Can you hide likes on Instagram? Both switches, explained

23 October 2026 · Ethan Parker, Editor

Instagram has two separate like-count switches: one hides the number on your own posts, one hides everyone else's from your feed. Here is each one.

Yes. You can hide the like count on your own posts, and you can separately hide other people's like counts from your own feed. Those are two different switches, and neither one does the other's job.

The carve-out to know before you tap anything: hiding a count hides the number, not the likes. People can still like the post, the likes still land, and you can still read the exact total yourself. What changes is what a visitor sees printed under the post.

The mechanic. On a post you have already published, tap the three dots at the top right of that post and choose Hide like count. Before you publish, open Advanced settings at the bottom of the final screen and turn on Hide like and view counts on this post. To hide everybody else's numbers instead, go to Settings and privacy, then What you see, then Like and share counts. Instagram shuffles these labels between app versions, so if the wording on your phone differs, hunt for the word counts.

Both switches are reversible, and neither is account-wide by default. That last part catches people out, so here is each one properly.

How to hide likes on a post you already published

This is done post by post. There is no single toggle that hides the count on everything you have published, which is the thing people most expect to find and do not.

1. Open the post from your own profile grid so you are looking at the single post, not the grid.
2. Tap the three dots at the top right corner of that post.
3. Choose Hide like count. On a video or reel the same option usually covers view counts too.
4. The number under the post disappears for everyone else. Repeat on any other post you want changed.

To put the number back, open the same menu and choose Unhide like count. Nothing is lost while it is hidden. The total kept running, and it reappears at its current value.

How to hide the count before you post

If you know in advance that you do not want a number showing, set it during the posting flow instead of fixing it afterwards.

1. Build the post as normal until you reach the final screen, the one with the caption box.
2. Scroll to the bottom of that screen and tap Advanced settings.
3. Turn on Hide like and view counts on this post.
4. Go back and share. The post goes out with the count already hidden.

This setting does not stick. It applies only to the post you are making; the next post starts with it off again.

How to hide other people's like counts in your feed

This is the switch people usually mean when they say Instagram feels better with likes hidden. It changes what you see, not what anyone sees of you.

1. Open Settings and privacy from the menu on your profile.
2. Find What you see, then Like and share counts.
3. Turn on the option to hide like and share counts on posts from other accounts.
4. Numbers vanish from other people's posts as you scroll. Your own posts are untouched by this.

Worth repeating, because it is the mix-up we see most: this does not hide your counts from your followers. For that, hide each post individually with the first method above.

What do other people see when you hide the count?

They see a line saying the post was liked by someone and others, where the number used to sit. So it does not look untouched. It looks like a post whose owner turned the number off, which most people recognise on sight.

You keep the number. Your insights still report likes, reach, shares and saves exactly as before, because hiding is a display setting on the public view of the post and nothing more. Private counts are normal on Instagram anyway: saves have always worked this way, which we went through in can you see who saved your Instagram post.

Does hiding likes change your reach?

Here is the honest version. The like is still recorded when the count is hidden, so the interaction itself is unchanged. Whether Meta's ranking treats a hidden-count post differently is not published, and nobody outside Meta can check it. If you find an article handing you a percentage, that percentage was invented.

What can plausibly change is human behaviour. Some people like a post partly because it already carries a big number, and hiding it takes that cue away. Whether that costs you likes or wins you a few is untested on your account, and the only way to find out is to try it across a run of posts.

Likes are the cheapest signal on the platform in any case. A like takes one tap and no thought, which is why a save or a share tells you far more about whether a post landed. That argument is laid out in do Instagram saves matter, and it is the reason hiding likes costs you less information than it feels like it should.

Can you hide likes on reels and stories?

On reels, yes, through the same two routes. The toggle covers view counts on video as well, so hiding one usually hides both.

On stories, there is nothing to hide. Story likes were never shown as a public number to viewers; only you see who tapped the heart, in the viewer list. No setting exists for it because none is needed.

When hiding the count is worth it, and when it is not

• Worth it when the number is making you post less, or making you delete posts that were fine.
• Worth it on an account where a small number would be read as a verdict, such as a new business page with a short follower list.
• Not worth it when a brand or a client is judging you. They will ask for the numbers anyway, and you will end up sending screenshots.
• Not worth it as a growth tactic. Hiding a number is not a way of making it bigger, and treating it as one only delays the real question.
• Neutral for measurement. Your insights are unchanged either way, so nothing you actually track is affected.

If the goal is to stop caring about likes, the feed-wide switch does more work. Seeing nobody else's numbers changes the daily experience more than removing your own.

Where a paid month fits, and where it does not

Be clear about the split. Hiding likes is a visibility setting: it answers who can read the number. It does nothing about how many people the post reached, and those two problems get confused constantly.

What we sell is the second one, sized. You pick the least and the most reach a post of yours should get, hand over your public username, and every feed post and reel you publish during the month gets reach aimed inside that band, with views, likes, shares, reposts and saves in proportion. It runs 30 days or 30 posts, whichever comes first, on one PayPal payment with no account and no auto-renew. ReachGrows does not sell followers or comments, and says so on its own pricing page.

The honest limit: none of that changes whether people want to react to your post. A wider first audience gets you a faster verdict, not a kinder one, and if a post gives nobody a reason to like it, hiding the count only hides that answer from you as well. Reactions people give freely are still what decides whether a post travels, which is equally true of shares.

• Can you hide likes on Instagram? Yes. Three dots on the post, then Hide like count, one post at a time.
• Can you hide likes before posting? Yes. Advanced settings on the final screen, then Hide like and view counts on this post.
• Can you hide everyone else's likes? Yes, separately. Settings and privacy, then What you see, then Like and share counts.
• Do you lose the number yourself? No. Your insights still show likes, reach, shares and saves in full.
• Does hiding likes change reach? The like still counts. Any ranking effect is unpublished, so treat quoted figures as invented.
• Can you hide likes on stories? There is nothing to hide. Story likes were never a public number.