How many times have you read a direct message and then completely forgot to reply? Then the next message you received was probably from the sender, saying they can see you reading it, so why the silence? Tap or click here to see why thousands of people have signed a petition to block Facebook’s Instagram for Kids.
Other times you want to read the message, but you don’t want the sender to know you have. It looks like the tick mark used in WhatsApp. People use blue and gray ticks to measure whether their messages have been delivered or if they have just been left hanging.
But what if we tell you that there is actually a way for you to read direct messages on Instagram without notifying the sender? This can not only protect people from unwanted contact, but also from harassment in the future. Keep reading for details.
Here’s the backstory
Instagram already has a built in feature that turns any account into a restricted one. When the setting is enabled for an account, several things work to your advantage. For example, the affected person will not know that you have banned their account, and the banned person’s name will not be visible to others in your comments.
But the best thing about this option is that the banned person will not be able to tell when you are online or whether you have read their messages. Normally, when a message is read, the sender is shown a “seen” tag next to it.
After tapping on Mode, you will see a popup that tells you what happens when you ban an account.
Banned via DM
You can also ban someone via Direct Message. Here you’ll have several other options if restricting is a little too soft for you, but you don’t want to block them outright.
Open your Instagram app on iOS or Android.
To go to your Instagram Direct Message, tap on the paper plane in the top right corner.
Tap on Messages from the problematic sender.
Don’t tap View Profile, but tap their name directly above it.
Here you have the option to mute messages and calls. You can also unfollow them right away, or ban, block, or report their profile.
