What is the Restrict Feature on Instagram?
The restrict feature on Instagram is an excellent tool designed to reduce bullying and harassment on the platform. In my opinion, it's one of the best new features. In its most basic form, restricting an account on Instagram is like blocking, but without making it super obvious.
Difference Between Blocking and Restricting on Instagram
When you block someone on Instagram, they won’t be notified. Instagram doesn’t inform them that they’ve been blocked. However, if they interact with your account fairly regularly, it won’t take them long to figure out that they’ve been blocked.
When they search for your profile, it doesn't come up. I’ve even blocked myself here—when I search for my username, Instagram tells me that there are no results. If you’ve previously sent a message to the now-blocked account and they try to click on your profile via that message, Instagram will tell them the profile cannot be found. Your account disappears to them.
But, when they use an internet browser to search for you without being signed into any Instagram account or while they’re signed into a different account, they can still see your profile.
What Happens When You Restrict Someone on Instagram?
Restricting accounts is a bit like blocking, but it’s the stealth version. The approach is more subtle, and the person you’ve restricted will be less aware of your actions than if you had blocked them. It’s much more difficult to realize that you’ve been restricted than it is to figure out you’ve been blocked.
Instagram doesn’t notify the person you’ve restricted. They won’t know that you’ve restricted them unless they notice something different in their experience.
How Does Restricting Someone Affect Their Interaction With Your Profile?
When you restrict someone on Instagram, only you and the restricted person can see their new comments on your posts or their replies to stickers in your stories. Their messages will be moved to your message requests folder, and you can unrestrict them from your profile.
They can still see your content, including how many followers you have, who you follow, and they can see your stories, reels, and bio information. They can engage with your content, like commenting or liking, without any problems. However, you won’t see their engagement, and neither will anyone else.
How Instagram Hides Comments and Messages
You can choose to make the restricted person’s comments public, so they can be viewed by everyone. But unless you do this, their comments will be hidden from view.
Instagram will also hide replies to your stories, so only you and the restricted person can see them. It will be as though you've blocked them, except you haven't.
Messages from a restricted account are sent to your message requests folder. You won’t get a notification for these messages either, and you won’t know about them unless you check that folder.
Managing Messages from Restricted Accounts
When you go into your message requests, Instagram will remind you that you have restricted the account. Instagram also informs you that the restricted person can’t see when you’re online or when you’ve read their messages.
The person you’ve restricted won’t know if you’ve read their messages or if you’re online. They’ll only know if you respond to them or block them. It works both ways—you won’t be able to see when the restricted account is online, nor will you know when they read messages you sent.
What to Do After Restricting Someone
To message back, you’ll need to unrestrict the account, or you can delete the message and never worry about it again. Or, you could block the account if you prefer.
Conclusion: Blocking vs. Restricting Accounts
In conclusion, blocking and restricting accounts on Instagram are similar practices. Both can be used to eliminate negative people or comments from your life, which is a good thing if you're a regular social media user.
Even if you are the nicest, kindest person in the world, you’ll still find someone willing to troll you online. Sadly, that's part and parcel of being social online these days.
Blocking is obvious—the other person will figure it out quickly. Restricting, however, is much more discreet, which is perfect when you want to remove someone from your online life without them knowing.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this article useful today. If you have any questions or would like to suggest another tutorial, let me know.
What is the Restrict Feature on Instagram?
The restrict feature on Instagram is an excellent tool designed to reduce bullying and harassment on the platform. In my opinion, it's one of the best new features. In its most basic form, restricting an account on Instagram is like blocking, but without making it super obvious.
Difference Between Blocking and Restricting on Instagram
When you block someone on Instagram, they won’t be notified. Instagram doesn’t inform them that they’ve been blocked. However, if they interact with your account fairly regularly, it won’t take them long to figure out that they’ve been blocked.
When they search for your profile, it doesn't come up. I’ve even blocked myself here—when I search for my username, Instagram tells me that there are no results. If you’ve previously sent a message to the now-blocked account and they try to click on your profile via that message, Instagram will tell them the profile cannot be found. Your account disappears to them.
But, when they use an internet browser to search for you without being signed into any Instagram account or while they’re signed into a different account, they can still see your profile.
What Happens When You Restrict Someone on Instagram?
Restricting accounts is a bit like blocking, but it’s the stealth version. The approach is more subtle, and the person you’ve restricted will be less aware of your actions than if you had blocked them. It’s much more difficult to realize that you’ve been restricted than it is to figure out you’ve been blocked.
Instagram doesn’t notify the person you’ve restricted. They won’t know that you’ve restricted them unless they notice something different in their experience.
How Does Restricting Someone Affect Their Interaction With Your Profile?
When you restrict someone on Instagram, only you and the restricted person can see their new comments on your posts or their replies to stickers in your stories. Their messages will be moved to your message requests folder, and you can unrestrict them from your profile.
They can still see your content, including how many followers you have, who you follow, and they can see your stories, reels, and bio information. They can engage with your content, like commenting or liking, without any problems. However, you won’t see their engagement, and neither will anyone else.
How Instagram Hides Comments and Messages
You can choose to make the restricted person’s comments public, so they can be viewed by everyone. But unless you do this, their comments will be hidden from view.
Instagram will also hide replies to your stories, so only you and the restricted person can see them. It will be as though you've blocked them, except you haven't.
Messages from a restricted account are sent to your message requests folder. You won’t get a notification for these messages either, and you won’t know about them unless you check that folder.
Managing Messages from Restricted Accounts
When you go into your message requests, Instagram will remind you that you have restricted the account. Instagram also informs you that the restricted person can’t see when you’re online or when you’ve read their messages.
The person you’ve restricted won’t know if you’ve read their messages or if you’re online. They’ll only know if you respond to them or block them. It works both ways—you won’t be able to see when the restricted account is online, nor will you know when they read messages you sent.
What to Do After Restricting Someone
To message back, you’ll need to unrestrict the account, or you can delete the message and never worry about it again. Or, you could block the account if you prefer.
Conclusion: Blocking vs. Restricting Accounts
In conclusion, blocking and restricting accounts on Instagram are similar practices. Both can be used to eliminate negative people or comments from your life, which is a good thing if you're a regular social media user.
Even if you are the nicest, kindest person in the world, you’ll still find someone willing to troll you online. Sadly, that's part and parcel of being social online these days.
Blocking is obvious—the other person will figure it out quickly. Restricting, however, is much more discreet, which is perfect when you want to remove someone from your online life without them knowing.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this article useful today. If you have any questions or would like to suggest another tutorial, let me know.
What is the Restrict Feature on Instagram?
The restrict feature on Instagram is an excellent tool designed to reduce bullying and harassment on the platform. In my opinion, it's one of the best new features. In its most basic form, restricting an account on Instagram is like blocking, but without making it super obvious.
Difference Between Blocking and Restricting on Instagram
When you block someone on Instagram, they won’t be notified. Instagram doesn’t inform them that they’ve been blocked. However, if they interact with your account fairly regularly, it won’t take them long to figure out that they’ve been blocked.
When they search for your profile, it doesn't come up. I’ve even blocked myself here—when I search for my username, Instagram tells me that there are no results. If you’ve previously sent a message to the now-blocked account and they try to click on your profile via that message, Instagram will tell them the profile cannot be found. Your account disappears to them.
But, when they use an internet browser to search for you without being signed into any Instagram account or while they’re signed into a different account, they can still see your profile.
What Happens When You Restrict Someone on Instagram?
Restricting accounts is a bit like blocking, but it’s the stealth version. The approach is more subtle, and the person you’ve restricted will be less aware of your actions than if you had blocked them. It’s much more difficult to realize that you’ve been restricted than it is to figure out you’ve been blocked.
Instagram doesn’t notify the person you’ve restricted. They won’t know that you’ve restricted them unless they notice something different in their experience.
How Does Restricting Someone Affect Their Interaction With Your Profile?
When you restrict someone on Instagram, only you and the restricted person can see their new comments on your posts or their replies to stickers in your stories. Their messages will be moved to your message requests folder, and you can unrestrict them from your profile.
They can still see your content, including how many followers you have, who you follow, and they can see your stories, reels, and bio information. They can engage with your content, like commenting or liking, without any problems. However, you won’t see their engagement, and neither will anyone else.
How Instagram Hides Comments and Messages
You can choose to make the restricted person’s comments public, so they can be viewed by everyone. But unless you do this, their comments will be hidden from view.
Instagram will also hide replies to your stories, so only you and the restricted person can see them. It will be as though you've blocked them, except you haven't.
Messages from a restricted account are sent to your message requests folder. You won’t get a notification for these messages either, and you won’t know about them unless you check that folder.
Managing Messages from Restricted Accounts
When you go into your message requests, Instagram will remind you that you have restricted the account. Instagram also informs you that the restricted person can’t see when you’re online or when you’ve read their messages.
The person you’ve restricted won’t know if you’ve read their messages or if you’re online. They’ll only know if you respond to them or block them. It works both ways—you won’t be able to see when the restricted account is online, nor will you know when they read messages you sent.
What to Do After Restricting Someone
To message back, you’ll need to unrestrict the account, or you can delete the message and never worry about it again. Or, you could block the account if you prefer.
Conclusion: Blocking vs. Restricting Accounts
In conclusion, blocking and restricting accounts on Instagram are similar practices. Both can be used to eliminate negative people or comments from your life, which is a good thing if you're a regular social media user.
Even if you are the nicest, kindest person in the world, you’ll still find someone willing to troll you online. Sadly, that's part and parcel of being social online these days.
Blocking is obvious—the other person will figure it out quickly. Restricting, however, is much more discreet, which is perfect when you want to remove someone from your online life without them knowing.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this article useful today. If you have any questions or would like to suggest another tutorial, let me know.