On the World Wide Web, accessibility is never an issue. Within a few clicks and seconds, you can access information easily and quickly. On popular apps like Instagram, this is even more convenient. Finding profiles, accounts, searching for hashtags, and locations – Instagram makes all of this easily available.
All you have to do is enter the keywords or account ID in the search bar, and a number of results will appear. However, just like Google and other search engines, Instagram also keeps a search history of all the pages and accounts you’ve visited in the past and frequently visited. The more often you search for a keyword, the more regularly you’re going to see it on your suggestions and your search history.
Deleting Instagram Search History For Privacy Reasons
What you do on your profile should remain private, and visible search history can expose details that you don’t want anyone else to know. Or, if you’re looking to avoid an account that you were frequently viewing in the past, then deleting your Instagram search history can help with not letting it pop up on your suggestions.
It can be for reasons of privacy and secrecy, or even because you want to save yourself from an embarrassing situation. Either way, Instagram does give you the option to clear your search history and deal with this.
How To Clear/Delete Instagram Search History – EASY & Quick Steps!
Removing your Instagram search history is a relatively simple task and can be done within the IG app itself. Below, we’ve listed out the steps you need to take to get this done.
- Step 1: Log into your account on the Instagram app
- Step 2: Click on the profile button, which takes you to your profile. This button looks like a small icon of a person
- Step 3: On the top left corner of our profile page, you’ll find a menu icon which looks like three horizontal lines. Click on that, and a drop-down menu will appear
- Step 4: Choose the “settings” option, which has a small icon of a gear to depict it
- Step 5: Choose the “security” option in this menu
- Step 6: Under security, there’s an option to “clear search history.” When prompted, choose “Yes, I’m sure,” and your search history will be deleted
Steps To Take When Instagram Search History Doesn’t Go Away
Sometimes due to a number of reasons, your Instagram search history might not go away the way you intended it to. If such a situation occurs, then here are a few other steps you can take:
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Option 1:
Reboot your device and log back into the app. You might find that your attempt to clear search history has worked.
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Option 2:
Log out and back into your Instagram account. This helps with refreshing your activity.
- Step 1: Go to you profile page
- Step 2: Click on the menu shown by three horizontal lines
- Step 3: Click on settings right at the bottom of the menu
- Step 4: Scroll all the way down and choose to “log out of *your account’s username*”
- Step 5: Log back in by entering your username and password
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Option 3:
Clear cache on your phone
- Step 1: Open settings on your phone
- Step 2: Under “Apps” select Instagram
- Step 3: Choose storage and click on the “clear cache” option
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Option 4:
Uninstall and re-install
- Step 1: Press and hold on the Instagram app in your phone’s home screen
- Step 2: Click on “uninstall”
- Step 3: Go to your app store and re-install Instagram
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Option 5:
Next to each “Top suggest search” you’ll find a small “x” which will delete that suggestion if you click on it. You can manually delete specific search suggestions with this
How to Hide Specific Accounts on Instagram
Sometimes you don’t want certain accounts to appear on your Instagram, and you can take a few steps to make this happen:
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Option 1:
Unfollow the account that you don’t want to see anymore in your feed or your suggestions, here’s how
- Step 1: Click on the profile that you want to unfollow
- Step 2: Click on the icon which looks like a person with a tick next to it
- Step 3: In the menu that appears, choose the “unfollow” option
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Option 2:
If the account is causing issues for you, then you also have the option to block the account entirely
- Step 1: Go to the profile that you want to block
- Step 2: Click on the three dots in the top right corner
- Step 3: In this menu, choose the “block user” option
- Step 4: Click on “yes, I’m sure” and the account will be blocked
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Option 3:
If you don’t want to see posts or stories from an account, then you can mute them
- Step 1: Click on the profile you want to mute
- Step 2: Open the pop-up menu, which is shown as three vertical dots
- Step 3: Click on “mute”
- Step 4: Under mute, choose any of these options:
- Mute Posts
- Mute Story
- Mute Posts and Story
Block Your Stories From Specific People
Instagram also allows you to keep your stories private and hidden from certain accounts. There are two ways to do this:
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Option 1:
Go to that specific account and click on the pop-up menu (three vertical dots). Here, choose the option “Hide my story,” and the person won’t be able to view your stories anymore.
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Option 2:
If you’re looking to hide your story from multiple people, then there is an easier way to do this. Go to your settings, and under “Privacy” choose the “Story” option. Here, you can hide your story from a list of people by adding them to the list.
In Conclusion
Maintaining your privacy on Instagram is completely your choice. Whether it’s your Instagram search history or your stories, or even your feed, you can use the simple in-built settings mentioned above to get it done. Always remember to protect your privacy and be aware of who can see your content and who cannot. In this age of digitization, security is an absolute necessity!
