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So you accidentally liked a picture on Instagram.
If I like then unlike a photo, will the user who posted the photo know?
This is a follow-up to my Instagram Privacy Tips and FAQ, which has received over 600 comments. The answer to this like/unlike mystery is worthy of its own post because it deals with the concepts of push (notification outside of the app) versus pull (user activity/refreshes within the app).
How Instagram app looked on iPhone in 2011
What is push vs pull for iPhone apps?
iPhone apps that you open then leave to use another app are still running in the background. To fully close an iPhone app, on the home screen, double click the home button. You’ll see a horizontal array of apps that are running (updated as of iOS 9.1). Swipe upward on each app to fully close it. (Battery life hint: close apps that you’re not using often, especially ones with location services turned on.)
Can someone tell I liked their Instagram post if I unlike right it afterward?
Maybe, here are four scenarios:
- Recipient has push notifications on (regardless of IG app running or not): like notification received
- Recipient has push notifications off and IG app actively in use: like notification received
- Recipient has push notifications off and IG app open but not actively in use: like notification not received
- Recipient has push notifications off and IG app not open: like notification not received
The other user seeing your like is first dependent on if notifications (push) are turned on regardless of whether the IG app is open or not. If the user does not have notifications enabled and happens to refresh their IG feed between your like/unlike, your action will show there.
It’s not how quickly you unlike after a like, but how soon the recipient actively checks the app. If you like then unlike an hour later with no activity on the recipient side (the one who posted the picture) during the hour, then no notification will be received (unless push notifications are on). Can you see why this is not a simple answer?
Simply put:
If notifications are turned off and the like/unlike recipient does not have Instagram actively running (i.e., in the background), then the recipient will not notice nor receive a notification. If notifications are on, all bets are off: they may see the like.
This applies to deleted accounts as well:
If I like a photo then delete my Instagram account, will the other user know?
Maybe. See above paragraph. If notifications are turned on, then yes, they may see the like even if you have deleted your profile right afterward.
Here are some neat Instagram apps to play with as well as info for developers. Product Hunt has a good list of Instagram apps.
*This blog is not affiliated with Instagram in any way. These tips are based on my own experience and experimentation.
Looking for tips on LinkedIn privacy? You may have uploaded hundreds of your contacts to LinkedIn by accident. How to Manage LinkedIn Privacy Settings and Remove Imported Contacts
Post updated 10/23/15
Thanks to Sarag for the original question in 2012 that sparked this post.
The majority of IG users are too young to remember it looking really old. Here are screenshots that were the featured images of this blog post when I first published it in January 2012. Wayback:
How Instagram used to look (2012)
Can you pls tell me why do i get the following message when trying to view a member’s pictures. (I am not a member but was able to view their profile before…..and i am using the right URL, the user still exists and they still have their profile….)
“Sorry, failed to load this page.Please try reload.
Also there are some possibility you are seeing this message.
You are trying to see wrong URL.
The user does not exist.
The user deleted his/her profile.”
If one of my friends has another one of my friends blocked, can they see each others activity on my Instagram? Are they able to see that I am friends with that person?
Yes, they can see each other’s like and comment activity. Say you are friend 1. Friends 2 and 3 are both your friends or are at least not blocked. If 2 likes your photo, 3 can see that 2 liked it.
if other people liked the same photo will it show up as myname or will it just say the number of people who like the photo until they actualy open the app?
Why are you all really making this such a big deal deleting your accounts for liking a picture by accident? I accidentally liked a photo that was a drawing of a dick lol but I just unliked it and ditdnt think any more about it. Its not such a big deal.
if i liked a photo and then deleted my account will the other person know I liked their photo
The other person will see the like notification if they had the app open and running at the point you liked the photo.
Hi I had the same thing happened to me. I was just scrolling through instagram and I came across my crush’ video and I was trying to play it and pausing it at the same time, but I accidentally hit “like”. I don’t want him to know I like the video.. Its bad enough that the username I used had like my name on it. So I unliked the video right away, changed my username to random (hopefully he wont see my name if he gets notified) should I worried? did he see my username before or right after I changed it. help please?
Instagram videos behave the same as photos when it comes to liking and unliking them. The other user will see the notification that you liked the video if they had Instagram open and running at the time you liked it. If that is the case, and you changed your username after the unlike but before the other user refreshed their app (which would update the status of your newly removed like and make it disappear) they would see your new username had liked the video.
If the app was fully closed and you unliked the video before they had IG running and open, they would not see the notification. When you open IG from it being closed, it refreshes to the moment and shows what is currently active/true: likes that are current are shown, but likes that happened and were unliked while the user had the app closed (and not pushing data) would not appear.
When you changed your username, if the other user had IG open, it would likely show that your new username liked the video. When you change your username, your previous actions taken under your old username are updated to appear as your new username took those actions.
What if the persons phone is shut off completely because they’re on vacation for the summer?
They will not see a notification of anything when the phone is shut off. When they turn it on, if you have already unliked, there will be no notification.
What is your question? If their phone is shut off during the time you like and unlike a photo, by the time they open Instagram, the notification will not appear and they won’t know you ever liked the photo.
Hi Emily, i can i just ask if there data is switched off or their phone is on airplane mode. If they turn it on will they see the notification?
No. If there was no data (the like) sent to their phone and you have unliked the photo before the phone was turned on to receive data, they won’t see a notification.
Hi, if I accidentally liked a photo of someone I didn’t follow then immediately unliked it and changed my username (My original username showed who I am) Will the like notification show the original username or the updated version??
The like notification will appear as your original username until the recipient of the notification refreshes the app.
I accidentally liked one of my crush’s photo and I’m not even following him. so what I did was unlike the photo and blocked him, removed my picture and changed my name in hopes that he won’t identify me and see me as a stalker. ohgad. Now I’m in Google trying to find out if my method worked.
That’s odd. What happens if you like/unlike the photo from the phone app? Can you provide a link to the photo and let me know your username?
Hi Emily. May I ask what happened with this question? I had something similar occur on Instagram recently. I had ‘liked’ a photo nearly a year ago, removed the ‘like’ a few weeks ago (on the web, not my phone)… but that ‘like’ returned in the last few days… AND I had since blocked the user where the ‘like’ reappeared. How did this happen?
How do I know if I liked a picture in instagram first and then unliked it?
because I’m not sure whether I liked a picture and then unliked it.
It’s really confusing..please help me..
There is no way to see whether you have liked and unliked a picture by looking at that picture. It is possible that if you had a friend who follows you check their Following feed around the time you liked the photo, that they would have seen you like it, but this would go away when they refresh the app. It is unlikely that you will be able to find out at this point since other activity has come in since you liked it.
If I liked a persons photo long time ago and then like it again without unliking it. Will it still show upo on their phone? Imean it already had the heart filled so that means I already liked it but then I double tapped on it again which shown the heart in the middle of the photo. But my concern is, will it still show it on their phone? HELP
If I liked a photo again and it wasn’t unliked or anything. Will it show up on the persons phone? Imean when I liked it again, It showed the heart in the middle of photo and before all of that It was already liked by me. Like the heart was already red meaning I liked it already but then I clicked it again which showed the heart again. So will it show up on the persons phone? as an Alert? Please say no..
To avoid that again get instaeye for @Android on google store here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inovaent.blockdoubletap&hl=en
when you switch it on it blocks double tap 😉
If you want to avoid double tapping and liking images and videos by mistake on Insta you should Get this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inovaent.blockdoubletap
I double tapped and it won’t let me like the photo.
I am not aware of any feature that lets you stop your followers from seeing your liked photos in the Following feed. I doubt there is a glitch. Are you certain the person has actually been liking photos? Unfollow and refollow them, then find out exactly when they like a photo (ask them to help you test) and see if it pops up in your Following feed.
Yh Ik I was stalking someone and I accidentally like a pic I hope she doesn’t get notified because she gets on my bus
If I like and unlike pic on Instagram then change name And delete account will they know
They would know it was you under your original handle if they had the app running when you took the action; your action would have logged chronologically in their feed. Once they refresh their feed, however, it would disappear.
Hi, I was just going through my pictures that I posted on Instagram several days ago and noticed someone liked one of them. However, it doesn’t show the name of who. When I click on the like it pulls up no user found. What does this mean?
That user has most likely deleted their account.
Question:
I accidentally liked a photo from a while ago on someones instagram and I dont want them to know i was creeping them, if i disable my account will it show that this appeared?
They would have seen the notification of the like in real time if they had the app running when you liked the photo. If they refresh the app, the like would disappear.
I will make you all feel better about your situation. I work with this guy. He brought me coffee and we private messaged a few times. His wife who I also used to work with confronted me and let me know she did not approve of the coffee plans between he and I. She made him unfollow me on IG and restrict me on facebook. So today I was on instagram and the wife posted something. I clicked on her page and looked at some photos out of pure curiousity. Big mistake. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I checked my phone and her post was up. I logged out of instagram. Then a few hours later I had notifications on instagram. I logged in and I noticed right away all her posts were gone from my feed. So I checked to make sure I wasn’t crazy. And she stopped following me and blocked me. I cant help but think maybe I liked one of her photos by accident. Possibly even an older one. Now I have to go to work and face her husband who she probably told I was stalking her page. FML
Follower has private instagram profile and liked photos on my public profile but my likes dissapear and show up only show on my notifacations wondering why this happens?
Great tips.
I liked my crush’s brother’s picture from 98 weeks ago. ?
I received a notification twice that one of my follower liked my post 2 hours apart. He liked my post and received the notification around 1pm then, another notification past 3pm that he liked the same post. What do you think happened?
He probably unliked it then re-liked it.