Instagram Tips and Tricks

By Tracey Dowdy

Instagram has become the seventh most popular social media app in the world with approximately 400 million active users per month. Whether you’re new to Instagram or you’ve had an account for a while, these tips and tricks can help you make your profile more engaging for your followers.

Get notifications when specific people post

If you follow a large number of accounts, your favorites may get lost in the crowd. To turn on notifications for individual accounts, go to the user’s profile, click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner and select “Turn on Post Notifications” from the menu that appears. If you want to turn the notifications off, follow the same steps.

Remember, you’ll need to allow notifications:
On iPhone/iPad: Go to “Settings,” then “Notifications.” Select “Instagram” then “Allow Notifications.”
On Android: Go to “Settings,” select “Apps,” then “Instagram,” and select the option to show notifications.

View posts without the risk of accidentally liking one

Ever lurked on someone’s Instagram and accidentally liked it? Avoid the risk by setting your phone to Airplane mode. The trick is to switch after you’ve opened your feed, otherwise the posts won’t load.

Rearrange filter, and hide the ones you don’t use

If you’ve ever scrolled past multiple filters you never use to get to the one you like, you’ll love this tip. To reorder or hide individual filters, create a new post and start editing. Scroll to the far right of the filters option and select “Manage.” To reorder, hold your finger down on the three grey lines on the far right of the filter you’d like to move and drag it to a new place in the list. To hide filters you don’t like or use, de-select the checkmark on the right.

Insert line breaks into your bio and captions

You may have noticed Instagram doesn’t give you an option to press “Enter” or “Return” when you create your caption. There is a simple workaround – just press the “123” key in the bottom left corner of the keyboard, and the “Return” key will appear in the bottom right corner.

Hide photos you’ve been tagged in

Anytime someone tags you in a photo or video on Instagram, it’s automatically added to your profile under “Photos of You” unless you opt to add tagged photos manually. To see what posts you’ve been tagged in, go to your own profile and click the person icon below your bio.

If you want to hide a post you’ve been tagged in, click the three dots in the top right screen and select choose “Hide Photos.” Choose the posts you want to remove from your profile, then select “Hide Photos” at the bottom of your screen, then “Hide from Profile.” The posts themselves won’t be removed or hidden from Instagram but it will remove them from your profile and make them inaccessible.

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.

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