How to Unblock Someone on Instagram
I love blocking people on Instagram. It’s so powerful to deny them access to me. But this power trip is admittedly a little short-sighted at times. Sometimes you have to step back from impulsively blocking IG—or maybe you decide you want to start a new life and reunite with a former enemy. Whatever the reason, unblocking Instagram is quite easy.
What does blocking on Instagram give?
To block someone on Instagram, simply go to their profile and click the three dots in the top right corner, to the right of their username. There you will see options such as Restrict, Block and Report, among others.
Once you click “block”, you will mutually unfollow each other. They won’t be able to search or view your profile, or see your comments on public pages. You will be removed from each other’s photos and they won’t even be able to see your name in your DM thread if one exists. (Instead, you will be labeled as an “Instagram User” and will have a blank profile photo, although the posts will still be visible.)
Conversely, if you still want to see their content, you’ll be able to type their full username into the search bar to find them, but you’ll need to unblock them to see anything.
How to Unblock Someone on Instagram
There are two ways to unblock someone on Instagram. The first is to enter the user’s full name into the search bar. If you type a little text they won’t go up; you will have to do everything to the fullest. When you click on their profile, you won’t be able to see their follower/follower count, but you will see how many posts they have, their bio, and their profile picture. Where there’s usually a “follow” button below your profile picture, you’ll see an “unblock” button. Clicking on this will bring up a pop-up asking you to confirm that you want to unblock them.
Conversely, you can go to your profile and click the three-line menu in the top right corner, then go to Settings & Privacy. Scroll down to “Blocked Accounts” and you’ll see a list of all your bans. Find the person you want to unblock from the list, then click the “unblock” button to the right of their name, which will bring up the same pop-up reminding you that this person (and all other accounts associated with them) will be able to follow you and message you again if you get through this. Then confirm that you want to unblock.
Things to consider when unblocking on Instagram
You won’t automatically follow or follow anyone you unblocked, even if you followed each other before blocking. In most cases, their tagged photos will reappear in your tagged photos, and the comments they left on your photos will reappear, as well as the likes they gave you. Your DM thread will look normal again too. The only remaining issue will be that you’ll have to re-follow each other, so good luck dealing with that awkwardness if you’re planning on doing that.