Want to go completely private on Instagram? Here is how you can do so and hide your followers and following from friends. So, let’s get started and see how it can be done.
Is it possible to hide followers and following from friends?
Well, not totally. It may depend somehow on your account settings, but it is not going to help you much. On Instagram, you cannot completely hide your follower or following counts from your friends, but switching to a private account means only your approved followers can see those lists. This is the only cut that you can try to make. If you want to hide them from specific friends, your only real option is to block or remove them as followers.
Unlike Facebook, where you actually have full control, Instagram works differently. It lets you add the people you actually trust or would like to share your things with. Therefore, it becomes an all-or-nothing situation when it comes to much privacy.
Steps to hide followers and following from friends on Instagram
If you want to do so, these are the steps that can help you go private on the platform.
- The best way to handle this situation is to switch to a private account if you haven’t already. To do this, you just have to go to your profile, tap on the three lines in the top right corner, select settings and privacy, then tap on the account privacy and toggle private account on. This will further make sure that complete strangers cannot see your lists, though your existing friends still can.
- This is a little more stern. Remove the specific friends you want to hide the lists from. To do this, you just have to go to your followers list, type their name in the search bar, and tap on remove next to their profile. Once they are removed, they will no longer have access to your details unless you approve them again.
- You can also go smart and use the restrict feature if you want a softer approach. To take care of this, just go to the friend’s profile, tap on the three dots in the top right, and choose restrict. While this doesn’t hide your followers list, it typically hides their comments and direct messages from others without unfriending them. It is a sweet spot if you don’t want to be harsh.
- The last resort is to block the user entirely for absolute privacy. To take care of this, just go to their profile, tap on the three dots, and select the block. They will not be able to jump back on your profile again.
