March 27, 2019
How to protect your privacy and stay secure on Instagram
Instagram is a great way to share photos with friends, family, and the rest of the world, but it could also open you up to privacy and security risks. It doesn’t have to be that way, though. It’s easy to protect yourself and still get the most out of what Instagram has to offer.
Here are five ways to keep your account safe. There are separate instructions for the web and for mobile apps and notations where the iOS and Android apps differ.
Make your account private
Take a simple privacy step by turning your public account into a private one. This will let you share your photos with a select group of people while keeping them hidden from everyone else. That way, only people you really care about will be aware of your activities.
On mobile
From now on, only your existing followers will be able to see your posts. Anyone else will have to send a follow request to you first.
Block specific followers
If one of your followers becomes annoying (or worse), you can also block specific followers from seeing your posts. (Don’t worry: followers aren’t notified that you’ve blocked them.)
On mobile
Worried that someone will log in to your Instagram account and pose as you? Turn on two-factor authentication, which will send you a text message with an authentication code every time you log in to Instagram on a new device. You’ll then have to type in the code to complete logging in.
On mobile
There are tons of third-party apps that ask you to get access to your Instagram data, like an app that schedules Instagram posts for you. So before agreeing to let one access your data, factor in that the more companies that have private information about you, the more likely it is that the information can be misused or stolen. Even more important: make sure that you only grant Instagram access to apps that truly have a need for it.
To revoke access to apps that already have it, you have to use the web interface; you can’t do this through the mobile app.
Worried that someone has hacked your Instagram account? You can check by viewing your past account activity, including logins, logouts, changing a password, and more.
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