Social media has become an integral part of our lives. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat allow us to share aspects of our lives with friends, family and followers through photos, videos and text. One popular feature is Instagram Stories, where users can post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours. However, sometimes you may want to hide your story from certain people. Whether you want to avoid someone seeing an awkward selfie or prevent a friend from feeling left out, Instagram allows you to customize exactly who can view your stories. This article will explain how to unhide your Instagram stories from specific people if you change your mind later.
Why Would You Want to Hide Your Story From Someone?
There are a few common reasons why you may want to hide your Instagram story from certain followers:
- Avoiding awkwardness: You want to post silly selfies or inside jokes that an acquaintance or coworker wouldn’t appreciate seeing.
- Preventing hurt feelings: You don’t want a close friend who couldn’t make it to your event to feel left out by seeing all the fun on your story.
- Maintaining privacy: You want to share vacation photos with close friends but don’t necessarily want your boss, coworkers or professional contacts seeing your personal activities.
- Excluding an ex: You recently went through a breakup and don’t want your ex seeing details about your social life.
- Limiting story views: You have a very large following and only want your best friends seeing certain casual or personal content.
The ability to customize your story audience gives you control over who sees what. But what happens when you change your mind later and want to unhide your story from someone?
How to Unhide Your Instagram Story for Someone
If you initially hid your story from someone but now want them to be able to view it, you can easily unhide the story.
From Your Story Settings
The easiest way is to change your story settings:
- Go to your profile and tap the three lines in the top right corner to access the menu.
- Select “Settings”.
- Tap “Privacy”.
- Tap “Story”.
- Here you will see a list of all your followers. The ones with a green circle are able to view your story while the ones with a gray circle cannot.
- Tap on the follower you want to unhide your story from.
- The circle will turn from gray to green. This means they can now view your story.
This method allows you to quickly unhide your story for any follower that you previously excluded.
When Posting a New Story
You can also add someone back while posting a new story:
- Tap the camera icon to open the Instagram story camera.
- After taking your photo or video, tap “Send To” on the bottom.
- Tap “Hide Story From”.
- This will open your followers list. Make sure the follower you want to unhide has a green circle next to their name rather than a gray one.
- Tap “Done” in the top right when finished.
Now when you post this story, it will be visible to the follower you unhid.
Things to Keep in Mind
- Unhiding only affects new stories posted after you changed the settings. It will not make previously hidden stories visible.
- You have to unhide followers one by one. There is no “unhide all” option.
- Stories disappear after 24 hours. So if it has been more than a day since you posted the hidden story, unhiding the follower will not allow them to see it.
- The follower will not receive a notification when you unhide your story for them.
How to See Who Has Viewed Your Instagram Story
Instagram doesn’t send notifications when someone views your story. But you can still see who has seen your story by checking your story viewers list:
- Go to your profile and tap on your story circle.
- Swipe up on your story thumbnail to open the viewers screen.
- Here you will see a list of followers who have viewed that particular story.
A green circle indicates followers who have seen that story, while a grey circle means they haven’t seen it yet. Remember that this only shows followers who actively looked at your story, not ones who may have seen it incidentally while scrolling through their feed. And if you have a private account, your story viewers list will only display followers you follow back.
Can You Tell if Someone Unhid Your Story?
Unfortunately there is no way to get a notification if someone unhides your story after initially hiding it. Instagram does not send any kind of alert to let you know when your story audience changes. The only way to know if someone unhid your story is by manually checking your story viewers list regularly to see if they looked at your new stories.
Some signs that a follower may have unhidden you include:
- They start viewing your stories frequently after a period of not looking at them.
- Your overall story viewers number increases.
- You notice them liking or commenting on your stories when they hadn’t previously.
But ultimately there is no definite way to confirm if or when someone unhid your stories unless they directly tell you. The best you can do is pay attention for patterns in story views that suggest they may now be back on your story viewer list.
Can You Tell Who Someone Has Hidden Their Story From?
Just as you can’t see if someone has unhidden your story, it is also impossible to tell who someone else has hidden their story from.
Instagram intentionally designed stories this way for privacy reasons. They don’t want you to be able to see the list of people someone has hidden their story from, as that would infringe on the story poster’s preferences.
Some signs that a friend may have hidden their story from you include:
- You suddenly stop seeing their stories in your feed.
- You notice other mutual friends talking about stories that you can’t view.
- Looking at their profile shows they have posted stories recently, but you can’t actually view the stories.
However, this could also just mean they have taken a break from posting on their story for a while. There is ultimately no foolproof way to check if you are on their hidden story list.
Should You Be Offended if Someone Hides Their Story From You?
Being hidden from someone’s Instagram story can feel a bit upsetting or offensive at first. It can seem like they are deliberately trying to exclude you and prevent you from seeing their life updates. However, try not to take it too personally. There are many valid reasons someone may hide their stories that have nothing to do with you:
- They want to post silly or embarrassing content without judgement.
- They don’t want coworkers or professional contacts seeing informal photos.
- They are only sharing intimate life updates with their closest confidants.
- They are posting content related to an event you couldn’t attend and don’t want you to feel excluded.
- They want a smaller audience for casual stories and limit views from frequent followers.
Hidden stories are not meant to be a personal slight against people who can’t view them. Try to give the benefit of the doubt that their reasons are coming from a well-intentioned place. If it really bothers you, consider asking them about it directly in a polite manner at the right time. Open communication is better than making assumptions. If they are a close friend, they may be willing to explain or even unhide you going forward. But avoid calling them out publicly or making accusations since you don’t know their motivations.
Pros and Cons of Hiding Your Instagram Story
Hiding your story from specific followers can be a useful Instagram tool. But before you start excluding people, consider both the advantages and disadvantages:
Pros
- More control over your audience: You can easily choose who sees casual, personal or silly content versus who sees your more curated public story.
- Avoid awkward situations: Keep your boss, distant acquaintances or other unrelated followers from seeing content they may find odd or inappropriate.
- Prevent hurt feelings: If you hang out with one friend group, your other friends won’t feel left out by seeing all the fun they missed.
- Share intimate moments: Feel comfortable opening up knowing it will only be viewed by your closest inner circle.
Cons
- Appear exclusive or secretive: Frequent hiding can come across as standoffish if certain people keep getting blocked from your stories.
- Difficult to manage: It takes time and effort to constantly update your story privacy settings for different groups.
- Stories disappear: A hidden story isn’t preserved, so unhiding someone later won’t let them view past hidden stories.
- Cause hurt feelings: Friends may feel rejected if they realize you’ve purposefully hidden stories from them.
Conclusion
Instagram stories are meant to provide an alternative space to share casual, funny or personal moments outside of your polished Instagram grid. The ability to customize exactly who sees your story gives you more control. But be mindful that hidden stories can sometimes lead to confusion or hurt feelings.
If you initially hid a story from someone but change your mind later, you can easily unhide them. However, keep in mind they will not get a notification and it only applies to newly shared stories. There is no way to see if someone has unhidden your stories or who someone has hidden their stories from. Being hidden from can feel exclusionary, but try not to take it personally. Focus on communicating openly with friends if it really bothers you. Hiding stories can be useful in moderation, but be cautious not to overdo it or make people feel rejected.
Instagram stories let you share your authentic day-to-day life. So use your best judgement when hiding stories and don’t forget the human emotions and relationships behind each post. With the right balance, you can take advantage of privacy settings while still nurturing your real-world connections.