How to hide likes on Instagram posts, your own and those of other users

Do you love Instagram but hate that it is used as a popularity contest? If the number of likes your post receives isn’t important to you, you’ll be pleased to learn how to hide likes on Instagram. There’s so much more to posting photos, stories, and videos than getting Instagram likes, and you can still use your account to build community and share your talents with the world.

How to hide your likes on Instagram

So, you’ve decided you want to hide your Instagram likes so that nobody but you knows how your posts are doing in the Instagram popularity contest. Now, you just need to take a leap. Fortunately, Instagram makes it easy to turn off likes for your posts before or after you publish them, and you don’t have to do it for every single post if you don’t want to.

Instagram is putting you in charge and giving you a choice about how to handle your likes on the platform.

How to turn off likes on an Instagram post before posting it

Turning off likes on an Instagram post before sharing it is as easy as a few taps on your screen. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create your Instagram post like you normally would.
2. When you get to the final screen before posting, scroll to the very bottom and tap Advanced settings.
3. At the top of the screen, tap to toggle on the button next to Hide like and view counts on this post.
4. Tap the back arrow and then hit Share to post your image or video.

How to hide Instagram likes on a post you already published

Hiding Instagram likes on posts you’ve already shared is just as easy. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Navigate to a post where you want to hide Instagram likes.
2. Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner above your post.
3. Tap Hide like count.
4. That’s it! Where your like count usually lives, it will now say Liked by [x] and others.

Should you hide Instagram likes?

Whether or not you should hide your Instagram likes is a personal preference. Overall, hiding likes is a way to let your followers know that those metrics aren’t important to you. It’s one less thing you have to think about when sharing your photos.

You may want to keep those Instagram like counts visible if you aspire to use your account to become an influencer or work with brands. Because brands want to see a return on their investment, they will likely only work with accounts that are willing to share how many likes each post is getting.

How to hide likes on other Instagram accounts

Want to hide likes from all the posts you scroll through on Instagram and forget they ever existed? Again, it’s easy to do. And it allows you to concentrate on leaving meaningful comments on the posts that resonate with you, as opposed to the more popular posts. Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to your Instagram profile.
2. Tap the menu in the upper right and choose Settings and privacy.
3. Tap Like count.
4. Toggle on the button next to Hide like count. When you are scrolling through your Instagram feed, you will no longer see like counts on posts.

How to see likes on Instagram again

It’s important to remember that none of these changes need to be permanent. If you hide Instagram likes on your own posts or on the posts of others, you can always change your mind and reverse course.

To see likes on Instagram posts from others again, simply navigate to your Settings and toggle the button off next to Hide like count. To show Instagram likes on your own posts, just navigate to the post, tap the three dots, and choose Unhide like count.

Whether or not you choose to implement this feature, it can be useful to know how to hide likes on Instagram posts. If nothing else, the feature is Instagram’s way of giving you more control over your posts and your feed, and that’s something we can all get behind. And if you also want to get distracted by Instagram less often, here’s how to turn off Instagram notifications or customize them to your liking.