Where to find Instagram notification settings
Instagram notification controls live in your account settings, not in your phone's settings — though your phone's settings matter too. Open Instagram, tap your profile icon in the bottom right, then tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines). Scroll down and tap Settings and privacy, then Notifications. From here you can turn entire categories of notifications on or off.
The notifications Instagram offers fall into a few main groups: messages from people you follow, activity on your posts, reminders to use the app, and suggestions for accounts or content. Each group has its own toggle switch. You can turn all of them on, all of them off, or mix and match depending on what you actually want to hear about.
Key Takeaways
- Instagram notifications are controlled through Settings and privacy > Notifications in the app, separate from your phone's notification settings.
- You can turn on notifications for messages, likes and comments, reminders, and suggestions — or disable any of these categories entirely.
- Turning off notifications in Instagram does not prevent messages from arriving; they just will not alert you until you open the app.
- Your phone's notification settings can override Instagram's settings, so check both places if notifications are not working as expected.
- Muting specific people or posts gives you finer control than turning off entire notification categories.
Notifications for messages and direct chats
When you turn on message notifications, Instagram will alert you when someone sends you a direct message. This is separate from the notification for activity on your posts. In the Notifications menu, look for Messages and toggle it on. You will then get a notification each time a new message arrives, whether from someone you follow or a stranger.
If you want messages from close friends or family to notify you but not from everyone else, you have a second option: go to a specific conversation, tap the person's name at the top, then tap Notifications and choose On, Off, or Mentions only. This lets you silence notifications from one person while keeping them on for others.
Notifications for likes, comments, and follows
Instagram groups activity on your posts into one notification category. When you turn this on, you will get notified when someone likes your post, comments on it, or follows your account. Go to Settings and privacy > Notifications and look for Likes, comments, and shares or Activity (the exact label varies by phone and Instagram version). Toggle it on to receive these alerts.
If you post frequently and the notifications become overwhelming, you can mute notifications from specific people instead of turning off the whole category. Go to that person's profile, tap the three dots, and select Mute. Choose whether to mute their posts, their stories, or both. You will still see their activity, but you will not get notified about it.
Reminders and suggestions
Instagram also sends reminders to open the app and suggestions for new accounts to follow or content to watch. These are optional. In the Notifications menu, look for Reminders and Suggestions and toggle them off if you do not want these alerts. Many people turn these off because they are designed to bring you back to the app rather than tell you something you asked to know about.
Turning off suggestions does not change what you see when you open Instagram — it only stops the notifications that try to pull you back in. Your feed and Explore page will work exactly the same.
How your phone's settings affect Instagram notifications
Even if you turn notifications on in Instagram, your phone can block them. On iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications > Instagram and make sure Allow Notifications is toggled on. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Instagram > Notifications and toggle on Allow notifications. If these are off, Instagram cannot send you any alerts no matter what you set in the app.
You can also control how notifications appear on your phone from these same menus. On both iPhone and Android, you can choose whether notifications make a sound, vibrate, show a badge on the app icon, or appear on your lock screen. These phone-level controls override what Instagram wants to do, so if notifications are silent when you expect them to be loud, check your phone settings first.
Turning notifications back on after you have turned them off
If you turned off all Instagram notifications and now want them back, the process is the same. Open Instagram, go to Settings and privacy > Notifications, and toggle back on whichever categories you want. Start with just one or two — for example, messages and activity on your posts — rather than turning everything on at once. You can always add more later if you find you are missing things you care about.
Keep in mind that turning notifications back on does not send you alerts for things that happened while they were off. If someone commented on your post yesterday and you had notifications off, you will not get a notification for that comment today. You will only get notified about new activity going forward.
Muting specific posts or accounts instead of turning off all notifications
If you follow someone whose posts you want to see but do not want to be notified about, muting is more precise than turning off an entire notification category. On any post, tap the three dots in the corner and select Mute. Choose Mute posts to stop getting notifications about that person's posts, or Mute stories to stop seeing their stories in your feed. You can mute as many accounts as you want without unfollowing them.
You can also mute keywords. If there is a topic you do not want to see notifications about — a celebrity, a news story, a sports team — go to Settings and privacy > Notifications > Muted words and add them. Instagram will then filter out notifications containing those words. This is useful if you want to avoid spoilers or just do not care about a particular subject.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I still get messages if I turn off message notifications?
Yes. Turning off notifications only stops the alert; the message still arrives and sits in your inbox. You will see it the next time you open Instagram, but you will not get a ping or vibration when it comes in. This is useful if you want to check messages on your own schedule rather than being interrupted.
Can I turn on notifications for one person but not everyone else?
Yes, for messages. Open a conversation with that person, tap their name at the top, then tap Notifications and choose On. For activity on posts, you can mute everyone except the people you want to hear from, though Instagram does not have a whitelist feature. Muting is the closest option.
Why am I not getting notifications even though I turned them on?
Check your phone's notification settings first. On iPhone, go to Settings > Notifications > Instagram and make sure Allow Notifications is on. On Android, go to Settings > Apps > Instagram > Notifications and toggle Allow notifications on. If your phone is set to Do Not Disturb or Focus mode, that can also block notifications.
Do I have to turn on all notifications or can I pick and choose?
You can pick and choose. Each notification category — messages, activity, reminders, suggestions — has its own toggle. Turn on only the ones that matter to you. Many people keep messages and activity on but turn off reminders and suggestions.
What happens if I mute someone but they send me a message?
Muting only affects posts and stories, not messages. If you mute someone's posts but they send you a direct message, you will still get a notification for that message. To silence notifications from a specific person's messages, open the conversation, tap their name, and set message notifications to Off.