Did they restrict or block you? Here's how to find out.
How can you tell if someone has restricted you on Instagram? Being restricted on Instagram is more difficult to figure out than being blocked, as it doesn’t remove your access to a person’s profile completely. In this article, we’ll tell you about the signs you can use to determine Instagram restrictions, and how you can use the restrict feature to limit people’s access to your own content.
What Happens When Someone Restricts You on Instagram?
Instagram’s Restrict feature is one of the privacy features that allows users to limit someone’s access to their account. In order to learn whether someone restricted you on Instagram, you first need to understand what this feature does.
Table of Contents
In most cases, you won’t even notice when someone restricts you on Instagram. It’s a lot more subtle than when someone blocks you. Particularly because when you’re restricted, you can still open the user’s Instagram profile and see their content, including the user’s posts, stories, reels, and comments. You can even like their posts and send them direct messages.
However, there are some things you won’t be able to do or see, when it comes to comments on Instagram posts, messages, and activity status.
Restricted vs Blocked
Being blocked on Instagram is different from being restricted, as it removes your access to the user’s profile almost entirely. For example, as a blocked user, when you open the Instagram account of the person who blocked you, you’ll only see the information at the top of their profile: their profile picture, number of followers and following, number of posts, and their bio.
Unlike a blocked user, the restricted account holder will be able to see all the posts, stories, and any other content on the page. They’ll be able to leave new comments on posts, see new and previous comments in the comment section from other subscribers.
As a restricted user, you’ll also be able to send an Instagram DM (direct message) to the person who restricted you. However, your message will appear as a message request that the person can Block, Delete, or Accept. You won’t be able to see their activity status, as well as whether they received your message or not. As a blocked user, you won’t be able to message the person who blocked you.
Unlike being blocked, being restricted doesn’t affect your ability to tag and mention the person who restricted you. They will get a notification when you mention or tag them, as usual.
How to Tell if Someone Restricted You on Instagram
As you can see, being restricted on Instagram is tricky to determine. So how do you know if someone restricted you on Instagram? There are only three ways to find out.
1. Leave a Comment on the Suspected Account and Check It Later
Instagram first introduced the restriction feature to reduce cyberbullying. The primary function of this feature is to restrict unwanted comments from a user. On your end, it won’t look like anything’s changed. You can still leave comments on posts as usual. You’ll also be able to view your comments, but they may be hidden from everybody else.
The user who restricted you will see your new comment appear behind a restricted comment message. They can then choose to approve your comment or keep it hidden from everybody else. If they approve your comment, it’ll become public, and if they deny it, only you and the user who restricted you will be able to see the comment.
So how can you find out if someone restricted your comments? Go on this user’s account on Instagram and leave a new comment on their post. Since comments will show up on your primary account as usual anyway, you’ll need to access Instagram using your secondary account. If you don’t have a secondary account on Instagram, you can either create a new account, ask to use a friend’s account, or ask to use an Instagram account of your family member.
Right after you post a comment from your main account, check if you can view it from a different Instagram account. Make sure you do it straight away, before the user who restricted you can approve it. If you don’t see your new comment appear straight away, then your account was restricted.
2. Send a Direct Message to the Person
You can also find out if you’ve been restricted or not using Instagram DMs. When someone restricts you, your new direct messages to them will appear in a message request folder rather than in a regular chat. The person who restricted you won’t be notified of any new messages, and they’ll have to manually approve them to answer you. On the other hand, you won’t get notified if or when the user reads your direct message.
To find out whether you’ve been restricted, try sending a DM to the person who you suspect restricted you on Instagram. After sending the DM, all you have to do is wait. If you see the user being active on their account but not responding to your message for a long time, then it could be a sign that your suspicion was right and they’ve restricted you.
3. Check Their Activity Status
When you get restricted, it removes your ability to view the person’s activity status. That means you won’t be able to see the last time they were online, or the last time they checked their messages.
You can try to check the activity status of the person who you suspect has restricted you. Before you can do it, make sure that you have the option to show activity status enabled on Instagram. To do that, open the Instagram app, go to your profile page, open the menu, and follow the path Settings > Privacy > Activity Status. Switch it On to enable the feature.
When the Activity Status feature is on, you can see when the people you follow and message were last active on Instagram. Now head back to the person’s profile and check if you can see their last seen status (or their Active status if they’re currently online). If you don’t see this info, even though they recently posted on Instagram, there’s a chance they restricted you.
However, it’s also possible that they have the option of showing Activity Status switched off, in which case you should use some other method to check if you’ve been restricted.
How to Restrict Someone on Instagram
Whether you find out that someone restricted you or not, one day you might need to use this feature on someone else yourself. If you want to restrict someone on Instagram, you can do it through comments, messages, and settings. The instructions are the same for iOS and Android users.
How to Restrict Someone in Comments
You can restrict someone right in the comments section. To do that, follow the steps below.
- Open your Instagram post and select View all comments.
- Select the comment of the person you want to restrict, and either swipe left on it (iPhone), or hold it (Android).
- Select the exclamation mark icon in the top-right corner.
- Select Restrict Username to restrict the person.
How to Restrict Someone in Messages
Another way to restrict a user on Instagram is via messages. To do that, follow the steps below.
- Open Instagram and go to your chats.
- Open the chat with the person you want to restrict.
- Select their name on top of the chat.
- Scroll down and select Restrict.
How to Restrict Someone in Settings
You can use the Settings menu to restrict someone on Instagram. Here’s how you can do that.
- Open Instagram and go to your profile page.
- Select the three horizontal lines icon in the top-right corner to open Menu.
- Follow the path Settings > Privacy > Connections > Restricted accounts > Continue.
- Use the Search bar to find the account you want to restrict and select Restrict next to their username.
How to Restrict Someone on Their Profile
If you’re viewing someone’s profile and want to restrict their account, you can do it right on their Instagram page by following the steps below.
- Open Instagram and find the person you want to restrict.
- Go to this person’s profile page.
- Select the three horizontal lines icon (iPhone) or three vertical lines icon (Android) to open Menu.
- Select Restrict to restrict their account.
How to Fix Someone Restricting You on Instagram
Finding out for sure if someone has restricted you on Instagram is rather difficult. Plus, there’s not much you can do to gain back access to the person’s profile once they restrict you. Your best bet is to reach out to them personally and try to figure out a way to resolve the problem together.
