Hidden Instagram Features You Need To Know About

Instagram is among the top social media apps. You may know it as your go-to platform for posting photos, reels, stories, and comments, but there's more to it than meets the eye. When you look beyond the basic features, you'll find others you probably didn't know existed. You can hide your activity status, use vanish mode for more private chats, and do more. If you're curious as to what else the app has in store for you, you'll love these six interesting features.

1. Hiding like counts 

Tired of the numbers game? You can banish the pressure of social validation instantly by hiding like counts in your settings. With a simple toggle, you silence the noise and shift your focus back to what truly matters – the content itself, not the scoreboard.

But keep in mind: while your feed might look cleaner, your digital footprint isn't invisible. If you’ve ever wondered how to see someone’s Instagram likes on Instagram even when they're hidden, you aren't alone – and neither are the trackers. Third-party tools like Snoopreport can still monitor public interactions, meaning your likes are never truly secret to those who know where to look.

2. Emoji DM game

Instagram has a secret game that you can only access when you send someone an emoji. To play, open a DM, send an emoji and click it. Then you'll use a paddle at the bottom of the screen to keep your emoji bouncing. If the emoji drops, the game ends. The game gets faster as your score increases, and the background becomes darker as you progress. Instagram will save your high score and you can try to beat it anytime. 

It's worth noting that the other person in the DM won't see the game you're playing, or your scores. So you may want to explain why you're sending them random emojis at probably 3 AM — or you can avoid the awkwardness and send the emoji to your second IG account if available. Although, clicking on the same emoji works multiple times.

3. Account restriction

Sometimes, people post inappropriate content on Instagram. You can hide the post, unfollow the user, or block them completely. But it's hard and awkward to do that when they're close to you and you don't want confrontations. Instagram restrictions provide a way to maintain distance without causing unnecessary drama.

The feature discreetly limits unwanted interactions without completely blocking the user. Their messages will move to the Message Requests folder, and you won't receive notifications for them. Their comments on your posts are only visible to them, giving you the option to approve, delete, or ignore them. They also can't see when you're online or if you've read their messages. 

More importantly, the restricted user won't know that you've restricted them as they can still view your posts and stories. There are many ways to restrict someone on IG. But we'll use the settings menu for this walkthrough because it's the most consistent method across devices and houses most of the options you need to personalize your experience. Follow the steps below to start:

1. Open the Instagram app and go to your profile. Then tap the menu icon in the upper right.

2. Select Settings and privacy.

2. Scroll down to How others can interact with you and select Restricted accounts. Then tap Next to continue.

3. Search for a user. Then tap Restrict beside their username. Restricted users will appear in this menu henceforth, and you may unrestrict them anytime.

4. Hidden Words

Instagram is one place to express yourself freely with videos and photos. Unfortunately, it's also one place people can express their opinions about your posts without respect for your feelings. If you're sensitive or frequently receive negative comments on the platform, there's a way to stop it.

The Hidden Words menu on Instagram equips you to filter offensive comments and DMs. It allows you to customize a list of words or phrases you find offensive, or use Instagram's pre-set lists. The feature then scans comments and DMs for these words and hides any matches from your view. Neither you nor the sender get notified when a message is filtered, but you can review hidden messages later if you want.

Here’s a secret most users don’t know: you can view Instagram Stories anonymously. With our Instagram viewer, you can watch any public Story without logging in or being seen. It’s like stealth mode for Instagram.

Basically, the feature protects you from harassment, bullying, and hate speech. Here's how to apply word filters to your comments and DMs on IG:

1. From your profile, tap the menu icon in the upper right. Then select Settings and privacy.

2. Scroll down to How others can interact with you and select Hidden Words. Then tap Continue.

3. Enable the toggle switches under the Offensive words and phrases section if you want Instagram to automatically hide offensive comments.

4. Under Custom words and phrases, tap Manage custom words and phrases. Here, you can add negative words you often encounter or potentially offensive ones. Instagram will look out for these words in comments, messages, and notifications to hide them from you.

5. Activity status

I'm someone who likes privacy, and prefers to go about my online activity in my own time. Yet I've heard people say “if that's the case, don't be on social media then”. After all, what's the point of being on social media if you're not social? But that's just the problem. People tend to confuse wanting privacy with being antisocial.

In truth, privacy is about controlling your personal information and online activity. It's the ability to choose what you share, with whom you share it, and when. So, not everyone needs to know things like when you're online to connect with you. They can drop a message and you can reply at your convenience.

Hiding your “last online” status is one way to maintain your privacy on Instagram. It prevents others from knowing when you were last active on the platform — plus, you'll avoid unnecessary conversations with certain people. Here's how to do it:

1. From your profile, tap the menu icon in the upper right. Then select Settings and privacy.

2. Scroll down to How others can interact with you. Then go to Messages and story replies > Show activity status.

3. Disable the toggle switch to off your activity status.

 6. Vanish mode

Vanish mode allows you to send messages that won't be saved, copied, or forwarded. Also, other parties in the conversation can't revisit the messages later. When you send a text, voice recording, emoji, photo, or other content to a person, it'll disappear once the person views the message or disables the mode.

That said, this mode doesn't completely protect your privacy. The other person can still take a screenshot of what you sent, although Instagram notifies you. Other times, they may record the conversation or snap it with another phone's camera. Here's how to use vanishing mode on Instagram:

1. From Instagram's Home menu, tap either the Messenger icon or paper plane button to view your messages.

2. Open a conversation with anyone.

3. On the chat screen, swipe up to turn on Vanish mode. You can now send any content in private.

There's more to discover on Instagram

Instagram's settings menu holds many controls for personalizing your experience. Take the time to explore it and you'd be amazed at how many hidden things there are. If you haven't already, update the app to the latest version to get access to the newest features.