Q: How Instagram Feed Works
All posts from accounts you follow on Instagram will appear in your feed. Instagram does not hide posts from the people you follow.
Q: How does Instagram determine the order of posts in my feed?
Instagram’s technology uses different ways, or signals, to determine the order of posts in your feed. These signals are used to help determine how your feed is ordered, and may include:
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Likelihood you’ll be interested in the content
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Date the post was shared
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Previous interactions with the person posting
Q: Why am I seeing an older post in my Instagram feed?
At times, you might see a post from a few days ago in your feed. This is to make sure you don’t miss a post from someone you follow.
Q: How can I see when a photo or video was posted on Instagram?
You can see when a photo or video was posted by looking at the bottom of the post, below the caption and comments.
Q: How do I like a photo or video on Instagram?
Just double tap a photo or video to like it or tap below the post. If you’ve accidentally liked a post, tap again to unlike it.
When you unlike a post, the story that you liked the photo or video will disappear from Activity. If the person who shared the post has push notifications turned on, they’ll still get the notification that you liked the photo or video.
Q: How can I save posts I see on Instagram?
To save a post, tap below it. When you save a post, it’s visible to you from a private section of your profile.
To save a post to a collection, tap and hold . Then, select a collection you’ve already created or tap to create a new one.
To see posts you’ve saved and the collections you’ve created, go to your profile, tap and then tap Saved. Only you can see the posts you’ve saved. When you save someone’s post, they’re not able to tell that you’ve saved it.
Q: How do I turn notifications on or off for someone I follow on Instagram?
When you turn on notifications for someone you follow, you’ll get a notification every time that they share a photo or video. To turn notifications on or off:
- Go to their profile.
- Tap Following > Notifications.
- Tap next to one of the following to turn notifications on or off:
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Posts
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Stories
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IGTV
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Live Videos
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If you’d like to turn notifications on or off for multiple people, you’ll have to visit each profile and turn them on or off individually. Keep in mind that you may get a push notification when someone you follow shares something for the first time in a while, whether or not you have notifications turned on for that person.
People aren’t notified when you turn notifications on or off for them.
Learn more about managing your notification settings.
Q: How do I reply to someone in a comment thread on Instagram?
Reply to someone in a comment thread by mentioning them in your comment. They’ll get a notification in their activity feed to view the comment.
To reply to someone:
- Go to the photo or post.
- Tap Reply below any comment and add your comment.
- Tap Post.
If you’ve accidentally double tapped or tapped below a post, you can remove the like by tapping again.
Things to keep in mind:
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Very soon after you remove a like, the like alert will disappear from other people’s Activity.
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If you’ve accidentally liked a photo and then unliked it, the person who posted it will still get a push notification if they have notifications turned on.
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If you like, unlike and then re-like a photo, the person who posted will only receive one Activity alert for the latest like and one push notification for the initial like if they have push notifications turned on.