It is no secret that blocking is the digital equivalent of severing ties with someone in real life. After all, since it leaves behind no possibility of communication between the user who blocked someone and the one who was blocked, it’s clear that there’s a strong reason behind this action. However, while there was just a single action of blocking on social media platforms back in the time, today, the nature of blocking has also grown diverse beyond one’s expectations.
Nowadays, in addition to blocking someone’s profile completely, you can also block people from calling you, texting you, viewing your stories, commenting on your posts, and so on.
Instagram is one such platform where you can block people from doing all sorts of things on your profile. In other words, if there’s an issue you have with someone but you don’t want them to know about it – because blocking is an evident action – you can also hide specific kinds of content from them.
And as is the rule of social media, anything you can do to others on the platform can also be done to you. Do you have a feeling that someone has blocked you from seeing their Instagram stories? If so, stick with us till the end of the blog to find out some answers.
How to Know Who Blocked Me from Seeing Their Instagram Stories
If you’re here asking this question, it’s evident that something unusual took place on Instagram recently, which has made way to this budding suspicion in your mind. It could be the sudden disappearance of the stories of a user who is usually too keen on uploading them.
Or is it a stupid argument you had with someone that you believe could have led to them hiding their stories from you? Whatever the reason, we’re afraid you won’t like the answer:
There is no direct way of finding out who blocked you from seeing their Instagram stories on the platform.
This is because the whole point of having a feature of blocking someone solely from your Stories, and not completely on the platform was to remain discreet. If Instagram told you about it, it’d be seen as nothing less than a violent breach of user’s privacy.
With that being said, if you absolutely have to find out about it, there are other ways of doing so. While they might not work for everyone, the least we could do to help is to share the trick with you. Check them out below:
Using an alternative account to check for sure
Owning two different accounts on Instagram might seem insane to people of the last generation, but among the gen Z, it’s seen as cool.
These users often maintain a personal account where they upload all kinds of stuff they don’t want the world seeing; their other public account is for the things they want everyone to see.
If you happen to have two accounts on the platform as well, and are connected to this user from both accounts, you can quickly switch accounts and see if their stories are visible from the latter.
Of course, there’s a chance that they could’ve blocked both your accounts, but since people often tend to overlook such complexes in the heat of the moment, you might still have the benefit of the doubt.
Reaching out to a mutual friend for help
Another trick you can use requires you to have a mutual connection you can go to. If you and this person have a third friend or relative, you could ask them to help you by checking if they have or haven’t uploaded any new story recently.
However, you’ll need to ensure that they maintain confidentiality; otherwise, it’ll only make matters worse for you.
How can I block someone from seeing my Instagram stories?
Now that we’ve talked at length about figuring out if someone has blocked you from viewing their stories on Instagram, aren’t you a little bit curious about how it’s done?
If you are, we have the answer right here for you! Just go through these steps one, and you’ll know everything about the process:
Step 1: From your smartphone’s app menu grid, navigate Instagram’s mobile app icon (a pinkish-purple camera icon with bold white borders) and give it a tap.
The app will launch on your screen next.
Step 2: Where do you find yourself first? The home tab, with the most recent updates of the people you follow displayed right in front of you.
You need to go to the Explore tab from here; to do that, navigate the magnifying glass icon – located on the right side of the home icon – at the bottom-most bar on your screen and tap on it.
Step 3: The Explore tab on Instagram is the culmination of posts and reels that are relevant to your interests and likings on the platform.
Atop this tab, you’ll spot a search bar.
Tap on this bar, enter the name of the person whom you want to block from your Stories, and hit search.
Step 4: As their profile comes up in the search results next, give it a tap to view it in full display.
Step 5: Next, you’ll be taken to their full profile.
Here, on the top-most bar of the screen, right next to their username written in bold letters, you’ll find two icons: A bell icon, and an ellipsis (three dots arranged horizontally).
Give the second icon a tap here.
Step 6: Upon doing so, a floating menu will appear on your screen.
On this menu, you’ll find all the actions you can take for their profile, including those of blocking, restricting, and reporting them.
The fourth option on this list is of Hide your story; give it a tap.
You’ll immediately find a notification saying: @xyz will no longer see your story.
(Here, @xyz is the username of the person whom you’re blocking from your stories)
Your goal is now accomplished! And the best part is, you can follow the exact same steps to undo this act.
In the end
With this, we’re ready to wrap things up for the day. Would you like a quick summary of our learnings before we leave? Here we go:
We began by discussing blocking on social media, and how it has grown diverse with time. On Instagram, you can block people from texting you, viewing your stories, and altogether, that’s three ways for one platform. Talk about far too many?
Then, moved on to talk about how to figure out if someone blocked you from seeing their stories; we’ve mentioned two tricks that have seemed to work for other users and are worth your shot.
In the end, we’ve also attached a step-by-step guide to blocking someone from seeing your Instagram Stories, if it ever comes to that. Were we able to resolve your query? Tell us how we can do better in the comments below!
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