How To Hide Likes On Instagram & Why Is It Important

Knowing how to hide likes on Instagram in your timeline is essential if you want to take full control over your Instagram experience.

Instagram now allows its users to hide likes on their own posts as well as on the post in their timeline. This reduces the pressure to chase approval from others, thus offering mental health benefits amongst others. What's more, this feature can be applied to both the old images and new ones since its release.

This was an arguably long overdue action, with Instagram even having considered the possibility of removing like counts entirely from the platform at one stage. However, it hasn't gone that far, but the option to toggle the like counter on or off has undoubtedly been welcomed by many. Read on to find out how to hide number of likes on Instagram.

Table Of Contents:

• Why Does Instagram Likes Matter After All?
• Why Is Instagram Hiding Likes?
• Why Should Brands Hide Likes On Instagram?
• How To Hide Likes On Instagram?
• How To Measure Hidden Instagram Likes?
• In A Nutshell,

You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.

TL; DR

Why Is Instagram Hiding Likes?

Instagram states in their app notification to users who were a part of the initial testing phase that they wanted your followers to focus on what you share and not on how many likes your posts get, hence they want you to know how to hide your likes on Instagram.

There has certainly not been a lack of research on the various ways social media has been bad for us. While these social platforms were meant to bring us together, what they have actually done has negatively impacted our mental health by sparking the feelings of low self-esteem, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and isolation in many.

Knowing how to hide your likes on Instagram is a step taken by both Instagram and its parent company, Facebook, to improve the quality and safety of its users. The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said that the idea is to depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition, and give users more space to focus on connecting with people they like and the things that inspire them.

Instagram is hoping that with less pressure on the number of likes, there will come a higher number of posts from users, and fewer posts will be deleted due to low like counts.

WATCH: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announces that the platform will start hiding likes for US audiences starting next week. It's the latest step in Instagram’s quest to become the safest place on the internet. https://t.co/BGkMG57rdk #WIRED25 pic.twitter.com/WNTyAPVhaD

— WIRED (@WIRED) November 9, 2019

There were several reasons behind this decision:

• From the users' perspective: Instagram wishes to guarantee its users more freedom to engage with content, less social pressure, and less comparing themselves to other people.
• From influencers' or creators' perspective: Instagram wants influencers and creators to be less focused on the number of likes in general but instead focus on creating valuable content and building relationships with followers.
• From Instagram's perspective: Instagram is still in a fight against buying likes, as it wants to create a safer space for its users.

Why Should Brands Hide Likes On Instagram?

With Instagram likes carrying such enormous weight, it appears to the platform that many users have been pressured to post content that will make them popular online. Because of this, the platform has received several criticisms for creating a toxic, false, and intensified environment for its users.

In fact, in its early experiment, Instagram found that those who chose to hide likes on Instagram felt depressurized and had more autonomy over their activity.

By removing likes, the tech giant wants to reduce the pressure involved when posting online and lessen the need for social comparison. But is that the only reason to hide likes count? Here are some other reasons to hide likes on Instagram:

Results In More Qualitative Content

When Instagram users cannot see the number of likes on other people's posts, it could open up more creative thinking. The idea here is to shift users' focus from the number of likes to the quality of the content, like images and captions – rather than thinking about what works and not solely based on the number of likes.

You can still know how many likes your posts get as a user. Combined with other metrics, you can get to know what your followers like seeing from you and what they don't like. Instagram hopes that users dare to post more quality content without worrying about the post being perceived as not being impressive based on hearts – when it might indeed be the opposite.

Even if you choose to hide likes on Instagram, they still constitute a metric affecting the post's performance. It even affects collaborations between brands and influencers.

Learn more about Instagram Influencer Marketing: All You Need To Know

Decreases Need For Social Validation

It can be hard to deal with imposter syndrome when you don't get enough validation or appreciation for your efforts. By comparing the likes on your post with the likes on posts of big brands, you might have the idea that you are not good enough to compete with such big brands. Hiding the likes count on Instagram can help to alleviate those feelings.

Helps With Removing Social Bias

Sometimes, people can't help letting social bias influence their opinions. If they see a brand's account with fewer likes than others, they might even think it isn't worth their time. If you choose to hide likes on Instagram in such a scenario, it will help to stop people from judging any account on the platform and encourage them to view your content more objectively.

Does Not Affect The Instagram Algorithm

The engagement ratios for all purposes calculated by Instagram algorithms remain the same. Only the "likes" counter disappears from its original space at the bottom of a post when the original publisher of the post chooses to keep the likes counter hidden.

Visitors can still click the heart emoticon, and the invisible counter still counts the likes in the same manner. The post creator can still see the total number of likes the post has received.

Access your Instagram like history! Learn how to see liked posts on Instagram and easily revisit photos, videos, and accounts you've engaged with.

How To Hide Likes On Instagram?

• How To Hide Likes On Instagram From Other Instagram Account's Posts?

• How To Hide Likes On Instagram On Your Own Post When Creating It?

• How To Hide Number Of Likes On Instagram On An Already Published Post?

• How To Find Hidden Likes On Instagram?

Currently, there is no way to hide likes on Instagram for all of your posts. However, you can easily turn the likes counter off for any new or existing post one by one. This will prevent other users from seeing how many likes your post gets, but you will still receive notifications whenever your post is liked. You also have the option to turn off the likes counter on all the posts in your timeline.

How To Hide Likes On Instagram From Other Instagram Account's Posts?

Now you have the answer for how to hide my likes on Instagram. Follow the below steps if you want to learn about hiding Instagram likes on the post from other Instagram users when you browse them on your feed:

Step 1: Go to your profile & click on the hamburger menu in the top right corner.
Step 2: Tap "Settings" -> "Privacy."
Step 3: Under "Interactions," tap "Posts." You'll find an option to Hide likes, which you can toggle on to hide likes on Instagram.

You will no longer see likes and views counts on any posts in your timeline. But this does not affect if others can see the likes and views counts on your own posts.

How To Hide Likes On Instagram On Your Own Post When Creating It?

Instagram provides you the option to hide the like count on your post from other users when they browse it. To hide likes on Instagram on your own post when creating it, you need to follow the below steps for each new post as you create it:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your device & start creating an Instagram post.
Step 2: On the New Post page, tap Advanced Settings at the bottom of the page.
Step 3: In the Like and view counts section, toggle the button to the right to turn on Hide like and view counts on this post.

How To Hide Number Of Likes On Instagram On An Already Published Post?

If you are searching answer for "how to hide my likes on Instagram" & want to disable the like count display on your post even after it has been published, here are the steps:

Step 1: Go to your profile & open the post for which you wish to hide likes.
Step 2: Tap the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the post.
Step 3: From the pop-up menu, tap Hide Like Count to hide likes on Instagram after you have published a post.

How To Find Hidden Likes On Instagram?

If you enjoy the process of hiding Instagram likes and now you want to see what all the fuss is about, switching on the hide likes on Instagram feature is pretty easy.

When likes are hidden, you will still be able to show your appreciation with a double-tap. But, rather than seeing the total number of likes under the post, you will just see "Liked by [Instagram_user] and others."

If you click "others," you will see a list of everyone who liked that post. You could scroll through the list and count them (if you wanted to). Or, you can even go back to your settings and turn on the likes count.

This simply means that brands and influencers won't be in the dark about their like count (only their followers will be).

However, unlike posting on Instagram from PC, Instagram hasn't yet made hiding like a possibility on the desktop.

In A Nutshell

You can get likes on Instagram through consistent and constant efforts. But you don't have to concentrate on this metric itself for your Instagram growth. Instagram likes are the component of the system that is responsible for the growth of the engagement rate on this platform.

Valuable content posted regularly for the right audience would generate many more likes. Content is king on Instagram, so you should work on improving the quality of your content all the time and keep checking your analytics regularly as an indication of your progress.

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FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Here are some commonly asked questions about how to hide likes on Instagram:

Can you hide your likes on Instagram?

Instagram provides you the option to hide the number of links under your posts. You can hide likes on your own Instagram posts and on Instagram accounts you follow.

Why can’t I hide likes on Instagram?

If you are using an older version of the Instagram app, your operating system is not updated, or you might not find the option to hide likes on Instagram due to occasional bugs. You can even try reporting the problem to Instagram if it persists.

How to hide likes and views on Instagram reels?

The option of Hide like and view counts on this post is not available for reels before publishing a post. However, the number of likes on Instagram reels can be hidden after publishing.How To Hide Likes On Instagram