Instagram Mute Feature: A Step-by-Step Guide to Muting Annoying Accounts

Whether cyberloafing to kill time during work hours or tuning in for your regularly scheduled Instagram Stories programming before bed, one thing is certain: You’re always bound to stumble across at least one or two ‘grams from an account you’d rather not follow, were it not for the looming threat of FOMO (or, should they find out, a ruined relationship). This social media conundrum may be no longer, however, as the app announced that it will unveil a new muting feature.

The company said in an announcement Tuesday that it was bringing the feature to its feed, allowing users to “hide posts in feed from certain accounts, without unfollowing them.” This is great news for anyone on the app who mistakenly follows extended family, college dorm-mates, or Sarah from the bar that one time. Similary to the feature that’s already been popularized on Twitter and Facebook (unfollowing), the mute feature on Instagram will help you tune out the noise to better customize your feed — without anyone being any wiser.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to use the feature in-app:

• Navigate to the Account: First, navigate to the account you’d like to mute in your Instagram feed.

• Open the Options Menu: Once there, select the […] button in the upper-righthand corner of the app.

• Select How to Mute: Once in the […] menu, select the “Mute” option. You’ll be prompted with three options to either mute posts, mute stories, or mute both from the account.

The cool thing about muting on Instagram is that you’ll still be pinged with notifications, which is not the case with Twitter. “When you mute an account, you can still see posts on their profile page and get notified about comments or posts you’re tagged in,” the company said. Instagram also noted that users can retroactively unmute accounts to bring their content back into the feed.

Instagram said users can expect the feature to appear in the app “over the coming weeks.” Be sure not to mention it to your weird aunt, though, lest she start to wonder why you aren’t pity-fav’ing her posts anymore.