How to Hide Comments on Instagram

Method 1: Hide comments by keyword with Hidden Words

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This is what people mean when they say they want to hide Instagram comments. You give Instagram a list of words, and any comment containing one gets hidden the moment it is posted, on every post you have. You set it once and it runs without you.

1. 1Open Settings and activityIn the Instagram app, go to your profile and tap the three lines in the top right. That opens Settings and activity, which is where every moderation control on Instagram lives.
2. 2Find Hidden WordsScroll down to the section called How others can interact with you and tap Hidden Words. It is a long way down and it is easy to scroll past, which is most of the reason people think this feature does not exist.
3. 3Tap Manage custom words and phrasesThis is your own list, separate from anything Instagram filters on its own. It starts empty. Whatever you put here is the only part of this screen you control.
4. 4Add your words, separated by commasType the words, phrases, and emojis you want hidden, with a comma between each one, then tap Add. Any language works, because Instagram is matching the characters you typed. Emojis count, so the flood of the same three symbols under every post can go here too.
5. 5Turn on Hide commentsThis is the step people miss. Your list does nothing until the Hide comments switch is on. There is a separate switch for message requests, and turning one on does not turn the other on.
6. 6Check what it caughtOpen one of your posts, scroll to the bottom of the comments, and tap View hidden comments. Do this after a day. It is the only way to see what your list actually caught, and what it wrongly caught.

Method 2: Turn on Instagram's own comment filter

Next to your word list are two switches with lists Instagram writes and maintains. You cannot see inside either one and you cannot edit them. They are on or off, and that is the whole control.

1. 1Go back to Hidden WordsSame screen as Method 1: Settings and activity, then Hidden Words. Instagram's own filters sit above your custom list on the same page.
2. 2Turn on the offensive comments filterThis hides comments Instagram reads as offensive, spam, or misleading. It runs on Instagram's list, not yours, so it catches things you never thought to type and misses things you did.
3. 3Consider advanced comment filteringA second switch that reaches further and hides more. It also hides more that you wanted to keep, so turn it on and then go look at your hidden comments before you trust it.

Method 3: Hide one person's comments with Restrict

This is Instagram's real answer to hiding a person rather than a word, and almost nobody searching for it knows its name. Restrict someone and their comments on your posts become visible only to them. They keep commenting into a room with nobody in it.

1. 1Open the comment menuOn iPhone, swipe left on the comment. On Android, tap and hold it. You get pin, report, and delete, and Restrict lives behind the report icon rather than out in the open.
2. 2Choose RestrictTap the report icon and pick Restrict, or open the person's profile, tap the three dots, and choose Restrict there. You can also find it under Settings and activity, in Restricted accounts.
3. 3Approve or ignore what they writeFrom now on you still see their comments, with the option to approve one so everyone can see it, delete it, or leave it hidden. Doing nothing leaves it hidden, which is usually the right move.

Method 4: What to do with a comment that is already up

Your options for one comment sitting under a post right now are narrower than you want, because none of the three icons is Hide. Here is what each one actually does, so you pick on purpose instead of by accident.

1. 1Delete removes it, and it is the loud optionSwipe left, tap the trash icon. The comment is gone for everyone including the person who wrote it, which is exactly why they notice. A deleted comment is the one that comes back as a story post about being censored.
2. 2Restrict is the quiet optionIf the person is going to comment again, restrict them instead. It handles the comment that is up and every comment they write after it, and they are never told.
3. 3Report is for Instagram, not for youReporting sends it to Instagram to judge against their rules. It is not a moderation tool for your page and it does not hide anything on your timeline while they think about it.
4. 4Add the word so it never happens againWhatever you just dealt with by hand, take thirty seconds and put its word into Hidden Words. That is the difference between moderating once and moderating forever.

Where Instagram's own options stop

Turn all of them on. They cost nothing and they work. They also share one blind spot, and once you see it you will see it under every post you have: every one of them is matching something a person had to think of first.

• Hidden Words only catches the words you thought of

  Your list is a snapshot of the spam you have already seen. The scam that turns up next Tuesday uses a word that is not on it, and it keeps working until you notice, open Settings, and add the word. The list is permanently one incident behind.

• Restrict is one person at a time

  It is the right tool for the regular who will not leave you alone. It does nothing about fifty fresh accounts that comment once each and never come back, which is what spam under an ad actually looks like.

• Nothing here reads meaning

  "Great page, DM me and I will get your followers up by Friday" has no profanity in it, no banned word, and no name you would ever think to block. Every filter Instagram has reads it as a compliment. Your customers read it as a scam under your ad, because it is.

• Instagram's own filter is a locked box

  You cannot see what is in it, change it, or find out why something got through. When it hides a comment you wanted, your only control is to switch it off everywhere.

• Your ad comments are the ones you never see

  Hidden Words covers them, but you have to find them to check on them, and comments on ads do not sit on your profile grid. They are the comments doing the most damage and the least visible to you.

• Someone has to keep all of it current

  Two filters, a word list, and a restricted list, all needing a person who remembers to open View hidden comments and look. That person is you, at night, on your phone.

None of this makes Instagram's options bad. It makes them what they are: a good way to hide words and people you already know about, on a platform where the problem is new every week.

When it does not work

• Why is there no Hide option when I swipe left on a comment?

  Because Instagram does not have one. The swipe menu is pin, report, and delete, and Restrict is tucked behind the report icon. Nothing is broken and no update will add it. If you want that comment out of public view without deleting it, restrict the person who wrote it.

• Why are comments still showing after I added the words?

  Check the Hide comments switch first, because your list does nothing until it is on, and that is the step almost everyone misses. Then check that the filter only applies to comments posted after you saved the word, so anything already there stays. Last, check the comment really contains your exact word rather than something close to it.

• Why can I not find Hidden Words in my Instagram settings?

  It is in Settings and activity, a long way down, under the section called How others can interact with you. It is not in your profile edit screen and it is not in Meta Business Suite. If you are looking on desktop, use the app, because this is one of the settings the app owns.

• Why did Instagram hide a comment I wanted to keep?

  Almost always advanced comment filtering, which reaches into wording that is not offensive in context. Open the post, tap View hidden comments, and unhide it. If it was your own list, look for a short word that lives inside longer innocent ones, because it will keep catching them until you remove it.

• Why do restricted people still show up in my comments?

  They are supposed to. Restrict hides their comments from everyone else, not from you, so you can approve anything that turns out to be fine. If you can see it and nobody else can, it is working exactly as intended.