What Happens When Someone Restricts You on Instagram

Before finding out if someone has restricted you, you need to know what exactly restricting does to your Instagram account.

A few things happen when a user restricts your account:

• Your comments on the user’s posts aren’t published straightaway. The user has to review and manually approve or reject your comment. During this time, you’ll see your comment as usual (as if it was published on the post).
• Your messages are sent to the user’s requests section rather than the main chat folder. This can cause delay in responses as the user won’t see your messages right away on their main chat screen.
• You can’t see the user’s online status or last seen. However, this can also happen if the user has disabled their activity status in their account’s privacy settings.

Blocking vs. Restricting Someone on Instagram

You’ve probably heard of blocking, so how is restricting different from a full-blown block? When someone blocks you, you can’t find or access their profile at all with your Instagram account. You can’t see their posts, videos, or Stories. You also can’t send them any messages. A user who has blocked you essentially won’t exist for you on this platform.

When someone restricts you, on the other hand, you can still see the user’s profile, posts, and Stories. You can also send a message to the user. However, there are restrictions when you do these things, as described above.

Post a Comment to Check if You’re Restricted on Instagram

One way to check if someone has restricted you is by commenting on their post and then looking for the comment on a different account. If they have restricted you, your comment won’t be published immediately like comments normally are.

To do this, access the user’s Instagram profile and write a comment on a post. Then, from your secondary Instagram account or from your friend’s account, check your newly-written comment’s status on the post. You must do this before the user gets a chance to approve your comment request. If you can see the comment from another Instagram account, your account is likely not restricted. However, if you don’t see the comment, that’s a reliable indicator that you are restricted by that user.

Send a DM to See if You’re Restricted

Another way to find out if you’re restricted is by sending the user a direct message (DM). Since your direct message will arrive in the user’s requests folder, it can likely take a bit longer for them to notice your message, causing a delay in the response.

Once you’ve sent a DM, wait for the response. If you see the user online, but don’t get a response for a long time, the user may have restricted you. This isn’t a foolproof method, of course, as the user may just be busy.

Check the User’s Activity Status to Find Out If You’re Restricted

The third way to check if a user has restricted you is by checking their online status or last seen. If you’re restricted, you won’t see these details. However, keep in mind that if the user has disabled the “Show Activity Status” option in their profile, you won’t see the online or last seen status even if the user hasn’t restricted you.

First, ensure “Show Activity Status” is enabled in your Instagram account. You can do this by heading into the Settings > Privacy > Activity Status menu and turning on the “Show Activity Status” option.

Then, access a message with the user you think has restricted you and check their online or last seen beneath their name. If you don’t see that information, the user may have restricted you (unless they’ve simply disabled the activity status feature).