How to make Instagram profile private

Instagram’s default is a public account, where anyone can view your profile and posts. You can turn your public account into a private account – one in which only followers approved by you can see what you share.

If your account is already set up as private, only approved followers will see your photos or videos on location or hashtag pages.

Please note that commercial profile accounts (stores, public persons, etc.) cannot be private. If you want to have a “private business” account, first go back to personal.

Private Instagram accounts

Namely, before turning your Instagram private:

Private account posts that you automatically share on other social networks – such as Facebook or Twitter – may be made public depending on your privacy settings you use for those other networks;
When you make your account private, people need to send a request to follow and view your posts, your list of followers or who you follow;
Follower requests are displayed in Activity, there you can approve or ignore them. Upon ignoring, that person will not be allowed to follow your account;
If a person already followed you before defining your publications as private and you want them not to see your publications, you can block or remove them;
People can send a photo or video directly to you on Instagram Direct, even if they are not your followers; you can block them.