Instagram’s popularity has been rising exponentially. It can be fair to say Instagram has taken over the popularity that Facebook once had. It has also become a major platform for people to run their businesses, and brands to promote their products. Instagram keeps adding features to its app for a better user experience. The most two recent features that were added are chat themes and reels. A lot of us spend hours scrolling through Instagram and are probably aware of its little hacks. But for those who have not used the platform before, or for people who want to make their time on Instagram a lot smoother, and better, Instagram has some hacks, tips, and features that you would want to know.

Also Checkout – 7 Instagram Contests Ideas With Examples + Tips to Succeed

For you, we’ve compiled a list of 34 hacks, tips, and features so you don’t have to go searching for different hacks at different places.

General Hacks

1. Get notified when your favorite people post

If you want to never miss an Instagram post from your favorite influencers again, you can turn on their post notifications. You can choose to get a notification every time a specific user posts.

To turn on the post notifications, visit a user’s profile, click on the bell icon in the upper right-hand corner of the post, besides the three dots.

Then, toggle and turn on the post notifications for posts/stories/IGTVs. Whichever you want to be notified about.

2. Restrict posts or stories from accounts you don’t like

If you want to stop seeing posts or stories from accounts you don’t like, you can always restrict their account. It’s an alternative to blocking them on Instagram.

To restrict posts or stories from accounts that you don’t like, visit the user’s profile, click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner, and click on Restrict.

3. Rearrange your filters

Instagram offers filters to edit pictures before you post them to your feed. Chances are, you might have a few favorite filters, while there are others that you don’t like and never use. You can now arrange the filters in whatever way you like. You can add new filters, hide the ones that you never use, or bring your favorite filters to the front.

To reorder or hide filters, add a new post, and begin editing it. When you get to the filters page, scroll to the very far right of your filter options and click “Manage.”

After clicking on manage, you will be shown the Manage filters slide. Here you can select/remove the filters you don’t like. If you long-press on the two horizontal lines, you can change the positions of the filters.

4. Archive your posts

Now, Instagram lets you archive your posts instead of deleting them. All you need to do is click on the three dots on a particular post, and select Archive.

To view all your archived posts, go to your profile, Tap Archive, At the top of the screen click Archive to view either Posts or Stories. If you want to restore content to your public profile, simply tap Show on Profile at any time and it’ll show up in its original spot.

5. Clear your search history

If you don’t want anybody finding out about your search history on Instagram, you can clear it out.

Go to settings, click on Security, Go to Search History, and click on Clear All.

6. Limit your screen time

We spend hours and hours scrolling on Instagram. And we don’t notice that. Now, you can restrict your screen time on Instagram.

Click on three lines on the uppermost right-hand corner. There you’ll find Your Activity. Click on Time. Go to Set Daily Reminders.

7. Search Instagram users without having an account

If you don’t feel like logging in on Instagram and want to check out profiles without logging in, or if you want to check out profiles without signing up on Instagram, you can.

You can enter a username at the end of the Instagram URL: At the end of “www.instagram.com/“, just add the username. For example, if you want to look for Fletcher’s Instagram account, her username is findingxfletcher, you enter www.instagram.com/findingxfletcher into your browser’s address bar.

8. Add and manage multiple accounts from the same device

You can own multiple accounts on Instagram. You might have a public account and a private account. Maybe an account for your pet, or for your makeup or for your drawings. And there is no problem with that. You can add and manage accounts alongside your personal account.

Go to your profile page. On the bottommost right-hand corner, you will see your profile picture in a small circle. Long press the small circle. You will see ‘Add Account.‘ Go ahead and add the accounts by entering your username and password for the accounts that you have.

Alternatively, you can click on your username. The arrow facing downward will open up ‘Add Account’.

9. Bookmark your favorite posts

You can save the pictures you come across. When you feel like going through the posts you liked, but are worried they got lost after refreshing your account, don’t worry. You can now bookmark your favorite posts.

When you see a post that you’d like to save, Tap the bookmark icon underneath the post you want to save.

10. Collection of saved posts

Instagram has an option to save or bookmark certain posts in collections that you create.

To access these, click on the three horizontal bars on the top-right corner. Then, click on Saved. You will see the collection. If you have created separate folders for your posts, you will be able to see those.

All your bookmarks will already be saved under ‘All Posts‘

11. Scroll through pictures without accidentally liking them

How many times have you been ‘stalking’ a profile and accidentally liked their post? Have you wanted to crawl into a corner and never come out again? Don’t worry. Now you won’t have to.

It’s a quick double-tap. And it can happen by mistake. But there’s a hack for everything. To avoid ending up in a corner, you can browse through Instagram feeds with your phone set to airplane mode.

A problem with this is that you will first have to load the pictures before scrolling through the feed. It’s a little work, but it might be worth it.

If you accidentally like a post, while your phone is on flight mode, Instagram will notify you that your likes will be updated once you get internet connectivity. You can just unlike the post so you wouldn’t have to worry about it.

12. Browse pictures from certain locations

One way to pass time on Instagram is by browsing pictures and videos from a specific location. If you are bored at home and want to travel, or if you are actually planning to travel to a place, you can search for the location on Instagram. You can also search for restaurants.

To browse posts from a specific location, you search for the location by tapping on the magnifying glass on your home screen. You will see four tabs. Choose “Places” and type in the name of a place. It will show you different locations. Choose the most appropriate one. It will show you all the top and recent posts that were tagged to that location.

13. Hide Ads you don’t find relevant

You can teach the Instagram algorithm that you like and don’t like to see. It usually collects data based on the people you follow and things you Like on Instagram. It collects data from third-party websites. The Instagram algorithm will find ads that are interesting and relevant to your searches.

To hide ads on Instagram, tap on the three dots to the right of a post labeled “Sponsored,” and choose “Hide ad”

14. See all the pictures you’ve liked

Instagram saves all the pictures that you have liked. If you ever want to go through those pictures, Instagram will let you.

To check all the pictures you’ve liked, go to your profile. Open Settings, and click Account. Under Account, scroll down a little and click on Posts you’ve liked.

Hacks for Posting Pictures and videos

15. Schedule your posts

It can be a task to take out time from your routine and post. You can pre-post them from your computer for a set day and time in the future.

You can use this feature by using a business account. After switching to a business account, you can download software that schedules your posts for you and post it for you when the time comes.

16. Post on Instagram through your laptop

Instagram is growing. Recently, Instagram introduced Stories on laptops. Now, you can post on Instagram through your laptop too. Watch this video to find out how. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g-yTisDiSc

17. Choosing a cover for your video

Instagram usually decides the cover for your video. But now you can too.

When you select a video that you want to use, you will see ‘Cover‘ on the right-hand side bottom corner. Click on that. Then you can choose any portion from the video as your cover.

18. Hide and disable comments

If you want to restrict or hide or disable comments on your posts, you can. Not all posts require comments. Sometimes you don’t like what a person has commented, so you want to hide it.

You can do this by going to your Settings. Then you click on Privacy. Then Comments. You can Hide Offensive Comments and Instagram will auto-filter common rude language. Or, you can set Manual Filters for specific words or phrases.

Unfortunately, you cannot disable comments for all your posts at once, but you can individually turn off comments while you are posting. Go to Advanced Settings and Turn off Commenting.

Story Hacks

19. Hide stories from specific people

You can also choose people to hide your story from as you’re looking at who’s seen your story.

Click on the Gear option on the uppermost left-hand corner on your ‘Story’ and select Hide Story From [Username].

20. Create highlights to keep stories for more than 24 hours

Instagram stories last for 24 hours. But you can save them for longer by highlighting them on your profile page.

Click on the + on your profile page. It will show you a list of all your stories. You can choose the ones you want to highlight.

Then, give it a cover photo and a name to display as its own Instagram Story on your profile page. You can remove Stories Highlights at any time by tapping and holding down the highlight.

21. Change the cover of your highlights

You can also change the cover of your highlights. First, long-press your highlight, and then tap on Edit Highlight. Then go ahead and click on Edit Cover.

You can choose a picture from the highlight, or upload your own picture from your gallery.

You can also delete your highlight.

22. Add texts to make your story more attractive

Instagram Stories is a feature of Instagram that allows you to post pictures, separate from your feed, for 24 hours. You can add texts to your story to make it more attractive.

Open Instagram Stories by swiping right from your Instagram feed. This will launch your smartphone camera. Then, take a photo or video and press the “Aa” icon to the top-right of your screen.

This “Aa” icon will open Type Mode, where you have fonts to choose from. Add your text and place it wherever you want.

23. Post content from other people to your story

Instagram allows you to share an inspiring post from someone else through your Instagram stories. Find a post that you want to share on your Instagram Stories and tap the paper airplane icon.

This icon will open a screen allowing you to send this post to specific followers, or add to your Story.

Tapping Add Post to Your Story option will automatically turn the post into an Instagram Story, which you can edit and design to your liking the same way you would any other Instagram Story.

Bio and Profile Hacks

24. Hide photos you’ve been tagged in

You can hide photos that you are tagged in.

Go to your profile. Tap the person in a box icon beneath your bio to go to the Photos of You tab. Tap on a photo. You will see Edit on the top right-hand corner. After you tap that, you will be able to select pictures that you want to Remove your tag from or Hide from your profile.

You can also toggle on Manually approve tags to approve the next time people tag you in pictures.

25. Switch to a Professional Account

Business accounts have various benefits. Insights to posts and demographics of followers being two of them. To enjoy several other benefits, it’s advisable to switch to a business profile.

Tap Settings. Tap Account.

Tap Switch to Professional Account at the bottom. Then you fill in all the details that are asked.

You can also connect your business account to a Facebook Page. It will help you put all the benefits of a business account to use.

26. Special fonts in bio

Instagram lets you add emojis to your bio, but have you ever wanted to put fancy fonts in your bio? In-app Instagram limits this function.

But we’ve found a hack. You can use third-party websites/apps which offer you different fonts. You can type your bio with a font you love the most. Then all you have to do is copy it. Open your Instagram app, after copying the text. Go to your profile page, select ‘Edit Profile‘ and tap ‘Bio‘. There, paste your chosen font into the empty field.

Checkout – 900+ Best Instagram Bios for Boys, Girls, and Businesses with Emojis

27. Add another account to your bio

This one is rather easy. If you have different accounts for different purposes, you can add them to your main profile.

To draw people’s attention to your other account, add the name of the account with a “@” sign into your Bio. You’ll be able to select the account you want to tag and then press “Done” or the Tick Mark

Hashtag Hacks

28. Follow your hashtags

Now you can follow Hashtags on Instagram. Select the magnifying glass icon to visit the Explore page. Type in the hashtag you want to follow. And then when the hashtags appear, click on the one you are looking for.

After selecting the one, you will be able to Follow the hashtag. You can also see the Top ad Recent posts.

Checkout – Instagram Hashtags 2020 – The Only Guide You Need.

29. Search for top and recent hashtags

You can search for hashtags that might work with your posts on Instagram.

Select the magnifying glass icon to visit the Explore page. Tap Tags from the four tabs. Type in hashtags you want to see. You will be provided with the “Top” and “Recent” portions of the page.

30. Hide hashtags on posts and stories

Yes, Hashtags get you discovered. But they can also be visual clutter. To avoid adding hashtags to your post, you can add them in a comment below your post.

Instagram Direct Hacks

31. Turn off your activity status

Just like Facebook, you can tell when somebody is Online on Instagram. This is the “Activity Status” feature Instagram introduced. But, if you don’t want people to know, you can always turn it off. (But if you turn it off, you won’t be able to see other people’s statuses)

Go to settings. Tap Privacy. Go to Activity Status and toggle off your Activity Status.

32. Send disappearing content to your friends

In efforts to match with Snapchat trends, Instagram lets you send disappearing pictures, videos, or boomerangs to your friends through Instagram direct.

From the chat window, open a chat with your friend. Tap the camera icon at the bottom left of the screen. Shoot a photo, video, or a boomerang. Edit it with the filters you like.

You’ll be given a choice to let the receive ‘View Once’ or ‘Allow Replay‘. If you want the picture, video, or boomerang to stay, you can ‘Keep in Chat’

Alternatively, you can swipe left from your home screen on Instagram to open up your camera. Click the picture. Tap “Send to >” and then you can choose to send your picture, video, or boomerang to anybody you like.

33. Change Chat Theme Colors

Instagram recently added “Chat theme colors.” The color is a default set by Instagram, but it lets you change it.

To change your chat theme colors, open your chat with somebody you want to change the colors with. Tap on the i at the top right corner of your screen. It will open up the following.

Then you tap on Theme. You can choose from the various chat themes provided to you by Instagram.

34. Reply and Unsend Messages

Just like on Whatsapp, now you can reply and unsend messages on Instagram. You can also react to the messages. To do so, long press on the message.You will be shown to Reply or Unsend the message. You will also be shown various emojis that you can use to react to the message.

One of the best ways to create engagement and reach out to more people is by hosting Instagram contests. These Instagram contests can help you beat the Instagram algorithm and get your content to be seen by a larger number of people.

It can boost your follower count in a short period of time. When you open up contests, people will want to engage with your content more because you have so much to offer. Hence make sure not to run multiple contests at the same time.

Also Checkout – How to Make Money on Instagram? (4 Methods to Earn Huge Cash)

Instagram Contest Rules –

Before you launch an Instagram contest, you need to understand and follow the rules and guidelines of the contest. Here are some dos of running Instagram contests:

Do’s –

• Do follow the law: The laws and regulations governing the contests and giveaways can be complex — especially when the platform is used by people from all around the world. You want to restrict your contests to a certain area (most preferably yours). But if you plan to allow entries from people outside your area, and especially people from other countries, you’ll be entering the jurisdiction of custom laws. You will want to hire a lawyer to understand the contest rules. If you plan to collaborate with influencers and provide them with a sample of your product that you plan on offering as a prize, make sure to sign non-disclosure forms.
• Do create a set of official rules: Be sure to tell your audience what the rules of the contest are. And make sure it is easily available to them. You could add it as the first comment on your post.
• Do let your audience know Instagram is not involved in the contest: According to Instagram’s promotion guidelines, you must let your potential participants know that your contest “is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram.”

Dont’s – 

• Do not encourage inaccurate tagging: Do not ask your audience to tag irrelevant tags to your photos. They can either tag themselves, their friends, or brands that associate with your niche. But you can’t ask others to tag you in pictures that don’t have your products in them
• Do not request Instagram support: If you choose to use Instagram as the platform for a contest, you need to figure things out yourself. Instagram’s promotion guidelines specifically say that they “will not assist you in the administration of your promotion and cannot advise you on whether consent is required for use of user content or on how to obtain any necessary consent.”

Contest Ideas For Instagram

After having considered everything, you need to select what type of contest you would want to run (and what is preferably more profitable for your goals).

1. Like/Comment To Win

This is one of the most common Instagram Contests ideas. It’s also one of the easiest for people to enter. All the participants have to do is to like your photos. This will ensure an increase in the likes on your post. It is also easy to track the entries. You can also ask them to comment on the pictures, to make sure they are genuinely interested in your products.

Example Contest – Like to win

Example Contest – Comment to win

2. Photo Caption Contests

A Photo Caption contest is when you ask the participants to caption a picture that you post. It will judge their sense of humor. The most relatable, humourous, and witty caption shall win.

Example Contest – Photo Caption Contest

3. Tag-A-Friend

The concept of this contest is really simple. You’re asking people to tag their friends in the comments section to be able to win. This will allow your content to reach people who might have not heard of you before. Tagging will send notifications, and the person tagged will most likely check the post. If they like your content, they might end up following you.

Here, You can ask them to share a story behind why they use your product or a story as to how they use your product. Make sure you let your users know that you will be sharing their content on your feed/stories.

Example Contest – Tag a Friend

4. Instagram Stories Contests

You can use Instagram Stories to post contests that will last for 24hrs. The users will be provided with an engaging prompt, and you can use the ‘questions’ feature to collect entries. Based on the rules of your contest, the correct/ best answer will win.

Example Contest – Instagram Story Contest

5. User-Generated Contests

Instagram is probably the best platform for selfies. You can take advantage of that and launch a selfie contest. You ask people to post a picture of themselves while they’re using your product, or with the product somewhere in the background. This is a way to flaunt the usage of your products to others who will view these. To administer the entries, you can ask people to tag your account, or you can create a hashtag, and ask participants to tag the hashtags.

Example Contest – Contest with Product and User

Example Contest – Report Picture using Product

6. Voting Contests

Voting contests are a great way to engage your audience. You can ask people to vote for pictures submitted under a certain hashtag by liking the one they like the most. The picture with the most likes wins.

Alternatively, you can post these pictures on your feed/stories, after finalizing the top 3/5/10. And you can let the audience choose their favorite.

Voting contests are highly beneficial because the people who submit their entries will promote their entries on their social media pages, creating high engagement with your posts.

Example Contest – Voting Contest

7. Challenge Contests

In these contests, you challenge your audience to answer a question for you. And the person who solves the question wins the contest.

It’s simple and fun. The spontaneous feel helps to increase the authenticity of the profile, too, which helps boost long-term engagement.

Example Contest – Here’s an example of a challenge contest where the users were asked to guess the number of seashells in a jar.

Points to Remember For Instagram Contests

• Set clear goals. –The first step to running your contests is to remember what you are trying to achieve. Are you looking for ways to gather more followers? Are you looking for user-generated content to post later? Are you looking for customer views on your products? This will help you understand the purpose of your contests. And you can focus your contests on achieving your goals.
• Write clear descriptions about the contest – Keep in mind the following, and to answer these questions on your post description.
  • What the rules for the contest are?
  • What do people need to do to be eligible?
  • Any restrictions on who can enter?
  • What is the prize to be won?
  • What is the deadline?
  • How and when will you announce the winner?
• Make it easy for people to enter the contest – Minimize having to type too much. Do not overburden your potential participants. Make your rules to enter mobile friendly.
• Choose relevant contest prizes – If you focus on giving away prizes that are relevant to your target audience, your contest will generate better results. The prize should have enough meaning for people to be motivated to enter and win the prize, but not too valuable that it loses its charm.
• Reach out to people on other social media platforms – You might have different followings on different social media platforms. When you’re hosting a contest on Instagram, you can reach out to your followers on other social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter, to make them aware of your giveaway.