Instagram knows a lot about you — your location, where you live (and possibly what your home looks like), your interests, your friends, the products you buy, the brands you love, and so much more.
Some of this is inevitable when you use the app. However, there are ways to secure your Instagram account and limit the data that Meta and other parties can access. Here’s how to optimize your privacy settings on Instagram:
- Make your account private
- Hide your Activity Status
- Change how people interact with your Stories
- Enable two-factor authentication
- Remove Instagram’s location access
- Disable non-essential cookies
- Change the ad topics you see
- Block or restrict accounts that bother you
- Change how other users can interact with you
- Don’t sync your contacts
- Review your Instagram data
- Clear your Instagram browsing data
If you want to access the web anonymously and prevent third parties from tracking you online, we recommend using a virtual private network (VPN) like NordVPN.
Continue reading to learn more about optimizing your Instagram privacy settings and why it’s important.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps today. Millions of people use it to share content and connect with friends. Using Instagram means you inevitably give others a peek into your life as you share pictures and videos of yourself, your friends, pets, meals, and your surroundings. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Instagram knows a lot about you. It tracks your online activities, collecting data on what you do online and the ads you respond to. Instagram’s privacy practices are one of the most invasive among the top apps today. A 2021 study by pCloud found that Instagram collects and shares vast amounts of user data with third parties.
Deleting Instagram is not your only recourse to escaping Meta’s invasive privacy practices. There are ways to limit the personal information you make available to the app and other users. Most users don’t consider Instagram privacy, but you can edit a few settings to make your account more private and secure.
The Best Instagram Privacy Settings
The privacy settings we highlight below are in the same place on the Instagram app.
- Click on your Instagram profile in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
- Click on the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner of the screen.
- A menu will pop up from the bottom of the screen. Click on Settings.
Then, you should see Privacy near the top of the list. Most settings we recommend below are there, but some might be under Security.
Let’s quickly go over how to optimize your privacy settings on Instagram.
These settings may appear differently on your Instagram app.
Instagram rolls out some updates to users in particular countries before others. So, the layout and features of your Instagram app may be different from that of users in other countries. Nonetheless, you should be able to find all these settings we highlight below.
1. Make your account private
Note:
Making your Instagram account private doesn’t automatically make your Threads account private, too. You’ll need to change your privacy settings within the Threads app. We mention how to do this in our article on accessing Threads from anywhere.
This is one of the most important changes you can make on Instagram. Making your account private will prevent strangers from seeing your Instagram posts and interacting with you. Only followers can see what you’re up to, and you’ll need to approve follow requests manually.
Making your Instagram account private is easy to do. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Open Instagram settings.
- Open your Privacy settings. You should see a Private account option at the top of this menu.
- Tap on the slider to make your account private.
Setting your account to private also prevents Instagram from displaying your posts in the Photos tab of Search and Explore.
Note: Making your Instagram account private won’t hide your profile picture and bio. To revert to a public profile, follow the same steps and tap on the slider again.
2. Hide your Activity Status
Instagram’s Activity Status lets your followers see when you’re online or when you were last active. This can be a privacy concern if you don’t want to broadcast when you’re online to everyone who follows you.
Instagram shows your Activity Status by default. But you can hide it by following these steps:
- Open Instagram settings.
- Go to the Privacy settings.
- Look for Activity Status. It’s lower on the list.
- Tap on it, and tap on the slider next to “Show activity status.”
This will hide your status from everyone. Hiding your Activity Status may not be your first concern when you think about Instagram privacy, but it can prevent others from tracking your online activity.
3. Update your Story settings
You can tweak your Story settings to secure your privacy on Instagram. Here’s how to go about it:
- Open the Instagram settings.
- Open the Privacy settings.
- Click on Story.
- Hide your stories from people you don’t feel comfortable blocking yet.
- Change who can reply to your stories. By default, only your followers can, but you can tweak that to followers you also follow or no one.
- (Optional) Untick the option to save a story to archive. This means your stories won’t be saved on Instagram’s servers. You’ll lose a lot of memories if you don’t save your stories elsewhere.
- Untick “Allow sharing to messages.” This prevents people from sharing your story with others via Instagram DMs.
- Create a close friends list. Click on the Close friends’ menu and choose the people you trust most on Instagram. You can choose to share your stories with just these accounts.
Stories are a big part of Instagram, so it’s smart to tweak who can see them and how other people can interact with your stories.
If you want more privacy, consider creating a “finsta account” or a burner account without personal details. A “finsta” (abbreviated from “friends Insta”) is a secondary account where you follow a small number of people and keep everything private. People usually create a “finsta” account to post freely, knowing they won’t be scrutinized by employers, acquaintances, or judgmental relatives.
While this is not an Instagram setting, it can be a great option to maximize your privacy without making many changes to your primary account.
4. Enable two-factor authentication
We strongly recommend enabling two-factor authentication on all your accounts, including Instagram. Thousands of accounts are breached daily. Two-factor authentication adds a layer of protection to prevent unauthorized access to your account.
When you enable two-factor authentication on Instagram, every time you log in to a new device, you must confirm it’s you with a third device, like your phone or tablet. So, even if someone cracked your Instagram password, they still can’t access your account.
Here’s how to enable two-factor authentication on Instagram:
- Open Instagram settings.
- Go to Security settings.
- Tap on Two-factor authentication.
- Enable one of the methods listed by Instagram.
5. Remove Instagram access to your device location
If you ever wanted to add your location to a post or story, you probably gave Instagram access to your location. And that’s still active. Even if you have never posted your location since then, Instagram still tracks it.
Since you can always browse and choose your location when posting something, giving Instagram access to your location is unnecessary.
Here’s how to block Instagram from accessing your location:
- Open your phone’s settings.
- Find the Security and Privacy menu.
- Under the privacy menu, you should see a Permissions Manager option. If you can’t find it, Google your phone model to see where it is.
- Click on Permissions Manager and find the location tracking tab.
- Click on Instagram and choose one of the options below. We recommend you choose “Ask every time,” but ideally, tick “Don’t allow.”
This may be a good time to review the permissions you give other apps on your phone. Read our article about the privacy risks of your smartphone to find out more.
6. Disable non-essential cookies
One of the ways Instagram’s parent company, Meta, earns revenue is by monetizing user data, including selling it to advertisers and other third parties. That’s the price for using Instagram and other Meta services. However, you can limit how much data Meta collects by disabling non-essential cookies. Here’s how:
- Open your Instagram settings.
- Go to Privacy, and scroll down to the bottom of the list.
- Under Data permissions, click on Cookies.
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- Disable “Our Cookes on Other Apps and Websites” and “Cookies From Other Companies.”
This will stop other companies from sharing data about you with Instagram. You will also stop getting personalized ads from Meta on other sites you visit.
7. Change your ad preferences by topic
Have you ever seen an ad so accurate you thought Instagram was reading your mind? If product recommendations ever feel too personal, you can edit the category of the Instagram ads you see. This can be useful if you’re trying to stop spending money on something or want a clean feed.
Here’s how to change your ad preferences on Instagram:
- Open the Instagram settings.
- Click on Ads.
- Under Ad Preferences, you will see a menu labeled Ad topics.
- Open Ad Topics and browse your preferences.
- If you want fewer ads from a specific topic, tap it and adjust your preferences.
Unfortunately, you can’t stop receiving ads from a topic altogether, and this option won’t affect the total number of ads you see. But it’s a nice way to customize at least a part of what you see.
8. Block or limit interactions with specific accounts
If someone’s stalking you on social media or you want to hide your Instagram stories, reels, and posts from others, you can block them.
Here’s how to go about it:
- Go to that account’s main profile.
- Tap on the three dots in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Click on Block in the menu that pops up.
- This will open another menu with some options. You can block an account, and even report a person.
Although accounts you block aren’t notified, some people still feel apprehensive about outright blocking someone. If you’re not comfortable blocking someone, you can limit the interaction they can have with you. Here’s how:
- Restrict an account. They’ll still be able to see your account, but they won’t see your Activity Status and won’t see that you’ve read their messages. If they ever comment on your posts, other people won’t see their comments. You can also decide if you want to see their comments or otherwise.
- Hide your stories from that account. See detailed instructions above.
- Remove that account from your followers. To do this, browse through your followers and tap Remove.
9. Modify how Instagram users interact with you
By default, anyone can message you on Instagram. The same goes for mentions, comments, and more. If you want to change how people can interact with you, here’s what you can do:
- Open Instagram’s settings.
- Tap on Privacy.
- Under Interactions, you’ll find more settings related to comments, mentions, and messages.
- Click on what you want to edit and modify who can interact with you.
- You can change things like who can send you messages (and whether said DMs go to message requests or your inbox), who can mention you, and more.
If you set your account to private, Instagram protects your interactions. But if you want to take your privacy even further, the Interactions menu has many useful options. For example, under Hidden Words, you can filter the comments you see by the words they contain.
This is extremely useful if you want to make your profile a safe space for you and your friends.
10. Don’t sync your contacts with Instagram
Instagram takes a lot of liberties with your data when making similar account suggestions and when recommending your account to other people. One of the ways they do this is by using your contacts to recommend accounts.
Here’s how to stop this:
- Open Instagram settings.
- Tap on Account.
- Look for Contacts Syncing, and open the menu.
- Tap the slider next to Connect Contacts if it is active to stop Instagram from accessing your address book.
11. Review your Instagram data
Thanks to the GDPR, Instagram is mandated to give you every data they have about you. There are different ways to get this report. On most mobile devices, you’ll need to:
- Open your profile.
- Click on the three horizontal lines.
- In the menu that pops up, tap on Your Activity.
- Scroll down to Download your information. Tap on that.
- Submit your email address and wait for your report.
If you need further instructions on how to request your data, read Instagram’s guide on accessing your data.
12. Clear your Instagram browsing data
Have you ever clicked an Instagram link and used the default browser? While it may be convenient, it invades your privacy. The default Instagram browser stores everything you do. Luckily, it’s really easy to wipe this data. Here’s how:
- Open your Instagram settings.
- Tap on Account.
- Look for the Browser settings menu.
- Next to Browsing data, tap on Clear.
For improved privacy, consider using a safer browser for Instagram links. While copying the links to pages you want to open is not very user-friendly, that extra step is worth it to safeguard your privacy.
Why Privacy on Instagram Should Concern You
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, has a history of violating users’ privacy. The Cambridge Analytica scandal is probably the biggest example.
In 2012, a few months after Facebook purchased Instagram, the company received backlash due to an update to its terms of service that said Instagram could sell Instagram user photos without compensation. The company was forced to backtrack on the plan.
In another notable incident in 2022, Ireland’s privacy watchdog fined Instagram €405 million for mishandling teens’ data. Our guide to Instagram safety for kids contains some useful tips on how to keep your children safe online.
The threat on Instagram extends beyond Meta’s voracious appetite for user data. There are numerous Instagram scams to keep an eye out for. Malicious actors are always on the prowl on popular social media platforms like Instagram.
Following cybersecurity safety practices and taking other steps to protect your privacy, like using a virtual private network (VPN), can limit exposure to online threats. A VPN can safeguard your privacy by hiding your IP address, encrypting your data, and even unblocking geo-restrictions.
We’ve tested dozens of VPNs, and NordVPN is our top pick. With super-fast speeds, a vast array of servers, advanced security features, and excellent unblocking capabilities, you can’t go wrong with this provider.
- Fast and large worldwide network of VPN servers
- Perfect for privacy and streaming
- Trusted by many, with over 14 million users
Conclusion: Securing Your Privacy Online
Taking time to review the privacy settings of your apps is a good practice to keep your information secure. Companies like Instagram change their privacy policies periodically, so you must review your privacy settings regularly.
Interested in tweaking your privacy settings on other apps? Check out the articles below to get started.
- How to Change Your Google Privacy Settings
- Facebook Privacy Settings: The Ultimate Guide
- How to Improve Your Twitter Privacy Settings
- How to Optimize Your Snapchat Privacy Settings – A Full Guide
- Have You Updated Your Privacy Settings on Skype?
- Have You Checked Your WhatsApp Privacy Settings?
Still unsure about some Instagram privacy settings? The FAQ section below could clear things up.
Instagram is not privacy-friendly. The platform collects a lot of data about you, which is often sold to advertisers and other third parties. By default, a lot of people can see what you do on Instagram, and you stand to be exposed in the event of a breach. Luckily, you can take some steps to mitigate these risks. Find out more in our guide to Instagram privacy settings.
By default, your Instagram account is public. This means that anyone can see your posts, stories, and other content. But you can easily change that by going into Instagram’s privacy settings and making your account private. This will ensure only people you approve can see what you post. If you’re not sure how to do this, our detailed Instagram privacy guide contains everything you need to know.
The first step is to make your Instagram account private. There are a lot of other settings you can change, like hiding your activity status, disabling non-essential cookies, and limiting how other accounts interact with you.
By default, only followers you’ve approved can see your Instagram posts if your account is private. You can also choose to hide likes, and modify who can tag you in posts.
