Instagram allows you to keep in touch with friends, family and new people, but sometimes you want to control who can send you messages. Whether you’re looking to reduce unwanted chats, keep your inbox private or focus on messages from close contacts, Instagram offers tools to manage it. This guide will walk you through the steps to adjust these settings to manage who can send you messages on Instagram.
What are Instagram message controls?
Instagram’s message controls allow you to manage who can send direct messages. This feature is beneficial for maintaining privacy and ensuring a more organized inbox. It will help you set specific preferences for different types of accounts and decide whether messages go directly to your inbox, to the message request folder, or whether certain accounts can’t send you messages.
Manage who can send you messages on Instagram
To control who can message you on Instagram, follow these simple steps:
- Open the Instagram app and go to your profile by tapping your profile picture. Then, click on Hamburger menu icon in the top-right corner to open the menu.
- select Messages option from the menu under How others can interact with you.
- For your followers, you can select whether you want their messages to go directly to yours inbox or requests folder. You can selectively block their messages Do not receive requests.
- For people who don’t follow you, you have the same options to either send your messages requests folder or block them completely.
- Messages from people you already follow will always appear in your primary inbox, so no action is required here.
These settings help you control your message preferences for different groups of people, making it easier to manage your conversations.
To ensure that only approved followers can message you or interact with your posts, follow these steps:
- Open the Instagram app and tap your profile picture to access your profile. Then, click on the hamburger menu icon in the top-right corner to open the menu.
- In the menu, select Account Privacy and toggle Private account Option to switch your account to private.
- Once your account is private, new followers will need your approval before they can follow and message you.
- To remove a follower, go to your list of followers, tap the three dots next to their name, and select remove. They will not be notified.
FAQs
Yes, you can make your account private so that only approved followers can message you and see your posts.
No, Instagram does not send notifications when someone removes you as a follower.
Messages from people you already follow will always go to your primary inbox, but you can adjust how new followers can interact with you.