How to Turn Off Instagram Notifications

Stop getting alerts about posts, stories, and live streams

By
Jerri Ledford
Jerri Ledford
Jerri Ledford
Writer, Editor, Fact Checker
  • Western Kentucky University
  • Gulf Coast Community College
Jerri L. Ledford has been writing, editing, and fact-checking tech stories since 1994. Her work has appeared in Computerworld, PC Magazine, Information Today, and many others.
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Updated on February 15, 2021
Reviewed by
Jerrick Leger
Jerrick Leger headshot
Reviewed by Jerrick Leger
Jerrick Leger is a CompTIA-certified IT Specialist with more than 10 years' experience in technical support and IT fields. He is also a systems administrator for an IT firm in Texas serving small businesses.
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What to Know

  • In the mobile app, from your profile, tap the menu icon, select Settings > Notifications, and choose which the alerts you want to disable.
  • On the web, go to your profile, click Settings > Notifications, then select the alerts you want to turn off.
  • If you don't want to disable alerts, you can choose to receive them only from specific activities or groups of users.

This article covers how to turn off post and story notifications and other activities in the Instagram mobile app and on a desktop browser.

How to Turn Off Post & Story Notifications on the Instagram Mobile App

The Instagram app's notification feature gives you a fair amount of control over the types of alerts you receive (or choose not to receive). Follow these steps to turn off post and Story notifications.

You can turn the notifications back on pretty easily.

  1. Open the Instagram app on your mobile device and tap the Profile icon in the bottom right corner.

  2. On your profile page, tap the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner.

  3. Tap Settings in the slide-out menu that appears.

    Screenshots showing how to get to Settings on the Instagram mobile app.

  4. Tap Notifications.

  5. Tap Posts, Stories and Comments.

  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose how you want to handle notifications for First Posts and Stories:

    • Off: Turn all notifications for first posts and stories off.
    • From People I follow: Allow only first post and story notifications from people you follow.
    • From Everyone: Allow first post and story notifications from everyone.
    How to turn off notifications for first posts and stories on the Instagram app.

In addition to the First Posts and Stories, there are many other notifications you can turn off on the same screen:

  • Likes: Turn off Like notifications or choose which ones you receive when someone likes a post you created.
  • Likes and Comments on Photos: Turn off or choose who you're notified about when they like or comment on photos you post.
  • Photos of You: Turn off or choose who you're notified about when they like or comment on photos you're tagged in.
  • Comments: Turn off or choose who you're notified about when they like or comment on comments you leave on Instagram.
  • Comment Likes and Pins: Turn notifications of comment likes and pins on or off.

If you want to turn off all notifications you can do that by tapping Additional options in system settings from the Notifications screen, then tap Show notifications to On (green) or Off (white).

How to Turn Off Instagram Notifications From a Web Browser

If you're using Instagram on your computer you can turn off notifications from the web browser.

Changing your notification preferences applies only to the device where you change them. So, if you're changing them on the Instagram desktop app through a web browser, that doesn't affect the notifications you receive when using the Instagram app on your mobile device.

  1. Open Instagram in your web browser and click your Profile icon in the upper-right corner of the screen.

    The profile icon on Instagram in a web browser.

  2. Choose Settings in the menu that appears.

    The settings option in Instagram in a web browser.

  3. Select Push Notifications in the left navigation menu.

    The Push Notifications option on Instagram in a web browser.

  4. Scroll through the list on the next screen and adjust the notifications you do or don't want to receive. Those options include:

    • Likes
    • Comments
    • Comment Likes
    • Likes and Comments on Photos of You
    • Accept Follow Requests
    • Friends on Instagram
    • Instagram Direct Requests
    • Instagram Direct
    • Reminders
    • First Posts and Stories
    • Instagram TV View Counts
    • Support Requests
    • Live Videos

    For each selection, you can either choose On or Off. In some cases, you have the options for Off, From People I Follow, or From Everyone.

    Once you make your selections you can return to Instagram and your new settings are automatically saved.

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