It’s no secret that when we’re bored, many of us turn to Instagram as our main source of entertainment. But, what if you don’t want everyone knowing what you’ve been doing? Luckily, we’re here to tell you how to make your Instagram stories private.
There’s no way to lock down your stories without locking your entire account, but you can narrow down which of your followers can see them. We’ve listed the best ways to make your Instagram stories a little more private.
It’s important to note that hiding your story from a user won’t stop them from seeing your profile or your posts. If you don’t want an account seeing any of your content, your best bet is always to block them.
Your account privacy settings will also affect who can view your story. If your account is set to private, only approved followers will see your story. If your account is public, anyone will be able to see it, which is all the more reason to patrol it (and kick out any ex-boyfriends, distant family members and Rebekah Vardys you don’t want seeing what you’re up to in lockdown).
Related: How to mute someone on Instagram without unfollowing them
How to make your Instagram stories private
There are two ways to stop your Instagram story from appearing on certain followers’ feeds – through Settings and through the story itself.
How to make your Instagram stories private:
- Open Instagram
- Go to your profile
- Tap the hamburger icon in the top right corner
- Tap ‘Settings’
- Choose ‘Privacy’
- Tap ‘Story’
- Tap ‘Hide story from’
- Select any users you’d like to hide your story from
- Tap ‘Done’ if you’re using an iOS device or the tick if you’re on Android
Another option is to make your stories private directly from the story feature. If you’ve spotted someone you don’t want viewing your story, you can block them from seeing your next one without leaving that page.
How to make your Instagram stories private from your story:
- Tap on your story
- Swipe up to see which accounts have viewed your story
- Tap the three dots next to the user you don’t want lurking anymore
- Tap ‘Hide story from [username]’ to prevent them from seeing future stories
You can also prevent your story from appearing on any location or hashtag pages – here’s how.
Related: How to delete an Instagram account permanently
How to hide your Instagram story from a location or hashtag page:
- Tap on your story
- Swipe up to see which accounts have viewed your story
- Any locations or hashtags you’re featured in should be listed at the top – tap X to remove your story from them
Another option is to create a Close Friends story. This feature allows you to reserve some content for a select few, while the rest of the world continues to enjoy your main story. Don’t worry – they won’t be notified if you take them off this list in the future.
How to create a Close Friends story:
- Open Instagram
- Go to your profile
- Tap the hamburger icon in the top right corner
- Tap ‘Settings’
- Choose ‘Privacy’
- Tap ‘Story’
- Tap ‘Close Friends’ and select ‘Get Started’
- Tap ‘Add’ next to anyone you want on your close friends list
Instagram has a security flaw in the way it handles posts on accounts that have been set to private, BuzzFeed reported today. The report illustrates how a series of mouse clicks on any web browser can expose the persistent URL of private posts and stories cached on Facebook servers.
Anyone can use a web browser, like Google Chrome, to inspect the source code on a web page using the “Inspect Elements” tool. By tabbing over to the “Img” section of the Network header, you’re able to find the URL of any Instagram image you’ve clicked on, be it a disappearing story or a photo posted to a user’s feed. That URL can then be shared and the photo viewed by anyone, including people who do not follow the private account in question.
Instagram’s version of private is not so private
The Verge was able to independently verify that this process does indeed work. The process is somewhat finicky, but usually by reloading the page of a private account (in this case, my own) and loading the “Img” section, I was able to find the right URL and confirm it could be openly shared. Previews of the image even load in chat applications like Slack. We also confirmed another user was able to find the same URLs, to rule out the possibility that Instagram was only making available this type of data to a user looking at their own private account.
In addition to revealing persistent URLs for photos posted to a private account, the same source-code trick also lets you pull URLs for profile photos of other Instagram users who may have interacted with that post and may have their accounts set to private as well. Of course, you must follow the private account in the first place to have access to the user’s feed and stories, but the flaw and the ease of exploiting it represent an oversight for Instagram’s privacy and security teams.
According to BuzzFeed, these URLs will still retrieve images from Facebook servers even after the posts have been deleted. This appears to be true both for photos posted to the feed and for stories, which delete after 24 hours. BuzzFeed says URLs for private stories will return the story for multiple days after the expiration date. The report also states that the same method works for retrieving URLs of private Facebook posts and photos, although The Verge has not yet been able to independently verify that.
According to Facebook, this type of behavior — seeking out the URL of a private photo so it can be more easily shared publicly — is not dissimilar from taking a screenshot of a pos. The company says it has not seen any abuse related to this feature of its network. “The behavior described here is the same as taking a screenshot of a friend’s photo on Facebook and Instagram and sharing it with other people. It doesn’t give people access to a person’s private account,” a company spokesperson tells The Verge.
Update September 9th, 9:35PM ET: Added statement from Facebook.