Anybody can send responses to Instagram Stories by default. Change this setting to control who among your audience can send you feedback.
Whether an Instagram user who just wants to share stories and not necessarily receive feedback, or Insta-famous and don’t have time to sort through an inbox crammed with Instagram story reactions, it is possible to change story settings to completely disable the reply function. Users can also restrict replies so that only those coming from people they follow go to the Messages inbox. Fiddling with Instagram’s story settings can be helpful in not only managing inbox content but also minimizing exposure to spam and online harassment.
Since its launch in August 2016, Instagram Stories has garnered a lot of bells and whistles that make it one of the more popular components of the social media platform. Apart from being able to make Stories a little more dynamic by adding the ability to include polls in posts, users can also create Reels, ask questions, share ‘On This Day’ memories, and include countdown timers for events. In terms of security, in addition to being able to control who can reply to stories, users can also see who viewed their timed photos and videos.
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The default setting for any Instagram story is that anybody who can view them can reply to the poster through a direct message. To modify this, launch the Instagram app and tap on the profile photo in the bottom-right corner of the screen to get to the profile page. Tap the menu (hamburger) icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then go to ‘Settings‘ (gear icon), followed by ‘Privacy‘ and then ‘Story‘. Under the option to ‘Allow message replies‘ in the ‘Replying’ section, Instagram users can choose between three options. To completely disable the reply feature and stop people from sending responses to Stories, select ‘Off‘. To limit replies and only receive reactions sent by followed accounts, select ‘People you follow‘. Otherwise, leave the ‘Everyone‘ option checked so that anyone who views a story can respond.
What To Expect After Disabling Instagram Story Replies
When replies are restricted for Instagram Stories, only accounts followed by the user will be able to see the ‘Send Message‘ text bubble at the bottom of the story page. Followers of Instagram accounts that have their replies shuttered will not be able to see the ‘Send Message’ feature at all. They can, however, still send a heart emoji as a quick reaction to the poster and share the story with others via direct message.
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It is important to remember that every Instagram story has a 24-hour lifespan and viewers will eventually stop seeing the post from the feed, the main Instagram profile, and direct messages. Photos and videos from a person’s story shared by direct message will no longer be viewable in conversations, but the text included with the attached story will remain visible after the 24 hours are up. The only way to exceed the time limit is by adding the Story as an Instagram Highlight.
