Whereas with the restrict feature, there’s no way to tell that you restricted them on Instagram. It’s useful for when you don’t want someone to know that you want to block them or a close friend you don’t want to have many interactions with. When you restrict someone, their interactions such as their comments on your profile are hidden to the public, but they will be able to see it and so will you. Their comments will only be visible to the public if you approve of them to be public. You’ll receive no notifications from this person so you’ll be completely unaware of what they’re doing unless you chose to see it. Their messages will also be moved to the Requested folder and they won’t be able to tell. It’s like keeping the person restricted in a bubble where they can’t see the outside world and they’re unaware of it but so can you and everyone else. their interactions comprising of comments and messages will be hidden from your profile.

If You Restrict Someone, Can They See Your Story?

If you restrict someone on Instagram, they can still see your story. All the restrict feature does is hide their comments under your posts from the outside world and move their messages to the requested folder. They can still do other things like view your stories because they’re still able to access your folder. The only way that they wouldn’t be able to see your story is if you block them or make your account private and they don’t follow you. When you block them, their profile wouldn’t be able to view your story because blocking someone stops them from accessing your profile completely whereas restricting them doesn’t. If you remove them as a follower if they’re already following you and make your account private, they wouldn’t be able to access your profile and view your story until you accept their request albeit a new one is made. One more way that you can stop a restricted person from viewing your story is by making your story a private story and keeping them away from the list or removing them from being able to view your normal story. This will prevent them from viewing future stories that you make because their name isn’t on the list.

Does Restricting on Instagram Hide Stories?

No. If you restrict someone on Instagram, they’ll still be able to see your stories and posts, just like you’ll still be able to see theirs. Restricting someone is a discreet and subtle way of limiting your interactions with a follower. If you don’t want this person to see your stories or posts, there are multiple ways to do this, all of which we explain how to do later in this article.

If You Restrict Someone on Instagram, Can They See Your Posts?

Yes, if you restrict someone on Instagram, they’ll still be able to see your posts and stories, just like everyone else. The idea behind restrictions is that they aren’t supposed to know they’re restricted. They won’t be blocked, or unfollowed from your page, and they won’t be notified you restricted them. They won’t be notified that their comments are not being published on your posts, nor will they be notified that their messages aren’t going in your main inbox.

What Happens When You Restrict Someone on Instagram Stories

When you restrict someone, nothing changes when it comes to your Instagram stories! They can still see your stories and you can still see theirs. Restricting only affects comments and messages, and it’s nothing they’ll be able to notice. When you restrict someone on Instagram, it makes 2 main differences. One difference is that their comments on your posts will not be shown to your followers, unless you approve their comment. They will still be able to see their comment on your post, and so will you, however no one else can until you approve the comment. The other main difference that restricting brings is, when they message you, their message will go to your message requests instead of your main inbox, or direct messages. They will not be notified of this, however, if you don’t reply to their messages, they might realize something’s up. You can approve this person’s message request to chat with them like normal, and they probably wouldn’t know they’re restricted. There are also more minor changes that take place when you restrict someone, one being that their comments on your posts will not give you a notification. Another minor change is that they won’t be able to see your online status when you’re online.

How to Restrict Someone on Instagram

Now that you know what restricting does and that it doesn’t block them from your stories, you may still want to use this low-key feature for multiple reasons. Here’s how!

  1. Open your Instagram application and go to your profile by clicking the icon located at the bottom right corner of your screen.
  2. Tap the three lines at the top right of your profile, then go to “Settings”.
  3. Locate and tap Privacy.
  4. Below Connections, tap “Restricted accounts”. Tap Continue, then search for the account you’d like to restrict and tap “Restrict” next to their username. If you’d like to Unrestrict someone, simply press the “unrestrict” button. Their messages will now show up in your main inbox and their comments on your posts will be posted like normal.

How to Hide Someone from Seeing Your Story

You may be asking yourself “since restricting does not hide someone from viewing your story, then how do you do this?” There are multiple methods to hiding someone from viewing your story, some ranging from discreet to obvious.

1. Hide Them from Story in Settings

While this method isn’t exactly discreet, it gets the job done, and if they aren’t too invested in your stories, it’s entirely possible they won’t notice. Here’s how!

  1. Tap your profile picture in the bottom right of the screen (if you’re only logged in to one account, this will be a person symbol instead)
  2. When you are brought to your profile, tap the three stacked horizontal lines in the top right. Tap “Settings” from the menu.
  3. Tap “privacy” located towards the top of the settings menu. Next, tap “Story”.
  4. You’ll now see “Hide story from” at the top of your screen. Press this label.
  5. Select the person you’d like to hide your story from. You can do multiple users at once as well, if you’d like. After selecting your desired users, tap “done”. To unhide someone from your story, just uncheck the desired user from this menu.

2. Make A Custom Instagram Story

The most discreet way to hide someone from your story is to make a custom story that only certain people can see. Using the close friends feature, you can select certain followers to add to your “close friends”. Then, when you post a story, you’ll have the option to only post it to your close friends. Just beware, those you add to close friends will be notified they’re on this list when they view your story or profile. Here’s how to make a close friends only story! If you already have a close friends list, skip to step 9.

  1. Open your Instagram application.
  2. Tap your profile picture (or person symbol) in the bottom right corner of the screen.
  3. From your profile, tap the three stacked horizontal lines in the top right.
  4. Select “Close Friends” towards the bottom.
  5. Select the blue button labeled “Get Started”. It may only show this if it’s your first time on this menu.
  6. Select everyone you’d like to add to your close friends list. You can also use the search bar for this.
  7. Once your close friends are selected, select “Create List” at the bottom of your screen.
  8. Select “Create Story” at the bottom.
  9. Select the desired photo or video you want to share with close friends.
  10. Now, when you’re ready to upload, tap the “Close Friends” label at the bottom right. This will be a green star symbol with profile pictures of your close friends next to it. And that’s how you create a close friends list as well as use this feature for stories!

3. Remove Them as A Follower and Make Your Account Private

If you don’t want this person to see your Instagram stories or posts and don’t want to block them, you could simply remove them as a follower and then private your account. They will have to follow your account again in order to see anything from your profile, and when they try to follow, it’ll be up to you to accept their follow request or not. Here’s how to do this. How to remove a follower from your Instagram Profile:

  1. On your Instagram app, go to your profile by tapping the icon in the bottom right corner of your screen.
  2. On your profile, tap “Followers”.
  3. Find the desired user and tap the “Remove” button next to their name. You can use the search bar at the top to look for a specific follower. It’s easy as that to remove a follower! Now, unless your Instagram profile is already private, this person will still be able to see your posts and stories by just simply going to you profile. To stop this from being possible, you’ll need to private your profile. Here’s how!
  4. On your Instagram app, tap your profile picture in the bottom right corner of your screen.
  5. Press the three stacked lines at the top right.
  6. Tap “Settings” and then “Privacy”
  7. At the top, you’ll see “Private Account” with a switch next to it. Simply turn this switch on and that’s it, your Instagram account is now private! Only those following you will be able to see your posts and stories, and you’ll now have to accept follow requests.

4. Block Them

If you just want nothing to do with this person, you could just simply block them. Although they will probably figure this out sooner or later, it’s definitely an effective way of stopping this person from seeing any of your posts or contacting you. Here’s how to do this.

  1. Go to the profile of the user you want to block.
  2. Press the three dots located at the top right of your screen.
  3. A window will pop up at the bottom. Press “Block”.
  4. When you block someone on Instagram, it’s possible they could use another account to view or even follow your profile. To prevent this from happening, select “Block (username) and new accounts they may create”. If you don’t care about this, just select that specific account (the bottom option).
  5. Tap “Block”. This person will now be blocked from your Instagram profile. They will not be able to see your comments, search for your profile, message you or see any of your posts. If you chose to unblock them, they’ll have to follow your account once again if they want.
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