How to tell if you’ve been blocked on Instagram

If someone has blocked you from their Instagram account, you won’t be notified of the change. Instead, you’ll need to work out for yourself whether it’s a glitch or if you’ve upset the person to the point where they no longer want you to comment on or view their posts. We show you a few ways to find out if you’ve been blocked on Instagram.

Search for their account

The most obvious way to check if you’ve been blocked by someone on Instagram is to search for their account. Normally when you do this, you’ll see their name appear in the search results and when you select it you should be able to view all of their posts.

For example, in the picture below you’ll see my friend Lunar Jim’s account page, complete with the small selection of images that he’d posted so far.

Now, if the person in question has blocked you, the page will be a little different. Their name will still appear in the search results, and when you tap on it you’ll be taken to the account. But this time, the main pane will say No posts yet and tapping on either the Followers or Following will give you the message that your request couldn’t be completed at that time.

There’s one important caveat here. If, when you search for the person, you don’t see their name appear in the results, this doesn’t mean you’ve been blocked. Instead, it’s far more likely that they’ve either deleted their account or it’s been deactivated by Instagram. So, don’t get your nose put out of joint by what may be a simple mistake.

Check by using another person’s account

If you have friends who are willing to help you out, then you can ask them to search for the account in question and see if they are able to view the photos and followers. If they can, then it looks like you’ve been blocked. It’s probably best to get someone who doesn’t know the owner of the account, just in case they’ve been blocked as well due to their connection with you.

What can you do to get unblocked?

There’s no easy way to unblock your account. Firstly, the owner of the blocking account has every right to protect themselves from those they deem abusive, annoying or just plain unwelcome. Once you’ve been blocked, messaging doesn’t work as that’s kind of the point of blocking someone. The only real way to deal with the situation is either to ask a friend who has access to the blocker’s account to pass on a message asking if you’ve offended them in some way and apologising if you have. Or, well, just leave it alone. Maybe, in time, the person will unblock you, but if that isn’t the case then move on and find other people to follow.

But remember, pursuing someone online can be deemed harassment, which in turn can be something that’s handed over to the authorities for investigation. Plus, it’s also a very crappy thing to do and we’ve all got enough to be dealing with at the moment without online abusers adding to the pile.

If you have unwanted comments from someone on your posts, take a look at our guide on how to block people on Instagram.