How to Hide Likes on Instagram: A Guide

As social media becomes more and more important in our lives, we keep seeing studies showing the impact it has on our well-being, mental health, and self-image. In particular, a recent study uncovered the impact that Instagram likes can have on teens.

When we start comparing ourselves or basing our self-esteem on the number of likes we get online, especially when compared to popular influencers and celebrities, we’re going to have a bad time. Because of this, many Instagram users have toyed with the idea of ​​hiding likes in the past.

However, Instagram has chosen a happy medium and given users the option to hide likes themselves, either from their own posts or from other Instagram posts.

In this article, we are going to talk about the different ways you can hide Instagram likes why You may want to.

Why Should You Disable Likes on Instagram?

In the aforementioned study, the researchers took a group of 182 students between the ages of 13 and 18 and had them imagine a situation where one of their Instagram posts got a lot of likes and one got very few likes. Participants who imagined getting few likes had far more negative than positive feelings, particularly among those who were more prone to feedback.

It is true that social media likes can have a negative impact on a user’s mental health. Whether we like it or not, social media has been shown to have an impact on our brains. So by preventing your followers from seeing the number of likes your posts have, you can counteract that comparison — especially as an influencer.

But even as a brand, switching off likes can have advantages.

First, the likes you receive are a vanity metric. It matters very little to measure the overall performance of your Instagram marketing efforts. Likes while scrolling has become second nature to us, so it doesn’t mean much beyond that.

Instead, you want to pay attention to Instagram metrics like comments and shares. This shows that your post resonated enough for users to take deliberate action.

How to hide likes on Instagram

You can hide likes on both your own Instagram posts and Instagram accounts you follow.

Note: Also, as a social marketer, you may be a parent, older sibling, or know young social media users. This can be a great setting to change if you have teens or young adults on Instagram. Encourage them to make this update so there are fewer comparisons online.

Let’s go through how to hide likes on Instagram step by step.

How to hide likes in other people’s Instagram posts

If you want to hide likes on other people’s Instagram posts in your feed, you can easily do it in your settings. This may discourage you from comparing personal or competitor accounts to your own. It will also force you to look at more than just the number of likes as you scroll.

Follow these steps to hide likes on others’ Instagram posts:

Step 1. From your profile, tap the hamburger menu, then tap settings.

Step 2. In which settings Menu, tap privacy.

Step 3. In which privacy Menu, tap posts.

step 4 Turn the Hide like and view counters option on.

You will now see something like this in Instagram posts:

Instead of seeing likes username and 11,034 others‘, see a simple ‘Like of username and Other.”

How to hide likes on your Instagram posts from publication

Now let’s cover how to hide your own Instagram post likes. Unfortunately, there is no setting that is automatically hidden Everyone Your Instagram Likes – You have to do this for each individual post. However, you can also make this change while you publish the post after you publish

Step 1. Start creating your next Instagram post as usual. When you get to the section where you can write your caption, tag products, or add a location, tap Advanced settings.

Step 2. Here you will see the toggle option next to Hide like and view counts for this post to ensure your post’s likes are hidden. This will also hide the number of views for videos posted to your feed. However, this option is not available for reels.

Step 3. in the Advanced settingsyou can make more changes before publishing, e.g. B. Add alt text to your Instagram post if you use screen readers, or even disable commenting.

Here’s an example of what hiding Instagram likes would look like in action by home furnishing brand ettitude, who have hidden likes and views on almost all of their Instagram posts:

How to Hide Likes on Your Instagram Posts After Publishing

If you’ve already published your post and find that you forgot to hide the like count, don’t worry – you can turn this off just as easily after sharing your post with your audience.

Step 1. Go to the post you want to update and tap Three point menu Icon to access more settings and preferences.

Step 2. Then just tap Hide like count to make sure no one can see how many likes your post got.

Step 3. This menu also gives you other options like turning off comments retrospectively, pin the post to the top of your profile, and more.

How to see your likes on Instagram even if they are hidden

Even though neither you nor anyone else can see your likes publicly, you can still track them internally to track your growth. Likes are a vanity metric, but you can still track them as your account grows to gauge your reach.

There are two ways you can view your Instagram likes even after you’ve hidden them from your feed.

First, you can access your Likes data in the built-in Instagram Insights. As long as you have an Instagram business account, you can access your analytics by going to your profile and tapping insights Button.

In your Instagram Insights you can look at the content you recently shared and see how many likes, comments, impressions and reach you have.

You can also use your Sprout Social account to see your likes and other analytics. The Instagram Business Profiles report shows you how many impressions, followers, likes, and more your account received during the specified time period.

You’ll still have access to key data to pop into your monthly report without fueling the number fire on Instagram.

Consider whether hiding Instagram likes is right for your brand

Should You Start Hiding Instagram Likes? This can be the right choice if you are targeting a younger audience with your product or service. Or if you just want to ignore those numbers since likes are a vanity metric anyway. Track more important metrics like overall engagement, like comments and shares, to gauge whether your posts are resonating.

And to learn even more about creating content your audience will find engaging, check out our latest Sprout Social Index™. Use this research to drive your social media strategy and find out what social media users prefer to see from brands and companies.