Have you ever suspected someone blocked you on Instagram, but you just weren‘t positive? The friend whose posts mysteriously vanished from your feed. The date who inexplicably ghosted you on IG messages. The ex whose comments on your pics suddenly stopped showing up.
You may ask yourself — did they block me? Deactivate their account? Or is Instagram glitching out?
Unfortunately, Instagram doesn‘t directly notify you when another user blocks you. And they don‘t provide blocked accounts with any explanation or confirmation. You‘re essentially left in the dark.
According to Instagram themselves: "We do not provide people with any information about being blocked or having their account reported for privacy reasons".
So how can you get closure and determine conclusively if someone has blocked you on IG? This guide has you covered.
When Blocking Typically Happens
Before getting into verifying blocks, it helps to understand common blocking scenarios:
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After a breakup – cutting contact on social media is common nowadays after splitting up. Going from IG couple to instant block.
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When ignoring messages – if you blow up someone‘s DM‘s who keeps leaving you on Read, a block often follows.
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Harassment situations – recipients of unwanted advances often resort to blocking users who won‘t stop contacting them.
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Privacy concerns – high follower accounts especially block fans over sharing too much private data publicly.
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Cleaning up contacts – people occasionally prune out inactive IG friends/followers, accidentally blocking some in the process.
Based on multiple polls, anywhere from 1-15% of Instagram users actively block others each month. So if you suspect it happened to you, you‘re definitely not alone.
Signs That Suggest You Might Be Blocked
While not definitive proof, here are common symptoms displayed when another user blocks your account:
Their entire profile and posts disappear
- You tap on their @ handle or search for their account, but their profile is nowhere to be found. Poof!
Their stories don‘t show up
- Accounts you previously saw stories from no longer pop up in your story feed, even hours after posting.
Your comments don‘t appear
- Messages you leave on a suspected blocker‘s posts never materialize. Only you can see them.
Your tags and mentions don‘t notify
- Attempting to tag or mention their @ handle does nothing. They don‘t receive any notification.
Your DM conversation history vanishes
- All previous back-and-forth you had with them in DMs is now gone. Any new messages show "sent" but they disappear to the void.
Note that all of these could also mean the user deactivated their account entirely. More sleuthing is required…
Confirming a Block with a Secondary Account
The absolute definitive way to check if you‘re blocked on Instagram is by accessing the suspected blocker‘s account through a secondary profile that they are not blocking:
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Log into another Instagram account – use your best friend‘s account, or create a burner account. The goal is gaining a vantage point the blocker isn‘t aware of.
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Search directly for the blocker‘s exact username – visiting their handle is key, as blocked accounts no longer appear in tags or post mentions.
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Visit their profile page – click right on their username from search results to access their profile directly if it still exists.
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Check visibility of posts/followers – a BLOCKED account will appear 100% normal and public here with visible posts, followers, etc.
In contrast, a DEACTIVATED account will display a message that the "user not found" or content may have been removed for violating guidelines. Their info and posts won‘t be accessible.
If everything checks out fine from the other account, this 100% confirms you have been blocked! Case closed.
Leveraging Third-Party Block Detectors
Employing the secondary account method provides absolute proof of a block. But throwing together a dummy account just to stalk blockers takes effort.
This is where specialized block detection services come in handy:
- Unfollowgram – tracks your IG followers and notifies for drops that could indicate blocks.
- Follovers Insights – identifies phantom follower/engagement loss attributable to blocks.
- Social Blade – monitors daily follower counts and losses for larger scale drops.
While not as authoritative as the access test, these services conveniently automate tracking blocks over time. Most offer free limited trials.
The Murky "Ghost" Scenario
Occasionally you may encounter an especially perplexing scenario our staff refers to as a "ghost" block:
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You attempt to access someone that swears THEY didn‘t block you…but their account still doesn‘t appear.
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Or vice versa…they have no symptoms of blocking you, but YOUR connection feels severed.
This communications breakdown can stem from Instagram‘s account protections after reports of violations. Access can be temporarily or permanently restricted between affected parties without clearly notifying all sides.
If you run into this, try waiting a day or two for restrictions to relax IF restrictions were mistaken or excessive blocking didn‘t actually occur.
But if all tests keep leading to the ghost result, you probably need to move on from attempting to interact with that user. The platform has likely intervened due to harassment flags or similar objectionable activity in either direction.
Parting Thoughts
Dealing with digital denial in the form of social media blocking can be maddening without proper tools. But now that you‘re equipped with techniques to conclusively confirm if you have been blocked, you can channel frustrations into closure rather than endlessly hunting for answers.
Blocking happens daily by the millions across Instagram. If you run up against it, don‘t take it as a personal attack. People block contacts for countless reasons – privacy, breakups, cleaning up stale follows, or even accidents. Don‘t overthink it and repeat after us…onward and upward.
Was this guide helpful for confirming if you encountered an Instagram block? Let us know in the comments or reach out with other questions!