You are not accidentally here to read this article. You are here to know how to make Instagram private. However, in my view, it is an excellent decision to make something private on Instagram when you do want to show some photos to any individuals or group of people.
By default, anyone on Instagram can see and react to your Instagram post. By the way, sometimes you may want this particular post and should not know that person. In addition, a social media profile shows many of your behavior and nature. So, someone can easily stalk you and gather data about you for harmful activities.
By the way, I do not know if you already know it or not. A few times ago, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri stated that users’ privacy is not at stake now. Also, he said that Instagram doesn’t see your messages listen to your microphone. It can be problematic, he added.
However, there are no functions on Instagram to make us entirely invisible. Therefore, our username is always visible to the other users who search for the name on Instagram. But there are some initiatives that you can take for a minimum of privacy. So, these initiatives will help you to get some extra layer of security in your account.
For example, you may disconnect your phone number and use an external email address instead of the primary one.
By the way, now, you will learn a detailed guide on making Instagram private in various ways in this article. So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How To Make Instagram Private In Step By Step Guide
Below we will present some successful methods by which you can easily make your Instagram private and secure. So, you are free to try each one or whatever the settings you like.
By Setting Account Private
Making your Instagram account private is the easiest and straightforward method to lock your account from unwanted followers. As a result, it will close your profile, and no one will be able to see your status, photos, and stories until you let them see them.
After that, whoever will visit your profile can only see your profile picture and profile image. In addition, they will have to be your follower to see your photos and stories, so that you need to approve them first and let them see.
However, to set the account private, follow these steps one by one.
First of all, you will go to the settings menu on Instagram. We will find the settings menu behind the hamburger button on our profile page. After that, a new window will show up, and there will be some options to choose from. From there, you will be able to enter the settings menu from that cog at the bottom.
Secondly, we will go to privacy. After that, we will activate the “Private Account” option from the Account Privacy.
By the way, you may want someone not to follow your Instagram account. But he is already on the following list. So, you will need to remove them first from your following list in this case.
Therefore, you should follow these steps to remove that follower from your account.
- First of all, you should go to your profile first. After that, click on the follower count you are seeing.
- Secondly, continuously scroll down until you are getting the name you want to remove. However, once you get the word, you will see a “Remove” button beside the name. Therefore, you need to hit the remove button to get rid of this follower.
Disconnect Contacts And Social Networks
Here we are going to show you how you will make your Instagram private in contact as well as from social media sites. I think this is one of the most vital parts of our topic of making Instagram personal. And you will get your answer on “How to make Instagram Private.”
From Contacts
It is important too to make your contact list private. By the way, Instagram has a feature that if anyone adds his phone number, people can find him on Instagram by using this phone number. However, if you do not want people to see you, you can disable the contact visibility.
Therefore, we should follow the steps below to disconnect the contact.
- Firstly, you must go to the settings menu.
- Secondly, choose “Contact Syncing.”
- And finally, turn off the “Connect Contacts” button.
If you want to switch it off from your PC, follow the steps.
- Firstly, go to the “Edit Profile” section.
- Secondly, select “Manage Contacts and after that, remove any synced contacts you have.
By the way, disconnecting only from the PC is not enough. So, we need to disconnect from our mobile phones too.
From Social Networks
Nowadays, we usually use multiple social networks in our daily lives, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc. However, If someone has linked his Instagram account to other social networks, people can easily find them from other networks.
In addition, these third-party apps have been granted to utilize your data at their scrapping. So, if you knowingly or unknowingly permit them to access your post, then they can become fundable via major search engines. That is why I will show you below how to make Instagram private on social media.
Therefore, to disable the social sites, you need to follow these steps.
- Firstly, enter the “Settings” menu from your profile.
- Secondly, you will find the “Account” option. After that, tap on it.
- Finally, you will see “Linked Accounts” there. So, tap on it, and you can see a list of social media. Now you need to click whatever network you want to disable. After clicking, a page will show you to disconnect the site. However, if you asked to authorize your Instagram account, the linked social site already divorced successfully.
In addition, you can disconnect the linked accounts from your PC too. To do it, follow the steps one by one.
- First, go to your profile and click on “Edit Profile” on your computer.
- Secondly, you will notice an option named “Authorized Applications” there.
- Finally, get rid of all of the accounts added to your Instagram.
How To Make Instagram Private Your Stories From Being Shared
Whenever you post an Instagram story, any followers from your follower list can share that story in other users’ inbox. However, perhaps you do not want your account to share with someone without knowing who to send it to.
So, you can disallow that function by following some steps. Such as,
- Firstly, you will go to the “Settings” menu, and after that, you will have the “Privacy” option.
- Secondly, when you click on “Privacy,” you will see “Story.” You need to disallow the “Allow Sharing as Message.”
By the way, your followers can still take screenshots of your story and share them with others.
How To Block Commenting And Make A Manual Filtering
If you wish, you can block any individual or a group of followers from commenting on your posts. However, these features help sometimes not to see some awkward comments. Here is how you can block the comments and make a manual filter for your Instagram account.
So, this section is also vital in your topic of how to make Instagram private.
- First of all, go to the settings menu from your profile.
- Secondly, choose the privacy option from the list.
- Thirdly, select “Comments” from there.
- Finally, you will see an option saying “Block Comments From.” Here you can input the username you want to block for commenting.
How To Make Instagram Private To Public
When you create an Instagram account, your photos and stories are in public mode by default. However, if you have ever made your Instagram account private for any reason, and now you want to change it to the public again, here is the solution.
First of all, you should go to your profile on your smartphone. Secondly, you will locate the option named “Edit Your Profile.” They will scroll down and then toggle a button called “Posts Are Private” off mode for the IOS users.
By the way, if someone has an Android phone or is using a Windows device, they can uncheck a box named “Posts Are Private.” After that, you are required to press “Done” to free your photos and stories to the public.
Vital Aspects About Instagram Privacy
Here are some most important things you should know about Instagram privacy as an Instagram user. So, besides understanding how to make Instagram private, you should also know the factors.
Let us get begun.
Your post is visible to the people depending on the settings you set on every individual social site. For instance, Perhaps you upload a picture on Twitter and put that post privately on Instagram. But this post may be visible to the Twitter audience.
When you make your Instagram private, no one can see your post, photos, and stories without being an approved follower. You will have to add them first to your follower list to let them see your post.
The list of the following requests will present in the activity menu. From there, you are going to receive offers.
Perhaps someone is already in your following list, and you do not want that person to see your photos and stories. In that case, you need to block that person, and the work has been done.
Any random Instagram user can transfer photos, videos, or any media to you even though that user is not in your following list. However, the user cannot see your post but send your photos.
And the last but most important thing is that you cannot change it to private if you are using a business account. However, you will need to change the account to a personal account first. After that, you will be able to change it to private.
Faq On Instagram Privacy
Here are some frequently asked common questions and their answers you may want.
Can Someone See My Post If I Tag Them And Use A Hashtag Even My Profile In Private Mode?
Your photos and stories will be only visible to your approved followers. However, if you tag someone who is not even your follower or use a hashtag and your privacy settings in private, they can’t see your post.
Can I Share My Instagram Post On Another Social Media Platform In The Time Of My Instagram Set On Private Mode?
A post on any other social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter can be noticeable to see as a single post. Someone can also see the post in full view if they click on the Instagram link. However, if your followers click on the username, they will redirect to your profile.
Can Any One Follow My Profile While It Is In Private Mode And Can They See My Photos And Stories?
They can’t see any types of Instagram posts of yours before you approve them as a follower. They can only send you the following request, and it is up to you to accept them or reject them. Finally, when you approve their following request, they can see your post.
How Can I Get Rid Of Someone Who Is Already Following Me?
You can prevent them from following you by doing some simple steps. First of all, you need to go to their profile and click on the three dots you see in the top right corner. From there, you need to hit the Block User button to delete their account from your follower list.
Conclusion
Stalking is evil in some situations, or sometimes it can be worse. Just imagine that someone is following with an evil intention, and you even do not know that person. So, it is not good to show our daily activities and behavior to unknown people we don’t even know.
Beside. Instagram has become a trendy social site where we post our every activity regularly. Therefore, privacy settings have become a vital part of every user.
So, hopefully, the guides we discussed above will help you to make your Instagram private. We tried our maximum to answer the query you had, “How to make Instagram private.” you will need to follow the above guides and choose how much privacy you want.