Pro: Private accounts don’t appear in users’ explore, hashtag, and reels sections, giving your followers a more tailored experience.
Making your account private makes it much more difficult for anyone else to copy and steal your content – an especially pressing concern for photographers. To turn on Private Account mode on, navigate to your Profile -> Settings – Privacy section of Settings and toggle “Enable Private Account”.
Let’s find out how to make Instagram private!
Tap on your profile picture
Instagram allows users to set their account as private in order to limit who can see their posts, preventing people from automatically following or being suggested as someone to follow; those wishing to follow instead need to submit a request that you then approve, helping prevent people from stalking your account or spamming it with requests.
Making your account private also makes it harder for people to steal your content. There are countless websites dedicated solely to scraping Instagram content; by going private, these scraping websites won’t be able to find your photos and videos anymore. Making it private also works to deter impersonators or any individuals using your name illegally (though most don’t experience that issue).
Instagram’s privacy settings are straightforward to manage for personal accounts, particularly if they involve images. To gain access to them, just tap your profile picture, click three stacked lines at the top right corner and access “Settings and Privacy,” before tapping “Private Account” toggle switch for settings adjustments.
Note that Instagram only permits you to make your account private on a personal account, not business ones. In order to change a business account into something personal and use these steps to set it to private. Alternatively, create a “Close Friends” group and only permit selected accounts from within it to view your stories.
Tap on the three stacked lines in the top-right corner
Establishing a private Instagram account is an ideal way to ensure only those you follow can access your content, while simultaneously protecting against spammers and other undesirables from accessing it. While private accounts don’t provide complete protection, they do add an extra layer of defense.
Private accounts can be created at any time and won’t affect any existing followers. To set one up on Instagram, tap the three stacked lines in the top-right corner and select “Settings.” From here you can customize your privacy settings and turn on Private Account.
Your account becomes private when only those approved can view its posts and videos; any public posts shared elsewhere remain visible to everyone else. Furthermore, using the Close Friends Feature you can form a group who only see your posts.
Private accounts also enable your content to avoid showing up in people’s Explore, hashtag, and Reels pages – giving followers more of a personalized experience while preventing reports by those who don’t appreciate what’s posted there.
If you want to share photos or videos from your private account onto your public one, simply tap on the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner and then select “Share to Public.” All followers of both accounts will then see it, providing influencers a way to maintain professional profiles while still protecting personal details.
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Tap on Settings
Instagram provides several privacy options, including making your account private. This enables you to limit who can see your photos and videos – ideal for people who wish to keep their photos and videos away from strangers. To set this option in action, open Instagram app and tap profile icon at bottom navigation bar, followed by Settings.
On the Settings page, navigate to Privacy and Security before tapping Private Account. This will toggle the switch to blue and turn your account private – to return to public mode simply switch back.
One of the primary advantages of making an Instagram account private is that it makes it harder for impostor accounts and content theft. Although Instagram cannot monitor all its users, if someone starts spamming you or engaging in inappropriate or harassing comments you can report them directly to them and block or report them immediately.
Scammers find it much harder to access Instagram posts when an account becomes private, something which happens frequently. There are hundreds of websites dedicated to indexing and reposting photos from Instagram accounts; once yours becomes private, these will no longer have access to them.
Though this change is beneficial, it should be remembered that Instagram does not delete duplicate accounts from their system and users will still see your posts if they follow you on other platforms such as Facebook or Tik Tok. Furthermore, switching from a business account to a private one may lead to the loss of some features such as post analytics and monetization support.
Tap on Privacy
Pro: More Control Over Your Privacy
Are you concerned that strangers could access personal photos stored on Instagram or would simply like a more manageable following list? Making Instagram private can quickly provide additional peace of mind – the process only takes seconds, and can easily be reversed if no longer necessary.
Instagram private pages offer many advantages, one being they keep your photos and videos hidden from anyone who doesn’t already follow you – meaning if someone wishes to view your content they must send you a follow request first – an extra step that helps prevent spam accounts from following you just to gain followers.
However, private Instagram accounts come with their own set of drawbacks. One such drawback is being unable to collaborate with other accounts or brands. You will also no longer be able to share posts across platforms or Stories which could inhibit reach and growth. Furthermore, business accounts on Instagram cannot make their account private (unless switching it into personal account mode first).
Con: Loss of Spontaneous Opportunities
It happens all too often: Someone writes a guest post that gets picked up by an influential reader and ends up leading them down an unexpected career path; or musicians playing at venues with major record label recruiters present, only for them to later get signed by one. Unfortunately, these opportunities won’t exist with private accounts since your posts won’t be visible outside your follower list.
Tap on Private Account
Instagram’s Private Account feature provides users who wish to limit who can view their content with an invaluable resource. Users are able to approve or deny followers, effectively blocking spam bots and other undesirable accounts; additionally, close friends may view stories.
Influencers often opt to make their accounts private to increase followings and create an exclusive atmosphere, but it should be remembered that when an account goes private, followers won’t be able to locate posts using hashtags or geotags.
To gain entry, one will have to send out a follow request – this will then show as “Follow Request” on their profile and, once approved by them, they can access photos and videos shared by this individual.
If a person decides to switch back from public to private again, they can do so by re-enabling the toggle switch near Private Account. Note, though, that only personal accounts can make their account private; not businesses.
Though some individuals may prefer keeping their Instagram accounts public, it should be noted that there are several methods available to hackers or viewers of private Instagram accounts. People can use services like Social Catfish to look up usernames or real names in order to view someone’s private Instagram account; there are also apps on iOS and Android devices which allow anyone spying on an Instagram user’s private Instagram profile. Although such tools might seem harmless enough at first, using such tools can often turn out to be stalking or spying tools which are not always safe.
