Protecting your privacy is important across all social networks and Instagram is no exception.
With over 500 million monthly users, the potential audience to view your profile and posts is enormous.
We’re taking a look at a few simple steps you can take to keep your profile and content secure.
Hide location data
You may not want all your posts to share geo data with strangers. To remove location information from past posts, go into the post and tap on the three dots to the top right of your screen. Select “Edit.” Now, tap on the location info above the post and opt to “Remove Location.”
To stop future posts revealing your whereabouts, you can revoke Instagram’s access to your phone’s location data.
iPhone owners need to head to their Settings menu, then tap on “Privacy,” then “Location Services.” Scroll down the list to see Instagram, click on it then change the location access to “Never.”
This means you can now choose to add a location to content as you’re posting it, but it won’t be automatically shared.
Block users that give you the creeps
As with most social services, you can block any Instagram users that make you uncomfortable. Doing this will hide any of your future posts from them.
To block a user, navigate to their profile page, then click the three dots at the top of your screen. Select “Block User” from the menu that appears.
Manually approve posts you’re tagged in
Instagram’s default settings means that when someone tags a photo or video of you, it’s automatically be added to your profile. It’s a good idea to change this so you can decide what others can see.
You have to make a quick change in your app’s settings to regain control of this functionality.
Go to your profile and click on the icon to the right of your screen that looks like a square with a person in it.
This brings up all “Photos of you.” Next, tap on the three dots to the top right and select “Tagging Options.”
You can now change the settings to “Add Manually” so that you get to see and approve posts you’re tagged in before they appear on your profile.
Limit hashtag usage
When you add hashtags to a public Instagram post, the post will be visible on the corresponding hashtag page.
Hashtags are fabulous for making content discoverable, but if you don’t want photos and videos to be viewed by strangers, it’s a good idea to limit the amount of hashtags you use.
Go private
Finally, if the steps above aren’t enough to make you feel secure, the ultimate way to protect your privacy on Instagram is to switch to a private account.
Once you do, only your followers will see your posts and new contacts will have to send you a follow request if they want to see your content, your followers list or your following list.
You can only make the switch to a private account via Instagram’s official apps.
You need to head to your profile page by tapping on the person-shaped icon at the bottom of your screen.
Next, tap the cog-shaped settings icon (or the three dots if you’re Android) and scroll to see the option to change to a private account
