As the fourth largest social media platform in the world, Instagram’s popularity is due, in large part, to the many different features that it offers. Whether you have a personal account to use as a kind of online scrapbook that’s shared with your family and friends, or you want to be a content creator, Instagram offers a range of functions that help you connect with its 2 billion global users.
But what if you want to restrict who you connect with and who can see your content? Other social media platforms like Facebook make it easy to pick and choose who sees your content, but does IG?
Here’s how to hide Instagram posts from other users.
How to Hide Posts on Instagram
If you want to limit who can see and interact with your content on Instagram altogether, then the best option is to make your account private. When you have a private account, people will not be able to view your content without following you.
You will also receive follow requests and be able to approve or decline these requests. This offers a huge amount of control over who has access to your posts, reels, and stories, as well as your profile overall.
But what if you want to hide a specific post on your public account?
How to Hide Your Posts from Someone on Instagram
Unfortunately, there is no Instagram feature that allows you to hide your posts from specific followers, even if you have a private account. Once someone follows you, they will be able to see all of your posts, whether they are reels, pictures, or IGTV videos.
If there is a specific post that you are concerned about someone viewing, and you don’t want to delete it, however, you can archive the post. Archiving a post will remove it from your feed and hide it from all of your followers, but it will not delete the post. Even the likes, comments, and shares associated with this post will be preserved – and you can restore it whenever you like.
You can archive your post with these steps:
- Open the Instagram app and navigate to your profile
- Tap on the post you want to archive
- Press the menu icon
- Tap Archive
Once you do this, the post in question will be hidden from everyone except you. You can then find it in your Instagram archive and restore it later if you want to.
How to Hide Instagram Stories
In contrast, Instagram stories are the one format that allows you to choose which of your followers can see what you post. The Close Friends feature lets you label certain stories as only visible to followers that you’ve specifically placed within the Close Friends group.
For example, you can set your Close Friends list to only include people you actually know in real life or Instagram mutuals (people that you follow who follow you back).
To curate your Close Friends list, follow these steps:
- Open Instagram and enter your profile
- Press the menu icon
- Tap Close Friends
- Tap the accounts that you want to add to your Close Friends list
- Press Done
You can check up on this list at any point, adding or removing people. Once you’re happy with the list, you can post stories only to your Close Friends list. To do this:
- Create the story normally
- Before uploading your story, change the audience of your post at the bottom-left of the screen
- Tap Close Friends
- Finish posting
FAQs
How do I restore archived Instagram posts?
You can restore archived posts by opening your Instagram archive and tapping on the post you want to recover. Once you open the right post, press the three-dots icon and then Show on Profile.
Can I delete archived Instagram posts?
Yes, it’s very easy to delete archived posts:
- Enter your archive
- Open the post you want to delete
- Press the three-dots icon
- Choose Delete
This will remove the post from your archive and your Instagram permanently.
Can I share archived Instagram posts with others?
Once a post is archived, you are the only one who can see it. You cannot share it with other Instagram users, even as a DM from this archive. Of course, you can physically show other people your archive with your device or through screensharing, depending on if your mobile phone offers this.
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