Social media is a useful commodity presently, but it can also have a toll on people’s mental health. The pressure to gain likes and followers can be overwhelming for users, especially on apps like Instagram.
Therefore, we bring a guide for you on how to hide likes on Instagram for your posts or others.
Hiding likes on Instagram is one of the commendable features introduced by the platform. It will help people to turn off negativity and safeguard their well-being. We will walk you through steps for hiding likes on Instagram posts.
So, if you want to break free from the race of likes or simply looking to protect your mental health, we have everything you require listed here. Read more and find out.
Can you hide Instagram likes from followers?
The race to get more likes on social media like Instagram can induce a lot of pressure and can be very frustrating. Therefore, Instagram allows users to hide Instagram likes from followers. With the feature users do not have to worry about if people are liking their Instagram posts or not.
You can hide likes on your Instagram from followers either before posting or after posting anything. Although please note that once you hide likes it would not mean that they are hidden completely. The number of people who liked an Instagram post will be hidden, however, people can still see the names of people who have liked the Instagram post.
Can people see my likes on Instagram?
Instagram’s default setting allows users to see your likes on Instagram. So, if you have liked any Instagram post or reel, people would be able to see it. Your followers would be able to see your name below an Instagram post that you have already liked.
If your account is public, your likes will be visible to everyone who sees the Instagram post. However, if you do not want everyone to see your likes, make your account Private. Once, it’s private, only people you add as followers will be able to see the likes.
How to hide likes on posts from other Instagram account
You can hide likes on posts from other Instagram accounts. So you do not need to worry about who has got more likes than you. With Instagram’s settings, you can easily turn off seeing likes from others’ Instagram posts. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open Instagram and “login” to your account.
- Now on your homepage, click on your “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner to open your Profile page.
- On your profile, locate the “three–line” icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Settings”>” Privacy”>” Posts”.
- Now turn on the toggle switch next to the option “Hide Likes”.
Now the number of people who likes someone’s Instagram posts would not be visible to you anymore.
How to hide likes on your own Instagram posts before sharing
Instagram allows users to hide likes on their own Instagram posts before sharing. However, one thing to note is that it does not allow users to hide the number of likes for all Instagram posts collectively.
Any Instagram user will have to manually turn off likes for every Instagram post before you share it on the platform. If you miss the chance to hide likes before sharing, there is no need to panic. You can also hide likes after you have shared a post on Instagram.
Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to hide likes on your own Instagram posts before sharing:
- Open Instagram and “Login”.
- On the homepage, you will notice 5 different options at the bottom of the screen. Locate the “+” icon and tap on it to create an Instagram post.
- Now create the Instagram post by adding photos or videos you want to post.
- Once you have selected what you want to post, go to the screen where you are asked to add IInstagram post caption.
- On the screen, locate “Advanced Settings” and turn on the toggle to “Hide Likes”.
When you share the Instagram post, the likes, and counts will not be visible to anyone.
How to hide likes on your own Instagram post retroactively
It might happen sometimes that you have already posted on Instagram and now you want to turn off the likes on your own Instagram post. Well do not worry, you can turn off likes after you have posted an Instagram post.
Here’s a step-by-step procedure for how to hide likes on your own Instagram post retroactively:
- Open Instagram and “login” to your account.
- Now on your homepage, click on your “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner to open your Profile page.
- On your profile, locate and select the Instagram post whose likes you want to hide.
- Once you open the Instagram post, you will see the “three-dots” icon in the top right corner.
- From the list of options, choose “hide like count”.
Voila! The like count is now hidden and anybody who sees your Instagram post would not be able to see the number of people who liked your Instagram post. Using this method you can also do other things like edit your Instagram post or turn off commenting for the Instagram post.
How to track hidden Instagram likes
You may think that as the likes are now hidden, you will not be able to track hidden Instagram likes. No, that is not the case and you can still very much track the hidden Instagram likes.
You can do this by using the “Insights” feature on Instagram if you have a business account. If you do not have a business account there might be a possibility that presently you will not be able to see the hidden likes until you “unhide” it.
Here’s how to see likes using Instagram Insights:
“Login” to Instagram> Tap on the “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner>Locate the “three–line” icon and tap on it>” Insights”. Now you can see the number of likes on your Instagram posts.
If you want to track likes on a non-business personal account. You can unhide the likes and you may be able to track likes. Here’s what you need to do if you want to unhide likes from others’ Instagram posts:
“Login” to Instagram> Tap on the “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner>Locate the “three-line” icon and tap on it>“Settings”>” Privacy”>” Posts”>Turn off the toggle next to “Hide Likes”.
If you want to hide likes from your Instagram post:
“Login” to Instagram> Tap on the “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner>Locate the post> Tap on “three-dots” in the top right corner>” Unhide like count”.
How to Hide Likes on Instagram Reels
Hiding likes on Instagram reels is similar to hiding likes on Instagram posts.
If you want to hide likes on Instagram reels from other Instagram account, here’s what you need to do:
- Open Instagram and “login” to your account.
- Now on your homepage, click on your “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner to open your Profile page.
- On your profile, locate the “three-line” icon in the top right corner.
- Choose “Settings”>” Privacy”>” Posts”.
- Now turn on the toggle switch next to the option “Hide Likes and View Counts”.
If you want to hide likes on your own Instagram reel, follow these steps:
- Open Instagram and “login” to your account.
- Now on your homepage, click on your “Profile Picture” icon in the bottom right corner to open your Profile page.
- On your profile, locate and select the reel whose likes you want to hide.
- Once you open the Instagram post, you will see the “three-dots” icon in the top right corner. Tap on it and choose” Manage”.
- From the list of options, choose “hide like count”.
Will hiding likes affect my performance on Instagram?
It can have both a negative and positive impact on your performance. It might lead to improved mental health for you which will motivate you to create high-quality content. Thus, your engagement will increase and you will not have to stress over the number of likes you are getting.
However, on the other hand, it might lead to decreased visibility. Besides, if you want to track how many people are engaging with your Instagram posts to track your growth then hiding likes is not a good decision.
If you keep the likes visible, then you might be able to evaluate the kind of Instagram posts people are resonating with.
Ultimately the decision to hide or not hide Instagram likes is yours. We advise you to decide according to your goals on the platform. All the best!
