How to find out if someone blocked you on Instagram
Uh oh, so you think you were blocked by someone on Instagram, but you can't tell because they might have just deleted their account. That's a tough spot to be in.
The blocking function on Instagram makes it so a user can make themselves nearly invisible to another user on the app. If you block an account, they are removed from your followers list, you stop following them, and it is very hard for them to find your profile. Your comments, tags, and likes are also no longer visible to them.
Instagram won't notify you if you are blocked by another user, which makes it tricky to figure out if you were blocked or if an account was deactivated/deleted, but we can help you figure that out. However, we can't help you figure out why you were blocked, that's on you.
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If you think someone blocked you, start out by searching for their profile in the app. If their profile comes up, you're not blocked.
If you no longer follow them, but their profile came up they could have not blocked you, but removed you as a follower.
If the profile doesn't come up and you are unsure if the person deactivated or deleted their account or blocked you, try finding a comment that the account is tagged in.This was the only way we were able to find an account that blocked you within the app. When you click the tag of an account that blocked you in a comment, their profile will come up. You will be able to see their number of posts, but where posts are usually found it says, "No Posts Yet" which is the telltale sign of being blocked.
Look up the account on a web browser
You can also look up the account you think blocked you on a web browser. Make sure you are not logged into your Instagram account to see if the account still exists.
Open your preferred browser
Navigate to instagram.com/username of the account you think blocked you into the search bar
If the account comes up but did not appear when you searched for it while you were logged into your account, you were blocked.
Another strategy is to look up the account while logged into a friend's Instagram and if it comes up for them and it didn't come up for you, then you were blocked. You can also create a burner Instagram to check if the account comes up.
You could also just text the person you think blocked you, but that risks the possibility of finding out your number was blocked too, yikes!
Elena is a tech reporter and the resident Gen Z expert at Mashable. She covers TikTok and digital trends. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in American History. Email her at [email protected] or follow her @ecaviar_.
