Take advantage of the best of Instagram by mastering all of its hidden functions at your fingertips.
Once available only on iOS, Instagram has experienced an incredible rise since its launch in 2010. Acquired by Facebook in 2012, the application originally only allowed photos to be posted. Over time, new features have multiplied, allowing the platform to become a must-have app on smartphones.
Whether you are a seasoned user, or just starting your first steps on Instagram, it’s a safe bet that some features of the application are still unknown to you. In the following lines, you will discover tips and hidden features that, once mastered, will allow you to get the most out of Instagram.
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1. Get notified when your favorite accounts publish
To never miss the publications of your favorite accounts, it is possible to configure the application so that it sends you a notification for each new publication.
To do this, go to the profile for which you want to be alerted, and press the Subscriber button.
In the menu that appears, enter Notifications and check the types of posts for which you want Instagram to alert you when the account shares new content.
2. Add keywords in your bio to go up in Explorer
If you have a public profile and would like to break into the Instagram world a bit, you will need a little patience, but most importantly, use the right keywords.
One of the best ways to see your profile pop up in the Explore tab, which allows all Instagram users to discover new accounts and original posts, is to add keywords to one or more thematic, directly in your biography.
To modify it, go to your profile tab and press Edit profile to add your hashtags.
3. Moderate the comments
The comments you receive on Instagram can sometimes be inappropriate or obnoxious. If it is possible to remove them or block the authors, you can also simply restrict them.
This feature will give you full control over comments and messages sent by trolls. You can easily Restrict an account from the comments by swiping your finger left to bring up the options and then pressing the button with an exclamation mark in a bubble.
It is also possible to do this by going directly to the offending profile, then pressing Subscriber.
And if however you want to nail the beak to several accounts at the same time you can create a list of restricted accounts.
To do this, go to your profile, deploy the hamburger menu and enter Settings. Then enter Privacy, then go to the Restricted Accounts menu. Tap Continue and find the names of the accounts you want to restrict. You will only have to press the corresponding button to see them added to your list of restricted accounts.
When an account is restricted, you no longer receive notifications if it interacts with you. You can choose whether or not to approve their comments, delete them, and can even control whether others can see comments posted under your posts. When a restricted account tries to send you a private message, it will automatically be moved to Message Invitations, preventing the person from seeing that you have read their message. Best of all, the accounts you restrict don’t know about anything.
4. Clear your search history
Over the weeks, your search history will fill up with sometimes searches that you aren’t necessarily very proud of. Fortunately, it is possible to remove all of this. You can do it manually and delete some searches by directly pressing the small cross to the right of each item you are looking for.
But you can also delete the whole history at once. To do this, tap on See all from the recent searches tab and tap on Clear all.
Note that this option is also available from your profile, by deploying the hamburger menu to enter Settings> Security> Clear search history.
5. Rearrange the filters and remove the ones you don’t use
Let’s be honest, some Instagram filters aren’t really good. If like many you have your favorites, you can rearrange their order of appearance, but above all, disable the display of filters that you never use.
To do this, enter the image publication system, press Next and scroll to the left through all the filters and press Manage.
Uncheck the filters you never use and keep your finger pressed on the handles represented by three superimposed lines, to the left of each filter, to move them up or down, depending on the order in which you want see them appear. Then save your changes by pressing Done.
6. Prevent unwanted tags
Some accounts, often fake, will do anything to grow their audience or lure users into scams. To get your attention, some do not hesitate to use the tag system to identify you on the fly on a publication that does not concern you in any way. You find yourself tagged on an advertisement that will be added directly to your profile in the section devoted to the images on which your loved ones identify you.
To avoid this, it is possible to limit the credentials to identify, but also to approve them manually.
Go to your profile, deploy the main menu and enter Instagram Settings. Then enter Privacy, then go to the Tags menu.
You can then choose to Allow the identifications of People you follow, or No one (if you never want to be tagged).
You can further enhance your security by enabling the Approve Identifications feature manually.
7. Search for images by locations
If Instagram allows you to search for people (or accounts), or keywords, the most interesting search is probably the search for images by location. Why ? Quite simply because it will allow you to have a quick overview and from different angles of the same place, ideal for example, to get an idea of what your holiday resort will look like.
Go to the research section and start the search for a specific location. You will automatically get the most popular and recent posts posted by users with a public account.
8. Deactivate your online status
Because you like your peace of mind when you surf on Instagram, and to avoid being spied on, it is possible to deactivate, as on Facebook, your “online” status visible from the private messaging system. Be careful, however, once deactivated for your account, you will no longer see the “Online” status of your loved ones in return.
To deactivate your online status, go to your profile, open the main menu and go to Settings. Then enter Privacy, then Online Status to deactivate the function.
9. Keep your favorite publications using collections
Instagram is a gold mine for foodies and travel enthusiasts. But as you get your likes, it often becomes difficult to find the posts that have caught your attention.
However, Instagram has a very practical function, Collections, thanks to which it is possible to save the publications that have caught your attention.
To add a post to your collections, just tap the bookmark icon. The publication is then automatically added. But it is then possible to classify the elements saved in different collections.
To do this, go to your profile, open the main menu and enter Saved items. All publications are grouped in one place in All publications. Tap the + button, choose a name for your collection and tap Next. You will then only have to select the elements to classify in your collection. Then tap Done to save your collection.
Then repeat the procedure as many times as necessary to classify all the items you have saved.
10. Hide stories from certain users
You too are tired of this vague knowledge that appears in the stories with your feet by the pool all day long while you are stuck at work? Without deleting it from your subscriptions, you can completely choose to hide its stories.
To do this, keep your finger pressed on the icon of its story and choose to mute it. Their stories are then relegated to the end of the stories feed, so you will no longer see them displayed in the last published stories.
To reactivate stories for an account, scroll through all stories to the end, tap and hold the account story, and choose to Reactivate story.