How to Hide Instagram Photos Rather Than Delete Them

This article explains how to hide Instagram photos so that they're visible only to you. It's easy to view hidden photos in your archive and make them public again. Instructions apply to the Instagram app for iOS and Android.

How to Hide Photos on Instagram

To hide select Instagram photos, follow these steps:

1. Open Instagram and display the photo you want to archive.

2. Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of the screen to open a pop-up menu at the bottom of the screen.

3. Tap Archive. The selected photo is moved to your archive and hidden from your profile and feed. Your followers can't see it, but you can.

   

   You can also edit, delete, or disable comments on the post from the same menu.

How to View Archived Photos

Here's how to access the photos you placed in your archive:

1. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner of your profile screen.

2. Tap Archive.

3. Make sure Posts Archive is selected at the top.

   

Your archived photos appear and are visible only to you. Likes and comments remain on the post. However, the people who liked and commented when you originally published it can't see those likes or comments until you make the post public again.

How to Make an Archived Instagram Post Public Again

To put an archived post back on your Instagram profile:

1. Tap the archived photo you'd like to make public again.

2. Tap the three dots above the image to display a menu similar to the one you saw when you archived the image.

3. Tap Show on Profile to have the image show up once again on your profile.