We all have that one person on our Instagram feed who we’d rather not hear from — but we also don’t want to let them know that we feel that way. This is where the mute feature comes in: It allows you to silently remove that person from your feed without notifying them. But how exactly do you use this feature?
To mute someone on Instagram, open the app and navigate to the profile of the user you’d like to mute. Tap the text that says “Following” and select the “Mute” option that pops-up. You’ll be able to select whether you want to mute their posts, their stories, or both.
When it comes to the mute feature on Instagram, there are some common questions that readers typically have. For example, if you mute someone, is it possible for them to find out using the app? Let’s get into the muting feature in more detail so that you can be sure you’re doing the right thing before you mute anyone.
What Does It Mean to Mute Someone on Instagram?
On Instagram, muting a user is a great way to assure that they won’t appear on your Instagram feed if you don’t want them to. Using the mute feature will make their posts and/or their stories dissapear from your feed.
It’s best to think of muting someone on Instagram as the equivalent of a less serious block. You can remain as one of their followers, but their content won’t appear on your feed without you specifically searching for it.
Mute is a great feature for those people in your life that you don’t really like, but you also don’t want to let them to know how you feel.
How to Mute Someone on Instagram
You may be worried that muting someone on Instagram will involve a series of obscure menus and features, but it’s actually really simple and easy to do. In fact, we can go through how to mute someone on Instagram in 4 simple steps:
- Open the Instagram app on your phone and navigate to the profile page of the person you want to mute.
- At the top of the page, you should see some text that says “Following.” Select this text.
- This will bring up a pop-up menu where you should see an option that says “Mute.” Once again, select this text.
- Here, you should see some sliders to mute either their posts or stories. Turn on the one you want muted, or turn on both if you want both muted.
After you’ve turned on one or both sliders, your job here is done. You have successfully muted your first victim. Now you can browse your feed in peace without having to worry about their posts or stories potentially showing up. On the flip side, you can also prevent followers from viewing your story.
Can You Find Out if You’ve Been Muted?
The best part of muting someone on Instagram (or the worst part, depending on your side of the story) is the fact that it’s basically impossible to tell if you’ve been muted. The muted user won’t receive a notification that they’ve been muted by you, so you don’t have to worry about that.
The muted user will also be able to view your posts and stories like normal, so to them, it’ll be like nothing has happened. Also, if you want to check in on the person you muted, you can still browse their page. It just won’t be recommended to you by Instagram.
Can You Unmute Someone You’ve Muted?
Another great thing about muting someone on Instagram is the fact that it’s entirely reversible. For instance, if a friend suddenly gets into a hobby that you don’t like hearing about, you can just mute them until they stop posting about it and then unmute them.
To do this, all you have to do is proceed along the same steps you used to mute them. Navigate to their page, hit the “Following” button, and then tap “Mute.” From here, all you have to do is turn off the toggles that you previously turned on, and their account will be unmuted.
Mute vs. Block: What’s the Difference?
As we said before, muting is sort of like a less harsh block, or like a secret block. If you block someone on Instagram, it will be pretty much the same as muting them — at least on your side. Their posts and stories won’t appear on your feed.
However, on their side, they suddenly won’t be able to message you; they won’t be able to view your profile; and they won’t be able to see your posts or stories. These are all things they would be able to do if you had only muted them.
Basically, if you never want to interact with someone again and you don’t care if they find out you feel this way, you should block them. But if you just don’t want to see their stories and posts and still want to remain friendly with the person, muting is the better option.