Step-by-Step Guide to Hide Likes and Comments in Instagram Reels Friends Tab

Instagram’s recently launched Friends tab seeks to strengthen connections among users by showcasing their friends’ interactions with reels. Despite its potential benefits, this update has raised privacy concerns for those who prefer to keep their likes and comments private. If you’re looking to keep your activity discreet, this guide will walk you through how to maintain your privacy on this feature.

Understanding Privacy Concerns with the Instagram Friends Tab

The Friends tab can be found within the reels section of the Instagram mobile app and is not yet available on the web platform. This new feature introduces two main tabs at the top of your screen—Reels and Friends. The Reels tab curates content based on your preferences and engagement, while the Friends tab highlights the activities of those you follow back.

Essentially, this Friends tab displays public reels that your friends have engaged with—whether they liked, shared, or commented on them. This not only helps you discover new content from your friends but also showcases personalized recommendations from services like Blend, which offers custom reel feeds.

While these features can enhance your user experience, many individuals express discomfort regarding their privacy. Users may not wish to broadcast the videos they interact with or the comments they post. Whether you’d like to keep your love for specific genres hidden or prevent family members from discovering new hobbies, the privacy concern is significant, prompting many users to seek ways to disable such features.

Regrettably, Instagram does not provide an option to completely eliminate the Friends tab. However, you can manage how your activity is displayed to others.

Steps to Conceal Likes and Comments in the Friends Tab

To start hiding your interactions, open the Instagram app and tap your profile picture located in the bottom right corner to access your profile.

Next, click on the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner of your profile.

Access the Settings menu, and navigate to the Who can see your content section. Here, select the Activity in Friends tab option.

Switch the setting from Followers you follow back to No one.

While you will still have access to the Friends tab within your reels, this adjustment ensures that others cannot view your likes, comments, or interactions within their Friends tab.

Filtering Out Content from Specific Friends

Although the Friends tab remains part of your Instagram experience, you can exert some influence over the content you see there.

If you’d like to avoid seeing posts from particular friends, you can mute them on the platform. To do this, find a reel they’ve interacted with and tap on their activity bubble.

Tapping an activity bubble in Instagram Friends feed.

A quick messaging interface will appear. Tap on their name or profile picture to access their profile.

Tap the Following button located beneath their profile details and select the Mute option from the menu that appears.

Make sure to enable the Activity bubbles on content setting.

Personalizing Your Friends Tab Experience

Enhancing your Friends tab experience further is possible. If you encounter a reel that doesn’t pique your interest, simply tap the three dots located in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Tapping three dots option in Reel viewing screen on Instagram.

Choose the Not interested option from the pop-up menu to signal Instagram to minimize similar content in the future. Selecting this will hide the reel from further view, though it’s not a foolproof method, and some irrelevant clips may still appear.

If you enjoyed a specific video and want to see more content like it, you can select Interested.

You can also manage your content preferences by accessing this menu.

This section allows you to oversee the volume of sensitive content in your feed and review your Not interested/interested lists, encompassing all flagged content on Instagram.

Keep in mind that some options within this menu might not apply directly to the Friends tab, particularly the resetting of suggested content, primarily affecting your main feed.

If you come across a video that offends you, tap the creator’s handle below to proceed to their profile.

Tapping on creator handle on Reel on Instagram.

In the upper right corner, tap the three dots and choose to either Block or Report the content, ensuring you no longer see posts from that particular user, irrespective of your friends’ interactions with their content.