Instagram has become a hub for sharing everyday moments through stories, a feature that allows you to publish short videos or visible images for only 24 hours. However, the abundance of content can sometimes be excessive, leading to the desire for a digital break or greater control over what you see and who sees its contents.
Whether you want to temporarily silence the stories of some friends who publish too many, or prefer to hide your stories from specific contacts for privacy or professional reasons, Instagram offers different solutions. This article is an exhaustive guide that will illustrate you step by step how to manage the visibility of stories, both those of other users and yours, directly from your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Why Customize Your Experience on Instagram?
The need to manage content streams on Instagram is not only a matter of personal preference, but it can result from several factors that aim to improve the overall user experience on the platform:
- Reduction of Digital Business: Excessive number of stories can cause a feeling of information overload, making the experience less pleasant and more tiring. Silencing the content of some users allows you to recover a sense of control.
- Improved Feed Quality: Carefully care who appears in your feed stories allows you to focus on the content that are really relevant, interesting or inspirational for you.
- Staff: The ability to decide who can see their stories is fundamental to maintain a certain level of privacy, especially when you share more personal moments or you want to avoid that certain people (collections, distant relatives, former acquaintances) have access to such content.
- Personal and Professional Sphere Separation: Many use Instagram also for professional purposes. Hiding the most personal stories to work contacts can help maintain a clear distinction between your private and public or professional image.
- Avoid Unwanted Content: Although you can appreciate a person, its content may not always be in line with your own tastes or sensitivity. The silence function allows you to avoid such content without having to resort to unfollow.
Instagram stories management features are powerful tools that, if used correctly, can transform your interaction with the platform, making it more aware, pleasant and in line with your personal needs.
How to Silence Stories of a Specific User
If you want to take a break from a user's stories without stopping following it, Instagram offers you a silence feature that will remove them from your feed without the person concerned knowing about it.
From Smartphone and Tablet (Android/iOS)
The procedure to silence stories from mobile devices is intuitive and fast:
- Open the Instagram app: Launch the application on your device and make sure you have logged in to your account.
- Locate your profile: You can do it in two ways. If the user’s story is visible at the top of your feed, hold on the icon of its history until a menu appears. Alternatively, you can use the magnifying glass icon to search for the user and go directly to his profile.
- Access silence options: If you are on the feed, select the option “Silenzia” from the pop-up menu. If you are on the user profile, tap the button “Follow already” (or “Following” if the app is in English) located under the biography.
- Select “Delete” option: From the menu that opens, choose the voice “Silenzia”.
- Silenzia le storia: At this point, you will be asked what you want to silence. Move up ♪ the lever next to “Storie” to disable the display of only stories.
Once the operation is completed, the stories of that user will no longer appear in the stories bar of your feed. You can still see their regular posts if you did not choose to silence them too.
How to reactivate stories: To return to see the stories of a user, go back to his profile, tap “Follow already”, select “Silenzia” and move on OFF the lever next to “Storie”.
From Computer (Web/Application Desktop)
Also from computer, you can silence the stories of a user, and the effect will be synchronized with your mobile app:
- Login to Instagram: Open your favorite browser and go to the official Instagram website, or start the desktop application for Windows. Login to your account.
- Reach user profile: Use the top search bar to find the profile of the person you want to silence the stories and click on its name to visit it.
- Access silence options: Click on the button “Follow already” (or “Following”) you find on your profile.
- Select “Subject”: From the drop-down menu, choose the option “Silenzia”.
- Silenzia le storia: Put the check mark on the voice “Storie”. There might be a button “Save” click to confirm the operation.
The stories of that user will no longer be visible in the story section of your feed, either from computer or from mobile.
How to reactivate stories: To restore the view, go back to the user profile, click on “Follow already”, then up “Silenzia”, and uncheck the box next to “Storie”, then save the changes.
How to Silence At the same time Posts and Stories
Sometimes, the desire for a break can also extend to regular posts of a user. Instagram allows you to silence both posts and stories of a person at the same time, still keeping the follow.
Unified procedure (Smartphone and Computer)
The procedure is very similar to the one described for the only stories, with a slight variation in the last passage:
- Reach user profile: From smartphones or computers, navigate to the profile of the person you want to silence.
- Access the following options: Tap (on mobile) or click (on computer) button “Follow already”.
- Select “Subject”: From the menu that appears, choose the item “Silenzia”.
- Choose what to silence: At this point, you will have different options:
- On mobile: Move up ♪ leveraging “Post” and “Storie”.
- On computer: Put the check mark on the boxes “Post” and “Storie” and confirmation with “Save” if required.
This action will hide both the new posts and future stories of the user from your feed, ensuring greater tranquility.
How to reactivate posts and stories: At any time, you can return to the user profile, access the menu “Silenzia” and turn off the levers or uncheck the boxes to “Post” and “Storie”.
How to Hide Your Stories to People Specifications
In addition to managing what you see, Instagram offers you granular control over who can see your stories, an essential feature for privacy.
Option 1: Use the “Flower Friends” label
This feature is ideal for sharing exclusive content with a small group of people.
From Smartphone and Tablet
- Go to your profile: Open the app and tap the icon of your profile in the bottom right corner.
- Access the menu: Tap the icon of the three horizontal lines (or three dots on Android) in the upper right corner.
- Select “Flower Friends”: From the menu that opens, choose this entry.
- Manage the list: Here you can add or remove people from your list of “closer friends”. Only people in this list will see the stories you decide to share with them.
- Share a story with “ Closer friends”: After creating a story, instead of touching “Your history”, select the option “Little friends” down to the right. The frame of history will be green to indicate that it is private.
From Computer
Also from computer you can manage the list, although the creation and publication of stories takes place mainly from mobile:
- Login to Instagram: Enter your account through your browser or desktop application.
- Go to the settings: Click on the icon “Other” (three horizontal lines or vertical dots) in the left sidebar and then on “Settings”.
- Select “Flower Friends”: Find this option in the settings menu.
- Manage the list: Add or remove users from the list. Changes will also be effective on your mobile app.
Option 2: Hide History to People Specifications
This option allows you to exclude individual individuals from displaying your stories.
From Smartphone and Tablet
- Go to your profile: Open the Instagram app and access your profile page.
- Access the settings menu: Tap the icon of the three horizontal lines on the top right.
- Browse the privacy settings: Select “Settings and Activities”, then swipe to “History and live video”.
- Select people to exclude: Tape “History and live video”. Here you can search and select the names of the people you don't want to show your stories. Changes are saved automatically.
From Computer
- Login to Instagram: Enter your account through your browser or desktop application.
- Go to the privacy settings: Click on the icon “Other” (three horizontal lines or vertical dots) in the left sidebar and then on “Settings”.
- Select the option to hide stories: In the left panel, search and click on “Privacy and security”, so “History”. You may need to search for an option as “History” or similar.
- Manage exclusions: Here you can select the people to hide your stories, placing a check mark next to their names. Make sure you save the changes.
Important considerations
- Reversibility: All silence and hiding actions are completely reversible. You can change your settings at any time.
- No Notification: Users are not alerted when their stories are silenced by you or when you hide your stories from them. These actions are discreet.
- Synchronization: The settings applied on a device (smartphone, tablet or computer) automatically synchronize on all other devices connected to your Instagram account.
Conclusion
Instagram offers a range of flexible and powerful tools to customize your experience on the platform. Whether you are submerged by a constant flow of stories and want a break, or that you want to keep a tighter control over the privacy of your content, the silence and hiding options are at your disposal.
Learning to manage these settings will allow you not only to improve your daily interaction with social networks, making it more enjoyable and targeted, but also to protect your privacy and edit the image you want to present online. Experience these features to model Instagram exactly as you want it.
