Instagram has become the fourth biggest social network in the world, with over 14 million active users. That’s a huge growth from when it was launched. With development over several years, Instagram continuously keeps adding privacy feature that allows users to safeguard their profile and privacy. One of the most important privacy features is the ability to restrict or block someone.
It’s actually a great feature but it’s not for people who are being restricted or blocked.
Unlike blocking which is actually easy to find, getting restricted is pretty hard.
Many social media platforms do this to protect users from spam or prevent unwanted people from contacting and connecting with you.
When someone restricts on Instagram, they physically remove their presence from your feed. This means that their posts will no longer appear in your timeline and your ability to contact them will be restricted as well.
So how do you actually find those people who restricted you on Instagram?
While Instagram doesn’t have a straight possible way to identify the people restricting you, there are several workaround ways.
These methods require another account (which is not restricted). If you have one, use that or create a new account on Instagram.
Few methods to know if someone restricted you on Instagram
Check for comments
When restricted, your comments will go through an approval process. This gives the ability for the restricting user to approve or disapprove of your comment. If they disapprove of it, your comment will not be displayed to the public.
- Post a comment on any of their post and wait for some time.
- Later, check for your comment from another Instagram account and see if your comment is displayed because even if they disapprove your comment, you still can see it but not the others.
- If your comment is not displayed when viewed from another account, there is a possibility that the user might have restricted you.
Make sure to test this with new comments because any comment posted before getting restricted will still be visible to everyone.
Related: 10 Instagram limits and restrictions that you should know.
Check for online status
If you got restricted by someone, their online activity status wont be visible to you.
- Just head over the messages and get into the chat of the person who you think has restricted you.
- Check for their online status often. If their status remains offline, they might have restricted you.
- With another account, do the same thing and check for the status. If you catch them online, then it’s pretty sure that you have been restricted.
- However, there are still other possibilities that might trigger the offline status of that person such as they might have disabled the activity status or you might have disabled it.
To enable activity status on your end, go to settings -> privacy -> activity status and toggle show activity status to on.
Send them a message
Yet another way to know if someone restricts you on Instagram is with the messages. When you send a message to the person restricted you, the message will be sent to requests instead of their inbox.
- Go to the profile you think has restricted you and send them a message from your current account and do the same thing from another account.
- Wait for their response and if you get the response to the new account but not the current one, then there might be a possibility that you have been restricted.
When restricted, you won’t be known by the “seen” even if they see your messages. Messages will be directly sent to the requests page with the ability to block, delete, and unrestrict.
Look for their posts
Quite difficult to use this method. When restricted, your feeds will exclude all the posts of that person. However, you can still see it directly on their profile.
To look for their posts on your news feed is very difficult, especially if you have followed a lot of people.
- Head over to their profile and look for their latest and new posts.
- Now scroll through your feed and try to spot the same posts.
- If the latest posts are a few minutes or a few hours old and that posts aren’t showing on your feed, there is a chance that they might have restricted you.
What is the difference between block and restrict on Instagram?
Though they may sound similar, there are a few important differences between these two options.
Restrict option allows the person to limit access to their profile while blocking completely blocks access to their profile.
- Messaging – Sending a message is completely blocked with the block option while restriction allows the user to send a message.
- Posts – Restrictions allow viewing the posts directly from the profile but exclude them on the home feed while blocking completely hides the posts, on the home feed as well as profile.
- Search feed – When blocked, their profile wont be visible when you search for them with the search option. However, restriction won’t imply this.
- Tags and mentions – You can’t tag someone if they blocked you but with restrictions, you can do that.
- Profile Visibility – If someone blocks you, their profile will be completely removed from your profile such as on followers and following section but this is not the case with restriction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can restricted accounts still see your story?
The restriction limits the access to your connection from the restricted one in a very nominal way without unfollowing the user. So the story can still be seen by the restricted person.
Can a restricted person see my posts on Instagram?
The restriction plays an important role in the posts but not strictly. Your posts will be hidden from the restricted person’s feed, but they’ll still see them on your profile.
What is the difference between Block and restrict on Instagram?
Blocking allows you completely block the user from your profile while restricting just places a few limitations on how the person can contact and connect with you.
Does Instagram notify the user when restricted?
It can be blocked or restricted, the Instagram never notifies the user regarding any of this.
How To Know If Someone Restricted You On Instagram
Instagram doesn’t provide a direct ability to know if someone restricted you but there are still some ways to achieve it such as messaging them to see if they reply to you, checking their online status to see if they are shown online, and looking for your new comments on their post if they are shown.
Can restricted accounts message you on Instagram?
Restricted accounts still can message you on Instagram however, the message will be moved to the request page. You can block, delete, and unrestrict them from there.
Conclusion
These are the ways that you can follow to check if someone restricted you on Instagram. Instagram doesn’t provide a direct approach but this comes in handy.
Remember that restriction is completely different from blocking. Blocking is one way stop door while the restriction is a few limits that just simply prevent you from connecting with the user.
Don’t get too upset because of the restriction that person implies on you. Contact a mutual friend of yours and the person and ask them to unrestrict you.
If they still refuse, don’t worry. Take a step back and realize that nothing will change by getting upset. Take some time off, relax, and don’t even think about any of it. If you’re worried this person might be mean to you or try to hurt your feelings, then it might be best not to associate with them anyways. But at the same time, it’s possible this person might have gone through something that force them to restrict you so that would’ve made sense to both of you.
