If you’re an Instagram user, you’re not alone. As one of the most popular social media platforms today, it’s often seen as the ideal way to share photos over the web.
Whether you’re an experienced Instagrammer or someone who just started using it, finding your way around the app can be a bit overwhelming. Although we can’t say the user interface is known to be confusing, there’s actually much more to it than you might think.
Simply put, Instagram is a photo-sharing platform. It’s designed to let you share your collection of photos in exchange for followers, comments and likes from millions around the world. However, these “social signals” are only available if your content is public.
Alternatively, other users may also share your posts via DM or on their story. Ultimately, the moment you post something, likes and comments may start to appear from other users. These may be users you know yourself, or third party users that you have no actual connection to.
Ultimately, your account can gain followers and likes from other users that you don’t even know. Since Instagram is a publicly-used app, it’s fairly standard for others to like your post, even if you have no real connection to them. Often times, some may feel uneasy about random strangers “liking” your posts. For some, it can bring on an unnerving sense of public exposure. Others may even feel that there privacy is a bit compromised. Whatever the specific reason, you may not want these “random” likes from accounts you have no connection to.
Removing Other Users Likes on Instagram
Although comments on Instagram are easy to delete, likes are not quite the same. Simply put, there’s no feature on Instagram that lets you manually remove specific likes. Instead, you’ll need to try a different technique.
In fact, the only way to get rid of their like is if you block the other users account. This may seem a bit extreme, but it’s a better option that deleting your entire post. However, if you decide that you want to unblock them in the future, all of their previous likes will not re-appear. Ultimately, this seems like severe step, but it’s really the only straightforward way to remove their likes on your photos.
Blocking a third party account is the only way to remove their likes. It has the same effect on your likes as if they were to disable their own Instagram account. In that case, their likes would automatically be removed from your posts. The same would happen if they decided to permanently delete their own account. As a result, their likes would disappear from every post or photo they previously liked in the past.
There’s one major issue with blocking someone. Yes, it’s an extreme measure, but they will always have the ability to see your content if they were to login from a different account or if they logout. However, this will only happen if your profile is left public.
The best advice we can give you is to keep your Instagram account private. This way, nobody but your actual followers will be able to see your content. Even if the third-party user tried to logout and see your profile without their “blocked” account, your private profile acts as a privacy fence with 100% uptime. Even non-Instagram users won’t be able to see your posts, shorts and/or stories.
Making Your Instagram Account Private
The best preventative measure you can take to stop random users from liking your posts is to make your Instagram account private. By placing your account in “private” mode, only people that follow you will be allowed to view and like your posts. Additionally, you can vet and verify each and every person who wants to follow you. This way, you have a clear understanding of who is viewing (and liking) your content.
1. Open up the Instagram app on your mobile device.
2. Tap your Profile’s Icon in the bottom right corner.
3. Tap on the Menu Icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
4. A list will come up, tap on Settings – the icon will have a gear cog and be listed first.
5. Under the settings menu, tap Privacy – the icon with the little lock.
6. Under Account Privacy you will see a toggle button for private account. Select it.
7. Instagram will then ask “switch to private account?” It will notify you that only your followers will be able to see your photos and videos. Also, it will not change who can tag, @mention or message you.
Manually Removing Posts You Have “Liked”
Regardless if you use iOS or Android, the steps to manually remove likes that you, yourself have made, are all the same within the Instagram app. While we discussed earlier that you cannot delete likes on your own posts, you always have the ability to remove likes that you have made on other profiles.
1. Open up the Instagram app on your mobile device.
2. Tap your Profile’s Icon in the bottom right corner.
3. Tap on the Menu Icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
4. A list will come up, tap on Your Activity – the icon will have a clock with four dots and be listed third.
5. A list of tools to manage your activity will appear. Third down from the top is a setting called “Interactions”. Tap it – this will allow you to review and delete likes, comments and other interactions. This is YOUR activity, so it will only let you delete interactions that you’ve previously made yourself.
6. The next screen is self-explanatory. Simply select “Likes” and it will bring up a list of likes that you’ve made on other users photos, sorted from newest to oldest. Think of this as your own history of likes – not on your own account, but other account posts that you have liked in the past. Selecting an individual image will bring up the original post. From here, simply tap the little heart to unlike.
Conclusion
Although Instagram doesn’t let you manually remove other peoples likes on your Instagram posts, we’ve outlined the best way to prevent unwanted likes from random users you may not be familiar with.
Blocking them seems to be the only way, although it’s quite an extreme measure to take. All in all, the best way to prevent strangers from liking your content is to simply activate full privacy on your profile. This way, random users won’t have access to your content; meaning no unsolicited likes from strangers!
Meet Derek, “TechGuru,” a 34-year-old technology enthusiast with a deep passion for tech innovations. With extensive experience, he specializes in gaming hardware and software, and has expertise in gadgets, custom PCs, and audio.
Besides writing about tech and reviewing new products, Derek enjoys traveling, hiking, and photography. Committed to keeping up with the latest industry trends, he aims to guide readers in making informed tech decisions.