Instants Vs. Stories: All About Instagram's New Feature and How to Use It
Instants is as fleeting as an Instagram Story, but not editable.
www.today.comHere’s the latest on turning off Instagram Instants.
Answer
- Yes, you can disable Instants in Instagram’s settings and hide them from your inbox, effectively turning off the feature for most users.
What to do (step-by-step)
- Open Instagram and go to your profile.
- Tap the three-lines menu (top-right) to access Settings.
- Go to Content Preferences (or similar, depending on app version).
- Turn on Hide Instants in Inbox (this removes Instants from your inbox).
- If you don’t want any notifications, go to Notifications and disable Instants notifications as well.
- Optional: If you accidentally share an Instant, you may be able to retract or undo within a brief window.
Notes and nuances
- Some articles emphasize two main approaches: (a) hide Instants in Inbox to remove the feature from view, and (b) turn off Instants notifications to prevent alerts. Both approaches are commonly recommended by tech outlets in May 2026.[1][4][8]
- If you want a temporary pause instead of a full hide, you can snooze or dismiss Instants in the DM inbox, depending on your app’s current UI.[4][5]
- There are several how-to videos and articles posted around May 12–14, 2026, reflecting a rapid guide-update cycle as Instagram refined the labels (Content Preferences, Hide Instants in Inbox, etc.).[3][5][6]
Citations
- How to turn off Instants via Settings and Hide Instants in Inbox guidance.[1]
- Description of hiding Instants in Inbox within Content Preferences.[5][3]
- Notifications: turning off Instants notifications in Settings.[6][4]
If you’d like, I can tailor the exact menu labels to your current app version or walk you through a quick check of your Notifications settings to ensure you won’t get any Instants alerts.