Someone blocking your IG profile could leave you with a lot of questions. But how do you know if someone blocked you on Instagram? And what if they just closed their account for the week? Learn the answers to these questions (and more) with our great IG blocking guide.
How Do You Know if Someone Blocked You on Instagram? Five Ways To Check
Instagram won’t notify you when someone blocks you. This means you might not notice or even suspect it for a long while. This might even be somebody you were once close with. In any case, here’s how to find out if someone’s blocked you.
1. Search for Their Profile
Click the Search icon at the bottom of your feed. Type their username into the text field and see if their profile shows up correctly. If it doesn’t, their account may be gone — or they might have blocked you.
2. Use Another Account
Switch accounts (or create a new one) and do a quick search for their profile. If it shows up, they must have blocked you on your original profile. However, the platform lets users auto-block your other accounts for this reason.
3. View Their Page on PC
You can look at their profile on the browser while logged in. If they blocked you, it should say, “Sorry, this page isn’t available.” Alternatively, you can check on the browser while logged out to see if their account suddenly returns.
4. Follow Them
You can sometimes get onto a person’s profile even after they block you. You’ll see a post count but no posts. Press Follow. If you’re blocked, it won’t register the click at all. It won’t even show you an error message.
5. Check DMs
You can still look at your chat history with somebody after they block you. But you won’t be able to send new messages. Each attempt will fail. If your messages have a red cross next to them, you might be blocked.
Are You Blocked or Did They Delete Their Account?
However, many of these ways come with a complication. Blocked and deleted accounts behave in very similar ways. It may be tricky to tell if someone blocked you or is just taking a break. But how do you know if someone’s blocked you on Instagram or deleted their profile?
The answer here is to find proof their profile’s still up. You could even ask someone else to look via the search bar. But do you really want to drag other people into this? If you need to know, it’s best to check while logged out. They might have also blocked your backup profiles, after all.
Deleted accounts show up as “Instagram User” in your direct messages. This alone could be all the proof you need that they haven’t blocked you. Spotting these small differences saves you a lot of stress — especially when it’s a close friend.
You can still look at your previous conversations, whether you’re blocked or deleted. They would have to manually unsend their messages to stop this. If their profile doesn’t appear while you’re logged out, they’ve closed their account. They’ll likely come back after a few weeks or even just a few days.
Instagram Blocks: Three Different Types
For many people, a full-on block is more of a last resort. There are other ways somebody might be avoiding you on Instagram. But how do you know if someone blocks you on Instagram using these techniques? Here’s a quick rundown of all three.
1. Soft blocking
A soft block is when someone unfollows you and forces you to unfollow them. This means you’re not going to see their content in your feed. If they’re a private account, you won’t be able to see it regardless. However, they can still find your profile in search results and follow it.
2. Restricting
If someone restricts your account, they won’t get notifications from you. Your comments will also be invisible unless they approve them. This is a more “subtle” block. They might even be able to pretend that nothing is different. This, again, doesn’t cause search results to disappear.
3. Limiting Interactions
There’s also an option to limit interactions to Close Friends. This is a list of people a user trusts with exclusive content. They can tailor this to different groups. If someone limits interactions with you, it likely isn’t personal. They might just want to take a step back from Instagram.
Should You Get Around an Instagram Block?
There are ways you can still contact someone who blocked you. You might want to get a reason for the block or explain yourself in some way. But you ultimately need to respect that if someone blocks you, they won’t want to talk.
If it’s a misunderstanding, that changes things. You still need to give them time to cool off. But in some situations, it might be best to reach out and offer an olive branch. You could check in with a (neutral) mutual friend and get their opinion.
Trying to get the blocker’s attention might just make things worse. You can’t force them to speak to you. They might just block you on other platforms like TikTok, for example.
Reasons Someone Might Block You on Instagram
Your next question after “How do you know if someone blocked me on Instagram?” is probably “Why?” It’s not as simple as someone blocking you after a fight or having a problem with you. There are plenty of possible answers. Here are just a handful of explanations:
- Privacy concerns: The user may want to limit their profile in some way. Whether they’re private or not, blocking people is an easy way to “kick them out.”
- Moving on: Someone from your past might want to move forward without you. A block is quite extreme in this situation, but it does offer some clear finality.
- Brand competition: Company profiles might block their rivals on social media. This can stop them from taking inspiration from one another, for example.
- General IG cleanup: Somebody may want to change their page’s whole vibe. They can then block all of their current followers, which is a lot faster than softblocking.
- Triggering content: Did you share a post that has even a chance of upsetting others? If so, someone may have blocked you for their own sake.
- Personal disputes: It’s still possible that someone may block you in an argument. They might get their friends to do the same — even if you don’t know them.
- Blocking tool: Some IG blocking tools let people mass-block certain types of users. For example, every profile who follows their ex-partner or a celebrity they don’t like.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there other explanations for someone not showing up in the default search settings?
Beyond blocking, this could mean they deleted their IG account. It’s also possible they changed their profile name. You shouldn’t jump to conclusions without checking if they blocked you first.
Can people see your likes and comments after blocking you?
Blocks automatically remove your likes and comments from their content. This means they can’t run into your profile while scrolling through Instagram.
How long do Instagram blocks last?
An IG block lasts for as long as the user wants it to last. They might reconsider it and give you a second chance. However, you can’t count on this.
Can I find out who has blocked me on Instagram?
There are no trustworthy tools that show who has blocked your IG account. Anything that claims otherwise is likely a scam.
Instagram Blocks: Find out the Truth
Once you can answer “How do you know if someone blocked you on Instagram?”, you’ll know how to avoid blocks. This helps you grow and retain your IG audience. snsflow.com can help with this through a network of organic paid followers.
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