From being a visual-centric platform with little scope to becoming the social media platform with the highest frequency of usage globally, Instagram has come a long way. And surprisingly enough, it continues to grow at the same pace.
The popularity of this platform among its user has increased its potential manifold, so much so that all the businesses and celebrities want to create an attractive presence for themselves here. Every little feature on the platform is scrutinized to maximize growth on the platform, and in our blog today, we’ll discuss one such feature: the time stamps on liking someone’s picture.
If this has held your curiosity at all, come with us on this journey of exploring all its nuances. Let’s get started!
Is it Possible to Figure out Exactly When Someone Liked Your Photo on Instagram?
Have you ever come across the term eidetic memory? It is basically used to refer to people with a photographic memory who can recall anything they might’ve seen, heard, or experienced even a long time ago. Doesn’t it sound more like a gift? It would be so amazing to be able to remember everything without any struggle. Sadly, about 2-5% of the children in the world show symptoms of eidetic memory, indicating just how rare this gift is.
And while we can’t voluntarily achieve an eidetic memory, we do use smart devices to get that job done for us. Want to save a phone number? Open Contacts on your cell phone. Keep forgetting your passwords? Save them all in your phone’s Notes. Can’t keep track of your mother narrating a recipe? Record the call.
Smart devices are how normal people compensate for not having an eidetic memory. But there are still countless little things that we forget on a daily basis. For instance, how often we check social media, how much time we spend there, and what do we do in that time. We understand that you might have a vague answer to these questions, but how accurately can you answer them? Would you remember exactly when someone liked your photo on Instagram?
When it comes to the activities of Instagram, it’s always best to head over to the Activity tab on the platform because that’s where answers to questions like these are found.
The Activity Tab: the record of all activity on your profile is stored here
Those who have been using Instagram for longer than 4 years must be familiar with how your Activity tab once had two categories: one to track your activities and the other to track that of the users you followed.
Then, this feature became a convenient method of stalking others and created a privacy issue for many. To eradicate these problems, Instagram decided to remove the second part of the Activity tab back in August 2019. Today, your Activity tab will only contain the information about all activities that take place on your profile, including when someone likes or comments on your stories, posts, and reels.
Now, coming back to the real question you’ve been wondering about all along: do these records come with a time stamp? Because that would be quite handy if you needed to figure out exactly when someone liked your post on the platform.
Well, we hate to break it to you, but while Instagram notifications do have a time stamp on them, it’s not the kind you were expecting.
Instead of traditional stamps like 06:38 pm on 21.06.22, Instagram simply mentions time in a relative manner, such as 15m, 3h, 2d, 1w, and so on. In other words, the time stamp on Instagram notifications can give you a good idea of when someone might have liked your photo but wouldn’t be able to help you with the exact time.
However, if you’ve posted something less than an hour ago, you can check your notifications and calculate the exact timing of someone’s likes easily. It is because the time stamps on all notifications up to one hour are accurate enough to give you a particular time. This also means that the older a notification, the wider its range of time becomes.
Wondering where to find the Activity Tab? Check this
If you’re here asking us these questions, there might be a chance you’re new to Instagram and yet to familiarize yourself with where what is located on the platform. If this is the case, here’s an easy way to guide you to the Activity tab of your account:
Step 1: Launch the Instagram app from your device’s menu grid.
Step 2: As soon as the app opens, you’ll find yourself on the Home tab, where all the updates from the people you follow are listed reverse chronologically.
If you look at the bottom of your screen, you’ll find a row of 5 icons arranged horizontally there. The first icon would be of home, which is black because you’re on the tab right now.
The fourth icon from your left would be a white heart. This is the icon that takes you to the Activity tab.
So, all you need to do is tap on it, and bam! You’re on your Activity tab. Now scroll away to look for all the notifications you need to.
What about the photos you like on Instagram? Can you check the time for those?
Now that you’ve already established that Instagram notifications can only provide you with a range of time within which someone liked your phone, aren’t you curious about checking the timings of your own likes?
We understand your curiosity and are glad to tell you that Instagram does have a dedicated section for all your activities on the platform, which is called Interactions. Below, we’ll also guide you on how to reach there on your mobile app. But first, you need to know that the time stamp on those will remain the same as on the Activity tab. Sounds good? Great!
Let’s proceed to our step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Launch the Instagram app on your device.
You’ll find yourself on the Home tab first. From here, navigate a thumbnail of your profile picture at the bottom-right corner of your screen, and tap on it.
Step 2: Doing so will take you to your Profile tab. Here, in the top-right corner, you’ll spot a hamburger icon; tap on it.
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