EdgeXplore

Instagram started out as a simple photo-sharing app. Now, it seems like it’s anything but. Over the years, it has added so many new features—Stories, IGTV, Reels, and messaging—it can feel like you’re using six different apps at once.

When there’s so much stuff going on, it’s easy to miss out on the smaller features and settings that can make the app experience better, so that’s what we’re going to focus on today. Here are some of our favorite Instagram options you might not know about. (And if you’re struggling with your addiction to the ‘gram, we can help with that too.)

Instagram recently opened up the link-in-Stories feature to the masses. Almost everyone can now add links to their Stories using a sticker. To get started, simply tap the Stickers icon, choose the “Link” option, paste in the link, and tap the “Done” button.

You can now move and customize the link sticker however you want. Anyone who views your story will be able to tap on the sticker to open the link.

Feeling like-count envy? Or would you rather not see the like count on your posts and those of others for your own mental health? You can disable them for all the posts that you see on Instagram.

Open your Profile, tap the Menu button, and go to Settings > Privacy > Posts > Hide Like and View Counts.

Don’t want your Instagram search history to give you away? You can delete single searches right from the search view by hitting the little “X” button. You can also delete all your search history at once. Go to Settings > Security > Clear Search History > Clear All.

By default, Instagram blocks sensitive and graphic content. If you come across it on your feed, you’ll see a blurred layer over it. It also stops it from showing up in your Explore feed.

What Instagram chooses to tag as “sensitive content” is quite weird. Sometimes it will tag body positivity and mental health posts as sensitive, and, as a result, they won’t show up on your explore page.

You can disable this option via Settings > Account > Sensitive Content Control > Allow. The option to disable this feature is only available in certain territories, and isn’t working for some users over the age of 18, likely because of a bug.

Instagram has changed how it deletes posts. Just like your phone, a photo that’s deleted now stays in your account for 30 days, and you can recover it at any point within that time frame.

To do that, go to Settings > Account > Recently Deleted. From here, choose the photo, tap the three-dotted Menu button, and select the “Restore” option to recover the deleted post.

Trying to find an old photo you’d shared on Instagram Stories? Maybe you’re trying to relive moments from a past trip? Lucky for you, Instagram keeps an archive of all the Stories that you have shared in the past, sorted by both date and location.

Open your Instagram profile, tap the Menu button, and choose the “Archive” option. Here, you can view all the post Stories. Tap on a Story to view it full-screen. From the three-dotted Menu button, you can save the photo, share, or delete the story permanently.

Your Instagram account is precious. It’s what connects you with the world and your closest friends. It also poses a hacking risk, so you should add another layer of protection to your Instagram account with two-factor authentication.

This way, the only method to log in to your Instagram account will be via a six-digit, one-time passcode sent to you over SMS or to an authenticator app. If you’re using iPhone, you can use the built-in authenticator as well.

Go to Settings > Security > Two-Factor Authentication to get started.

Life would be better if some Instagram posts didn’t have a comments section. Luckily, Instagram lets you disable the comments, even if a post is already live.

Find the post, tap the “Menu” button, and choose the “Turn off Commenting” button. You can come back here again to enable commenting.

Don’t want unknown people to message you, or add you to a group without your consent? A privacy setting will help you out.

Go to Settings > Privacy > Messages. Here, go to the “Your Followers on Instagram” section, and switch to “Don’t receive requests.” Next, choose the “Others on Instagram” option, and switch to the “Don’t receive requests” feature.

You won’t receive new requests from profiles now. To do the same for groups, choose the “Who can add you to groups” option, and switch to the “only people you follow on Instagram” option.

Don’t want to hear from someone, but you’d rather not block them? Try out Instagram’s Restrict feature. When someone is restricted, they can continue to be your follower, but you essentially won’t see them, or hear from them.

They will be able to message you, but you won’t see the messages. Their comments will only be visible to them, and not the public. You’ll have a choice to view a restricted comment, if you like.

To restrict someone, open their profile, tap the Menu button, and choose the “Restrict” option to get started. You can “Unrestrict” someone from the same menu later on.

You may have already tweaked your notification settings on Instagram. Probably you have most notifications disabled. But did you know that you can choose to get notified only when particular profiles post something to their feeds or start an Instagram Live?

This is probably the only actually useful notification setting Instagram offers. Visit a profile, tap the Notifications (bell) icon at the top, and then enable notifications for posts, stories, videos, or Instagram Live.

 

Khamosh Pathak is freelancer tech journalist with over 13 years of experience writing online.