How to stop people seeing what you like on instagram
How to Hide Likes on Instagram (and Why It’s Even an Option)
Do Instagram likes, like, even matter anymore?
Instagram now gives all users the option to hide or unhide the like count on posts. That means that instead of the default numerical value you’d normally see under a photo, it simply names a few users and adds “and others.” Here’s an example from four-legged fashion icon @baconthedoggers:
Hiding your like count on Instagram is easy and reversible, and in some cases, might have a positive impact on the way you experience the app. Here’s how to do it.
How to hide likes on Instagram
Why is Instagram giving users the option to hide likes?
Will hiding your likes on Instagram affect the performance of your posts?
How to track your Instagram likes (even if they’re hidden)
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
How to hide likes on Instagram
Instagram gives you the option to hide the like counts on everyone else’s posts in just a few steps, so you won’t see like numbers as you scroll through the app. You can also hide the likes on your own posts.
How to hide likes on other people’s Instagram posts
1. Go to your profile and hit the hamburger-style icon in the upper right corner of your screen. From there, hit Settings at the top of the menu.
2. From the Settings menu, hit Privacy. Then, hit Posts.
3. At the top of the Posts menu, you’ll see a toggle labeled Hide Like and View Counts. Switch that toggle to the “on” position (it should turn blue), and you’re set—the like count from all of your Instagram posts will now be hidden.
How to hide likes on your own Instagram posts
There are two ways to hide likes on individual Instagram posts. If you’re posting a new photo or video and don’t want the likes to show, you have the option to hide the like count before your post goes live.
Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.
Get the free guide right now!
Start creating your post as you usually would, but when you arrive at the screen where you can add a caption, hit the Advanced Settings option at the very bottom. From there, you can turn on the Hide like and view counts on this post toggle.
To turn off the like counts after you’ve already posted, go to your post and tap the three dots in the top right corner of your screen (the same path you would take to delete or archive the photo or video). From there, select Hide like count. Voila!
Why is Instagram giving users the option to hide likes?
You might be wondering why hiding likes is even an option.
To put it simply, it’s for our own good.
According to a statement, the company started hiding like counts for certain countries to see if it would “depressurize people’s experience” on Instagram.
Research shows that we tend to equate our online success—followers, comments and like counts—with our self worth, especially in our teens. In 2020, a study of 513 teenage girls in Brazil found that 78% of them had tried to hide or change a part of their body they disliked before posting a photo. Another found that 43% of teens with low social-emotional wellbeing have deleted social media posts because they got too few likes. It’s also notable that in 2019, 25% of teens admitted to being the victim of cyberbullying.
The internet can be a really unfriendly place. Some people have built entire careers on Instagram, but whether you’re an influencer with a mega-following or a ghost who rarely posts, the seemingly harmless like count may be doing a number on your mental health.
After experimenting with hiding likes, Instagram concluded that the results were “beneficial for some and annoying to others.
” So in March 2021, parent company Meta announced a Miley Cyrus-worthy best of both worlds: users have the option to hide or unhide their own likes.
Will hiding your likes on Instagram affect the performance of your posts?
To hide or not to hide, that is the question. Does it really make a difference?
On Instagram’s end, not really. You can hide likes from yourself and other users, but the app will still track likes and use them as a ranking signal for the algorithm (for more information on that, here’s a deep dive into how the Instagram algorithm works today).
In short, the algorithm decides what content you see first (on Stories, posts and the Explore page).
How the order is determined is specific to the individual; it depends on what you like, watch and comment on.
So that one superfan who’s always hyping your brand up in your comments is probably always going to see your posts, regardless of whether or not you hide your likes. And your Instagram crush’s extremely uncool but weirdly mesmerizing cup-stacking videos are still going to show up in your feed, even if you have his likes hidden and you totally don’t even care how many likes he has or whatever, it’s cool, you’re cool.
On a social/emotional/mental health level, hiding likes might be—as Instagram says— “beneficial” or “annoying” for you. If you’re feeling a bit obsessed with your like count, and find that it’s affecting your ability to post content that feels authentic to you, try hiding likes for a week or two. If it positively impacts your experience, keep that toggle on.
On a business level, like counts can serve as a form of social proof. People who first come into contact with your brand on Instagram can immediately get a feel of how big — or local — your business is based on your like counts.
But, at the end of the day, quality content, a consistent aesthetic, and thoughtful interactions with your community in comments matter much more than how many likes your posts are getting.
How to track your Instagram likes (even if they’re hidden)
Instagram Insights
Instagram’s in-app analytics solution offers an overview of your account’s metrics, including information on how many accounts you’ve reached, the demographics of your audience, how your follower count is growing — and how many likes your posts get.
To view Instagram’s Insights, you need to have a Business or Creator profile (which is free and easy to switch to: just go to your Settings, hit Account and then hit Switch account type).
From your Creator or Business profile, go to your Instagram profile and hit the Insights button located underneath your bio. From there, scroll down to the Content You Shared section, which shows the number of posts you have made in the last 7 days.
Hit the > arrow symbol on the right side. (If you haven’t posted in the last 7 days, you can still hit the button).
Instagram will then show you a gallery of posts that can be filtered to show specific metrics: reach, comments, and likes are included.
You can also select what type of posts to show (photos, videos or carousel posts) and in what time frame (the last week, month, three months, six months, year or two years).
To choose likes, pick the drop down menu in the middle of your screen (it will default to showing Reach first) and select Likes.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite’s Analytics are more robust than Instagram’s (brag alert!) and that includes insights into likes. In addition to that, Hootsuite can recommend the best time to publish posts—so you can get more likes, regardless of whether they’re hidden or not.
Learn more about Hootsuite Analytics:
Hiding likes allows you to focus on other areas of interaction (like conversations, mentions, keywords, and hashtags) which can be monitored using Hootsuite Streams. You can also use Hootsuite’s Inbox to reply to comments and DMs all in one place, which helps to manage your Instagram followers.
Save time managing your brand’s Instagram with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can create, schedule and publish posts and Stories directly to Instagram, engage your audience, measure performance and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.
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How to hide likes on Instagram, because who cares, anyway
Apps and Software
Social Media
This is your sign to hide likes on your Instagram.
How to hide likes from your followers on Instagram. Credit: Shutterstock / Alex Gontar
> Tech > Apps and Software
In an attempt to make user's experience more pleasant, Instagram rolled out the ability to hide like and view counts on all posts in their feed. This way users can focus on the content, rather than the popularity of the content.
This update also gave users the option to hide the like and view counts on their own posts from other users. You can hide the like and view count on a post before you post it or you can do so retroactively.
SEE ALSO: How to delete individual photos from a carousel on Instagram
How to delete individual photos from a carousel on Instagram
How to change your camera tools setting on Instagram
How to use voice effects on Instagram Reels
We will walk you through how to hide Instagram likes on your feed and on your own posts.
1. Open your Instagram profile
2. Select the three black lines in the upper right corner
Select the three black lines to begin the process of hiding likes on your feed. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
3. Select "Settings"
Tap "Settings" to hide likes on your feed. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
4. Search for posts and select "Posts"
Select "Posts" to hide the likes on your feed. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
5. Turn on "Hide Like and View Counts"
Turn on "Hide Like and View Counts" Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
How to hide likes on your Instagram post before you share it:1. On the final page before you post your Instagram photo (where you write your caption and tag accounts), scroll down and select "Advanced Settings" in grey.
Select "Advanced Settings" to hide likes on your Instagram post. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
2.
Turn on "Hide Like and View Counts on This Post"Tap the white circle to hide like and view counts on your post. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
How to hide likes on your Instagram post retroactively:1. Go to the post you want to hide likes on
2. Tap the three gray dots in the right hand corner of the post
3. Select "Hide Like Count"
Select "Hide Like Count" to hide the number of likes on your Instagram post. Credit: Screenshot: Instagram
After hiding like counts beneath a post it will say "liked by one user and others."
This is your sign to hide likes on your Instagram.
This post was originally published in July 2021 and was updated in February 2022.
More Instagram tutorials:How to disable Instagram embeds (and why you should)
How to post a photo to multiple Instagram accounts at the same time
How to clear your Instagram search history
How to post Live Photos on Instagram
How to delete individual photos from a carousel on Instagram
How to turn your social profiles into hubs for charity
How to create an "Add yours" story on Instagram
How to hide photos on Instagram without deleting them
How to see your 'Least Interacted With' on Instagram
Related Video: How to not get your social media hacked
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Elena is a tech reporter and the resident Gen Z expert at Mashable.
She covers TikTok and digital trends. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in American History. Email her at [email protected] or follow her @ecaviar_.
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How to hide likes on Instagram from yourself and others. Full instructions
Instagram has long been testing a feature that would allow to permanently remove likes from posts and the number of views from videos. What for? According to the administration of the service, for the sake of equality between users: so those whose posts get a few likes will not be complex and chase after "hearts" when they see thousands or millions of likes from others. It was expected that Instagram would turn off likes forcibly, since the service had previously removed the exact “Like” counter from some users, replacing it with the phrase “and others.” But users were still given a choice, and now you can disable likes and views both for your posts and for everyone else in your feed.
You can hide likes on all your photos and videos. And other users too
How to remove likes in insta
You can remove likes and views counter both for new publications and for existing posts in your profile.
To remove likes and views from a new post, do the following:
- Start creating a new post;
- At the step of adding a signature, select Advanced settings at the very bottom;
- Turn on the toggle switch Hide the number of likes and views on this post .
You can hide likes right when publishing a post
Add a signature, tag people if necessary, everything is as usual. After you click Share , the post will be published, but without likes (if it's a photo) or a view counter (if it's a video).
To remove the number of likes or views from an existing post, open it, click on the three dots on the right and select Hide number of likes .
You can hide likes in an already published photo in a couple of seconds
How to turn off likes on Instagram
Recently, Instagram also has the ability to hide likes not only for your own publications, but also for others.
More precisely, they will see their “Like” marks, but you will have a neat feed without extra hearts and information about the number of views.
- Open Instagram and go to your profile;
- In the upper right corner, select the context menu;
- Open Settings - Privacy - Publications ;
- Select Hide Likes and View Counts .
After that, you will not see likes from others
It should be noted that this feature is not yet available to all users. For example, I don’t have such a parameter on my personal page, but on Instagram AppleInsider.ru, where there are more than 50 thousand subscribers, it appeared this morning. So if you don't have the option to turn off likes yet, you're not the only one. Looks like Instagram first rolled it out for users with a lot of followers. Which is actually strange, because disabling likes was done specifically for those who have few subscribers.
You may be interested : How to download any video from Instagram to iPhone or iPad
Curiously, with all the innovations, Instagram never released a version for the iPad. The head of the service previously explained this by “lack of time,” saying that Instagram developers simply do not have the strength for this, as they are busy with other projects. Apparently, they made a button to turn off likes in the application. Would you like Instagram for iPad or are you already resigned? Tell us in our Telegram chat.
In fact, some Instagram projects seem frankly far-fetched. At first, the company tried to popularize a dedicated Direct messenger to give users the opportunity to communicate, as it were, outside the social network, since, as it turned out, a lot of people use the built-in messaging tool quite actively. However, this project failed because there was never enough audience to make sense of keeping the application running.
Instagram on iPhoneApp Reviews for iOS and MacApple tips
How to hide likes on Instagram from followers or a specific person
Hide likes from followers on Instagram in one simple way, but this will reduce the number of fans.
It is easier to remove access to view likes and comments for other users who have not previously subscribed.
Table of contents
- How to hide likes from your followers on Instagram
- Hide likes from a specific person
- Who can see my likes if the page is closed
- Where to see the history of your likes
How to hide likes from your followers on Instagram section "Recommendations" and a list of users who appear in possible friends. To see the likes of friends, you need to go to the section: "
Notifications " - My subscriptions.All photos, videos and comments that the friend likes will appear. Records are grouped if more than one mark was made per day. On Instagram, you can hide private photos tagged with the owner of the page.
To remove information about likes, use the following methods:
- block the user in the friends list;
- put likes only in closed accounts;
- use the second profile.
Functionally, there is no way to remove your likes and comments. Based on the "I like" marks, an approximate "portrait of the user" and his preferences is compiled. In the case of closed profiles, you cannot see information about likes, this is prohibited by privacy settings.
To block access to viewing likes for unsubscribed users, you need to close your account. The function is not available for owners of business pages: you need to return to the personal format, and then set the access settings.
Instructions on how to close the page:
- Log in to Instagram.
- Go to "Settings" - Account Privacy .
- Move the switch to " Closed profile" .
It's easier to close the page from the computer version:
- Go to the browser version of Instagram.
- Log in – Edit profile.
- Section Privacy and Security - Closed Account .
To prevent the page from appearing in the " Recommendations " section: return to "Edit profile" - uncheck " Recommend your account ".
Now, unsubscribed users will be able to access the page only if the owner has accepted the request. All new subscribers must submit a request to be added, and the user chooses who to accept or reject.
Hide likes from a specific person
If the account owner does not want someone specific to see his likes and comments, he can block the subscriber or third-party user.
In this case, the latter will not see either the Feed of publications or likes. Separately, you can block comments from only one person by going to "Settings" - Privacy - Manage comments . In the section, specify from which user not to receive feedback.
Instagram also has a reverse blocking system. That is, by adding an enemy to the blacklist, the blocker will also not see someone else's Feed.
When blocked, there will be no notifications, so it is impossible to find out who is on the blacklist.
There are three types of blocking: Feed and Stories only, separate Stories and full. The last option implies the absence of any information about the owner of the page.
Is it possible to hide likes on Instagram through the black list:
- Go to the page of the required user.
- Press the top three dots - Block .
- Confirm action.
To unblock: either go to someone else's page again and click "Unblock", or go to the "Blocked Users" section in the privacy settings. The number of pages in the blacklist is unlimited, so you can add everyone whom the owner does not want to see in his profile.
But this method is bypassed with a second page. Therefore, in order to completely restrict access to the profile, close the Feed and Stories in the settings. That is, they use a closed type of account that cannot be viewed without a subscription.
Who can see my likes if the page is closed
With privacy settings, only subscribers of the page can see likes and posts. If a user who is not subscribed enters such a profile, an inscription will appear: "Account closed by privacy settings."
Also unavailable for viewing:
- list of subscriptions and subscribers. You can find the owner of the profile only on other pages by going to the section: "Search by subscribers";
- Stories and Topical. A section with a description is available, but without fixed and temporary publications;
- missing button: "Send message". Even in advanced settings, sending a notification to Direct will not work.
Through a private profile, they hide likes from friends on Instagram who have not previously been subscribed. Those who signed up before the privacy settings will see likes and posts on the page in the "Notifications" section.
The only type of content that can be seen from a user from a closed page is photos tagged on other pages and comments.
To remove a mention from photos and videos, you need:
- Go to "Settings" - Privacy and security .
- Photos and videos with you - remove the switch from "Add automatically" .
- Go to "Hide photos and videos" - select pictures that others should not see.
Mentions can also be deleted manually: go to the page where the photo was published and click on the Marked Users icon. Among the specified nicknames, delete your own by clicking on the "bubble" of mention.
Where to see the history of your likes
Instagram collects information about users to further form the Feed and Recommendations. The data is stored in sections "Publications Liked" and "Advertised Views" .
The second type of content relates more to the formation of promotional offers, but is also available for re-viewing.
To view ads where a like or comment was left:
- Settings - Advertising .
