Hiding your story on Instagram is a privacy feature that allows you to control which specific people can see the photos and videos you share to your daily story. It ensures your content is only viewed by your intended audience.
Controlling Story Visibility on Instagram
Instagram provides you with options to manage who can view your stories. You can set these preferences either before you post your story or, in certain circumstances, after it has already been viewed by someone.
Hiding Your Story Before Posting
The most common way to hide your story from specific followers or people is through your story settings before you share the content.
Here’s how you generally do it:
- Go to your Profile.
- Tap the three horizontal lines (menu icon) in the top right corner.
- Tap Settings and privacy.
- Scroll down and tap Hide story and Live.
- Tap Hide story from.
- Select the people you want to hide your story from by tapping the circle next to their name. You can search for users to make this easier.
- Tap Done (iOS) or the back arrow (Android) to save your changes.
Once you've hidden your story from someone this way, they will not be able to see any future stories you post until you go back into these settings and unhide them.
Hiding Your Story From Someone Who Already Viewed It
Instagram also offers a way to hide your story from someone directly from your viewers list after they have seen it. This is a quick action you can take if you decide you no longer want a specific viewer to see your future stories.
According to the reference provided, you can also choose people to hide your story from as you're looking at who's seen your story. Here's the process:
- While viewing the list of people who have seen your story:
- Tap to the right of their name and select Hide your story, then tap Hide.
Using this method effectively adds that person to your "Hide story from" list, preventing them from seeing stories you post after you've hidden them.
Important Distinction: As stated in the reference, Keep in mind that hiding your story from someone is different from blocking them, and doesn't prevent them from seeing your profile and posts. They will still be able to view your main profile page and see photos and videos posted to your regular feed.
Key Points About Hiding Stories
- What they see: People you hide your story from will simply not see your story appear in their story tray. They won't be notified that you've hidden it from them.
- Future stories: Hiding someone via either method prevents them from seeing your current story (if hidden before posting) and all future stories until you unhide them.
- Un-hiding: You can unhide someone at any time by going back to the same "Hide story from" list in your settings and deselecting their name.
- Not blocking: Hiding your story is a less drastic action than blocking someone. It only affects their ability to see your stories, not your profile or posts.
Practical Application
Here's a simple way to think about when to use each method:
| Method | When to Use It | How it Works |
|---|---|---|
| Via Story Settings | To prevent specific people from seeing any story you post going forward. | Set up beforehand; applies until changed. |
| From Viewers List | To quickly prevent someone who just viewed your story from seeing future ones. | Quick action taken after viewing stats; adds user to your hidden list. |
Understanding these options allows you to tailor your Instagram story audience precisely, ensuring your content is shared only with the people you intend.
