The Hustler's Digest StaffInstagram, like many other apps, supports the feature of reading receipts! This feature enables the sender to check whether his message has been seen or not. Follow this article if you are wondering how to turn off seen on Instagram and what are other functionalities of this app.
Instagram is a user-friendly app having more than a billion accounts registered all around the globe. From an ordinary person to a celebrity, everyone through this app interacts with the rest of the world. It has been a part of everyone’s life for the last decade, but its features have kept evolving.
Not everyone is familiar with all the features of Instagram and how these work. Instagram has several embedded features which can make interaction easier with friends, but these features need to be learned correctly so that you can use this app according to your ease and convenience. One should know these features to use this app in an effective way.
If you are a beginner or are not aware of the complete functionalities of this app, then you will have several queries about this app, such as how Instagram works, What its features are, and how we can operate those features. This article will give a complete insight into the Instagram app, including one key element, which is about Instagram messages and How to turn off seen on Instagram.
What is Instagram?
Instagram is one of the most used social media apps where users can share their photos and videos. These videos and pictures can be seen, liked, shared, and commented on by your friends or anyone based on the type of privacy you have set for your account. It is an interactive platform where many people have also gained popularity by sharing their visual content. Instagram has been a platform for such people to become famous and called influencers.
Photos and pictures have been the primary communication mode of Instagram, but with time its features kept evolving. The pictures and videos, along with posts, can also be uploaded on stories and reels. There is also an option to come live on Instagram and communicate with followers and friends.
Instagram was ideally created so that people could share their candid pictures, but a lot of brands have started using this platform for marketing and public relations. The number of Instagram users has increased by billions in the past decade as people find Instagram a convenient app where one can sneak into the life of their friends and favorite celebrities.
Sign up for Instagram
The Instagram app can be accessed through a web browser but is ideally created for mobile phone devices. To sign up for Instagram, you need to check whether it is installed on your device or not. It can be easily installed from the play store or apple store on your phone. Once it is installed, You can either log in by syncing your account with Facebook or create a separate account.
After entering the required details, you will be led to your account, where you can upload your profile picture and edit the information you want. The edit and update of your profile also require you to set the privacy on your profile according to your choice, as all the accounts are public by default.
How to use Instagram?
If you have just signed up on Instagram, you might not be aware of the working of this app and what each section means. Now we will go through some of the introductory areas and aspects of the Instagram app. The part at the bottom of your screen when you open Instagram is called the menu bar. This has divided the functionality of Instagram into multiple sections.
Home
This is the main scrolling feed where all the posts and videos are posted by the people you follow. On the top of the screen, you will be able to see stories posted. You can refresh the feed by swiping down for newer posts to appear on the screen.
Search and explore
This section will show all the posts that you might be interested in. Here you can also search for any account on the top search bar.
Reels
This section contains short videos from people from anywhere in the world. These reels can be scrolled up for newer videos, just like TikTok.
Shop
This section includes posts from the shopping website or pages containing products that you might want to buy.
Profile
This section directs you to your own account on Instagram. A profile is also the part where you can customize your settings.
How to interact on Instagram?
There are multiple ways through which you can interact with your friends and users on Instagram. The interaction depends if the profile is private or public because a private account does not allow all the users to interact with them. You can like the pictures they have uploaded by tapping the heart icon under the post, comment on the picture by clicking the thought icon or directly message them anything. There is also an option of coming live on Instagram, but it is mostly used by celebrities or artists to interact with their fans virtually.
How do Instagram notifications work?
Instagram notifies its users about the activities taking place on their profile while it is logged in. These activities include who liked your post, who commented on your post, who messaged you, and who wants to follow you. These notifications can be managed and customized according to your needs; for instance, if you get annoyed by the constant buzzing of your phone every time someone likes your picture, then you can turn it off and only allow certain notifications to appear on the notification bar.
You can set your notifications according to your choice by following these steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to your profile in the bottom right corner of your screen.
- Tap the three lines on the top right corner of your screen.
- Select the setting from the popped-up list.
- Now Tap the notification option.
- Here you can select the feature you want to edit.
- You can pause all the notifications if you want through the “Pause All” option.
How to turn off seen on Instagram?
Instagram Messages
Instagram has a direct messaging option where you can send text, video, or audio messages to other users. You can send the message to your friends directly, but the people not added to your account will receive your message as a request and will remain a request unless they accept it in their inbox. All the messaging history also remains there unless you delete it. You can also unsend your message if you want.
Can you read Instagram messages without being seen?
The feature of read receipts is an example of technological advancement where the user does not have to keep figuring out if the message has been read or not. Like any other app, Instagram enables its users to find out if their message has been seen. Instagram read receipts not only indicate that the message has been but also show the exact time it has been seen.
Instagram has this feature of letting the other person know if their sent message has been seen by the person or not. Whenever someone comes online, some of their online activities are visible to other users, including the message read, likes, etc.
However, there are other ways through which a user can read the message without letting the other person know, but it would require the user to turn off the wifi connection or turn on airplane mode in their phone. Another way to read the message without going online is to read it from the notification bar of your phone.
Read messages on Airplane/offline mode
The activity status does not refresh until wifi is connected to your phone. You can either make sure that the wifi or mobile data is off, and if you can not do that, you should simply turn on your airplane mode. The airplane mode will restrict your phone’s radio frequency and signal transmissions, so your phone will not support any wifi or internet connection. To read messages on Airplane/offline mode, you can:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Swipe your screen and either turn off the wifi or turn on the airplane mode.
- Now slide the Instagram feed to the left, and you will be landed in the message section of the Instagram.
- Read the message you want and then switch to the profile page.
- Click the three lines on the top right corner of the screen.
- Go to settings and scroll down to find the logout, and click.
- After you have logged out, you can switch on your wifi connection.
If you do not log out of the app and directly switch on wifi after seeing the message, the person will be able to see that his message has been seen.
Read messages from the notification bar
If you have not turned off the message notifications of Instagram, then the message will pop up on your notification bar when it is sent. This might not show the entire message if it is a long message, but a short message can be read from the notification bar.
Turn off message notifications
There’s a chance of clicking the message from the notification bar, which will lead you to the inbox section, and the other person will know that you have seen the message. In order to avoid such a situation, you might want to turn off your message notification. This can be done through the following steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to your profile and click the vertical lines on the top right corner.
- A list will appear on the screen; tap on the setting option from that list.
- Tap the notification option.
- Now select the message and call.
- Different options will show up; turn off the messages section from there.
How to turn off status on Instagram?
There are times when you want to just scroll through your feed and not get bothered by constant messages because not replying to those messages will make the other person think that you are ignoring them. If you do not want to make someone feel ignored and enjoy your scrolling on Instagram, then there is a way you can do that by hiding your online status.
All the social media apps allow their users to see if the people from their friends’ list are online or not. If a person is online at that moment, you will be able to see a green circle with their name in the message section. If they are currently not on the app, then the last time they were active on the app will be shown. This activity status can be turned off by following these simple steps:
- Open the Instagram app.
- Go to your profile and click the vertical lines on the top right corner of the screen.
- Now select the setting option.
- Select the privacy option from the list that appeared.
- Tap on the activity status.
- Now turn off the blue icon by swiping it to left.
Unique Instagram features
You have gotten an idea of the basic functionalities of Instagram so far, so now we will discuss some of the features that make Instagram stand out from all the other apps.
Archive the post
If you posted something a year or two ago and do not want it to appear on your profile now, there is a way you can hide it through the archive without completely deleting it. It will hide the post for as long as you want so that if, after some time, you want the post to appear back on your profile, you can do that.
You can archive your post by following these easy steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to the post you want to hide.
- Tap the three dots on the top right corner of your screen.
- Select archive options.
Now, if you want to unarchive a similar post, you just have to:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to your profile and click the three lines on the top right corner of your screen.
- Tap the archive option from the appeared list.
- The archived post should show there; tap on the post.
- Now click the same three dots on the top right corner of the post.
- Click on the “Show on profile” option.
Multiple logged-in accounts
If you have more than one account on Instagram, one for your close friends and one for public interaction, then you no longer need to log out of one account to log in to another. Instagram enables you to manage more than one account on the same device simultaneously. You can add the account by following these easy steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to your profile and click the three lines on the top right corner of your screen.
- Tap the setting option from the appeared list.
- Scroll down and select the “Add or switch accounts” option.
- Click on the plus sign and log in to your second account.
You can only add up to 5 accounts through this feature, and you will be notified about the activities of all the logged-in accounts.
Add a link to your bio
Do you have a separate account and want people to check it out? Adding a link to another account on your bio so that people will be easily directed towards that account every time they visit one account. This link is not only restricted to Instagram accounts, as you can link any other website, such as a youtube channel or shopping website too, if you want people to visit. Links can be added to your profile by following these steps:
- Open your Instagram.
- Go to your profile.
- Edit the bio and add the account by typing the account name after “@” or clicking on add link option for any external link.
Edit captions
Added a caption on your post, and now you have spotted a grammar mistake in it after it has been posted? Instagram helps you edit this caption. There are many reasons why a person would feel like the caption is not correct, so now you do not have to delete the whole picture and then post it again with a corrected caption. You can simply change the caption, and the time duration of this edit option is also not fixed, so you can change it even after months of its upload.
Here’s how:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to the post you want to edit.
- Tap the three dots on the top right corner of the post.
- Select edit option.
- Now change the caption to whatever you like.
It is to be noted that the caption will be shown as an edited caption to your friends, although the previous caption will be removed forever.
Save drafts
If you have been editing your picture and now you do not want to post it anymore, you can simply save the picture in drafts so that the editing is secured and you are able to post it whenever you want. You no longer need to screenshot the picture as it requires further cropping and affects the pixels of the picture, so the best way is to save it in the draft.
Close friends
There are situations where you feel like posting a picture, but there are certain people you do not want to see the picture. You do not have to share a story with all the people added to your account. Instagram has this feature to classify some people as close friends, so the posted stories will be visible to those close friends only.
Here’s how you can manage close friends on Instagram:
- Open your Instagram.
- Go to your profile and click the three lines on the top right corner of your screen.
- Now select the “Close Friends” option from the appeared list.
- All your followers will be listed there; you can tick the ones you want to add to your close friend list.
- Click done.
Collection of saved posts
Instagram enables its users to save any post by bookmarking. You do not have to go through the entire profile of someone to search for that one post you want to see. These saved photos will only be visible to you. You can click on the bookmark icon under that post to create a shortcut. You can reach these saved photos by following these easy steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Go to your profile and click the three lines on the top right corner of your screen.
- Now click the saved option from the list.
- All the saved posts will appear on the screen.
- Choose the one you want to watch.
There will also be a “+” icon on the top left corner of your screen, through which you can create another album to add specific posts to that album.
Hide the tagged photos
If your friends tag you in a photo or video, it will appear on your profile in the tagged photo section. If you do not want every tagged post to appear on your profile, you can customize your setting for it.
Here’s how:
- Open your Instagram.
- Go to your profile, then click on the person icon below your bio section.
- Now click the three dots on the top of your screen.
- Select the “remove me from the post” option from the list.
Conclusion
The main purpose of using Instagram is to provide a platform where people can share their visual content with people. This visual content can be in the form of a candid post, any artwork, or a professional photoshoot. Anyone can snap any kind of photo or video and share it with the world. However, this app needs to be explored completely so that one can adjust the activities according to his convenience.
