What Does It Mean to Restrict Someone on Instagram and How It Will Make Your Life Better

In an era when social media has become an undivided part of our daily life, including business, art, friendship, and even love, bullies and haters followed trends and transformed into Internet trolls in direct messages, under posts, and in responses to your stories.

In response to that, and caring about the mental health of its users, Instagram released a restrict function as an addition to the blocking option, and today we will tell you more about the reasons and ways to use it.

5 Reasons to Hide Your Activity on Instagram from Someone

First of all, let’s talk about the reason for using a “restrict feature” on the Instagram app. Here are the 5 most common motives to hide your activity on Instagram from someone:

• Bullying – restricting the bully from contacting you is important for your self-esteem and well-being;
• Harassment – one of the main reasons for stress on the internet. The restrict function allows us to put a stop to it in the most polite way;
• Annoyment with someone – the feature helps restrict the intrusive person from contacting you;
• Boundaries – the function will be a great tool in helping set boundaries with family and friends;
• Safety – restrict the person who scares you for some reason or makes you feel uncomfortable.

What Does Restrict Mean on Instagram?

So what does “Restrict” mean on Instagram? You might think that it’s almost the same as blocking someone’s Instagram profile, but it’s not quite right.

We would call this feature the softer tool, as a restricted account, compared to a blocked one,  will be able to see your Instagram stories and any Instagram post, including photos and reels, but won’t be able to communicate with you or leave comments and reactions without your approval.

The feature will also restrict picked Instagram accounts from seeing your online/offline activity status or sending you any direct messages. Mainly, the Restrict feature is an option for you if you feel the need to have a break from one or another person without losing contact with them or offending them with blocking.

What Happens When You Restrict Someone on Instagram?

So, let’s say you decided to use this feature and restrict someone on the Instagram app – what happens next? We decided to put it in points below:

• The Restricted account won’t be notified that it was restricted;
• The Restricted account won’t be able to send you direct messages on the app. Your chat with the restricted person will move from your main Direct inbox to Message Requests, and future messages from people that you’ve restricted will automatically move to Message Requests. If you’re in a group chat with someone that you’ve restricted, you’ll get a warning that you’ll see a restricted account’s messages. You can choose to stay or leave the group;
• The Restricted account won’t be able to see your status when you are online or if you’ve read their messages;
• The Restricted account will have visible their new comments on your posts while hidden from other Instagram users and you. You still can check what the comment says and choose to approve its appearance publicly on your page or not;
• The Restricted account new comments won’t appear as notifications on your page; by the way, this feature allows you to restrict multiple accounts from your comments or temporarily limit unwanted comments on your posts. We highly recommend you use it if you feel harassed by a big group of people.

If you’re ready to try this new privacy feature for yourself, we’ve got the scoop from experts on what the restriction feature does and how to use it.

How to Restrict an Account on Instagram?

The best thing about this feature is that users have multiple ways to restrict someone’s account in a few clicks. In this part of the article, we will cover all possible options.

To Restrict or Unrestrict Someone Through Messages:

1. Tap on the Message icon at the top right corner of the app, then click on the chat with the person you want to restrict;

2. Tap on the person’s name at the top of your chat, and then on the three dots button called “Options” in the top right, then tap Restrict;
3. Tap on the Restrict account to confirm.

To Restrict or Unrestrict Someone Through a Comment:

1. Go to your post, tap View all comments, and find the comment from the person you want to restrict. Hold on to it until the Information icon appears or go to the Comments Controls section;

2. Tap on the Information button and then pick Restrict or Unrestrict the Instagram user, depending on what you want to do.

To Restrict or Unrestrict Someone Through Instagram Settings:

1. Tap the Profile button or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile until you see the Menu. Click on it and pick “Settings and privacy”;
2. Below you will find the “How others can interact with you” field, where you need to tap “Restricted” and then “Continue“;
3. Search for the account you’d like to restrict and tap Restrict or Unrestrict next to their username.

To Restrict or Unrestrict Someone Through Their Profile:

1. Tap their username from their Feed or Instagram story post, or use a search bar to find the profile;

2. Click on the Three dots icon or the “Options” button and pick Restrict to restrict their account or tap Unrestrict to unrestrict their account.

How to Know If Someone Restricted You on Instagram

As we mentioned before, the Restrict feature is a polite way to limit some interaction with other Instagram users while not offending them. It’s almost impossible to recognize if you were restricted unless you are trying to prove it already suspecting it.

You might try to check a person’s status to see if it’s active or leave a comment and ask a friend to see if it’s visible under the post. Those are not bullet-proof methods, as the person you suspect to Restrict you might just delete the comment or not be online when you were checking the activity status.

What Is the Difference Between Restricting Someone on Instagram and Blocking Them?

Today we talked a lot about the Restrict Feature and would like to finish our article with a simple comparison of it with the Block Function. The main difference is in the accessibility to your profile and the information on it. While the Restricting feature keeps the possibility to view posts, stories, and videos but limits comment privilege and access to your messages untitled approved by you, the Block Function takes care of blacked profile comments and likes under your posts, deleting them, it restricts the person from tagging you under the post and on photos and disables your common chats.

If the person you blocked sends you any messages in Direct, you won’t receive those messages, and they won’t be delivered later if you unblock them. Also, after you block someone, they won’t be able to join a room you create if they’re logged in to their Instagram account.

As you see, the Restrict and Block features are great tools to keep you well and safe from negativity on the Instagram app, and we recommend you consider using one of them in case someone tends to cross your boundaries.