icon in the form of three bars in the upper right part of the screen.

2. Click Settings.

3. Go to the "Privacy" → "Online Status" tab.

Learn more