Social media can provide us with a wealth of information about other people’s lives. While it’s a wonderful tool for staying in touch with pals, access to it may quickly become an issue. Some individuals take advantage of the anonymity of the internet to harass others. If you’ve been subjected to similar abuse on Instagram and are seeking for a solution to stop it, the “restrict” feature can be of use.
Here’s all you need to know about this feature, as well as what happens when you restrict someone on Instagram.
What Does Restrict Mean on Instagram?
Instagram’s ‘restrict’ feature is intended to prevent bullies and other offensive or unpleasant messages and comments on users’ public profiles. Users often do not want to aggravate the situation or cause unnecessary controversy by contacting the person offline.
This feature can assist them in coping with a terrifying cyberbully or an embarrassing family member. Furthermore, if you want to prevent a stranger from interfering with you without their awareness, the ‘restrict’ option is the best alternative.
The ‘restrict’ feature works similarly to blocking but is more competent. Restricting a user simply hides their messages and comments while allowing them to see your content.
This is a much more subtle technique to reduce unwanted interactions without completely banning individuals from viewing your profile. In contrast to blocking a user on Instagram, the limited user will be unaware of it.
Furthermore, if that person comments on your posts or tries to contact you, you will not get any notifications or see any of their activity. This feature is useful when you don’t want to unfollow, block, or delete someone from your following list.
What actually happens when you restrict someone on Instagram?
Here are the changes you can expect upon tapping the ‘restrict’ button on someone’s profile:
1. Their messages will go straightly into your message requests
Whether you are following each other or not, restricting a user will send their DMs to your “message requests” folder. This includes their responses to your stories as well. Your requests can be found in the upper right corner of your direct message folder.
Under message requests, you will not be notified of any new messages that the individual may send you. You will, however, be able to access their messages if you so like. The sender will not be notified if you see them. Read receipts will be concealed until you accept them, much like message requests.
To respond to the restricted individual, you must first remove the restriction.
2. They can’t see your activity status
When both parties have their “Active status” set to “On,” a green dot will appear to indicate when that restricted user is online and vice versa. Aside from the bubble, you’ll also see when they were last active.
If this makes you uncomfortable, you can disable this feature and hide your activity status from all users. As a consequence, you will not be able to view anybody else’s status.
You can continue to use this feature while still hiding your activities from undesired visitors by limiting them.
3. Their comments will be hidden by default
Finally, restricting a user will hide their public comments on your posts. They can comment normally, but their comments will only be accessible to them until you specify otherwise. You will also not get notifications regarding their comments.
Tap “See comment” under the hidden comment to see what they have commented. You may then choose “Approve” or “Delete” or just ignore the comment.
If you’ve been dealing with nasty comments on a regular basis and the problem isn’t limited to one or two people, there are alternative options. Hide abusive comments automatically using the “Hidden Words” menu, or make your own list of undesired words. Choose who can comment on your posts or set a time restriction for activity till things cool down.
What Remains the Same After Restricting Someone on Instagram?
As previously stated, a restricted user can still send you messages and leave comments on your posts, but with plenty of restrictions. More importantly, they will continue to view all of your stuff as usual—new feed posts, stories, Reels, the accounts you follow, and so on.
They have the right to like your content, and their likes will be visible to other users. You will also be able to engage with their content as normal. If you are following them, restricting them will not cause them to unfollow you.
How to Restrict Someone on Instagram?
You can restrict an Instagram account using the iPhone or Android app, as well as the Instagram website. Here is how you can restrict someone on Instagram.
How to Restrict Someone on Instagram From Their Profile?
You can restrict an account by going to their profile page. Follow these steps to do this:
- Navigate to the Instagram profile you wish to limit.
- In the top-right corner, tap the three-dot menu.
- Click on ‘Restrict.’
How to Restrict Someone on Instagram From Your Settings?
To restrict a person from your account settings, take the following steps:
- Navigate to your profile and choose the three-bar navigation icon in the top-right corner.
- Select Settings > Privacy > Restricted accounts from the menu.
- Now, look for the account you want to restrict, and then press the ‘Restrict‘ button next to it.
How to Restrict Someone on Instagram From Your Comments?
To restrict a user from your comment section, take these steps:
- Tap and hold the user whose comments you want to restrict.
- At the top, tap the ‘information icon‘ (an exclamation point in a bubble), followed by the ‘Restrict button.’
When should you restrict someone on Instagram?
Instagram now has over a billion active users. Celebrities, public figures, brands, and influencers have followers ranging from tens of thousands to millions. However, not all users are well-mannered, courteous, or decent.
Hate speech and cyberbullying have grown in popularity and have become an issue for the platform. The Meta-owned company has been pressed to address trolling and bullying, which affects not just common users but also prominent individuals.
Because of the public and political outrage over the issue, the social media platform has implemented new features to address the issue, which has grown exceedingly severe and detrimental to Instagram. Instagram took action on 3.8 million hate speech events in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Instagram features like ‘Restrict’ also assist users in restricting and avoiding similar situations from other users and followers. It minimizes user involvement with your profile, posts, and blogs since only you can see their comments if you wish to. Similarly, the messages are sent to the message request section of your DMs rather than the general inbox.
How Can You know if someone restricted you on Instagram?
So you believe you’ve been restricted? It’s rather simple to determine if you’ve been blocked on Instagram since you won’t be able to see that person’s profile; however, restricting yourself can be more difficult to determine. You’ll still be able to access the profile and comment on posts as usual, so how will you know if you’ve been restricted?
Checking your chat history with the person in question is one of the best methods to find out whether you’ve been restricted. If they haven’t restricted you, you should be able to see when and if they are online, as well as whether or not they have viewed your recent messages, as shown by reading receipts.
Whether you have multiple accounts, you can also see if you have been restricted by checking if your comments are visible. You can try this by leaving a comment on a recent post of that person and then switching to your other account to check whether your comment displays automatically or has to be approved.
Instagram’s restrict feature was created to prevent bullying, trolling, and hatred on the platform, and it allows some users to regain control of their accounts. It is critical, regardless of whether you have been restricted, to consider the comments you make on a person’s profile and if they might be harmful to the individual.
Instagram Block vs. Instagram Restrict – What’s the Difference?
Blocking someone on Instagram is a wonderful method to control your interactions on the social media platform, but blocking someone you know in real life might be awkward—after all, they’ll know you’ve blocked them.
Fortunately, Instagram’s restrict feature can assist you in avoiding such unpleasant situations.
This section will explain what the Block and Restrict features on Instagram accomplish and how they vary, so you can choose which option is best when attempting to avoid someone.
1. How it Impacts Access to Your Profile
When you block someone, they can’t see your feed or Stories. They will be able to view and access your profile, but they will only be able to see the statistics at the top of your profile, such as how many people you follow, how many people follow you, and how many posts are on your feed.
They will not be able to view your real posts, even if your profile is exposed to the public.
However, restricting someone has little effect on the visibility of your profile and posts. They can still see your feed and Stories, and you can see theirs.
2. How does it Impact Comments?
Blocking someone prohibits them from commenting on your posts. When you restrict them, though, you can both comment on each other’s posts.
The difference is that the restricted person’s comments will only be accessible to them and no one else.
In other words, people will be unaware that their activities have been curtailed. Essentially, they will continue to be able to comment on your posts without affecting you or other followers. Nothing has changed as a result of your comments on their blogs. They will still be visible to them.
3. How does it impact DMs?
When you block someone on Instagram, you can’t message each other. But it works differently when you restrict an account.
Here are the implications:
- A restricted person can message you. Their chats, however, are sent to the Requests folder.
- When they message you, you will not get any notifications. Only if you manually check your message requests will you be able to access their chats.
- If you see their message, the “seen” text in the chat will not notify them. This means they won’t be able to get it when you’ve read the message.
Tap ‘Unrestrict‘ at the bottom of the screen to respond to a restricted person’s message. You can also choose ‘Delete‘ to remove the message.
If you don’t want to interact with that individual anymore, hit ‘Block.’
Wrapping It Up
It is critical that we govern our social media accounts rather than the other way around. Fortunately, more and more options enable us to remain secure. Instagram’s “restrict” feature is an excellent example.
Even if users are unaware that they have been restricted, it is just a matter of time before they notice something is weird. It is, however, a subtle and effective approach to restricting someone’s access to your profile. For the time being, this feature is exclusive to Instagram, and many users appreciate this useful addition to the platform.
Have you heard of the restrict feature? Have you ever put someone on Instagram restricted? Tell us in the comments section below!
