How to reset Instagram

You’ve been using Instagram for a long time and now you think it’s time to “clean up” your account by resetting your profile, settings and what you see in the feed of the famous photo social network. Unfortunately, however, you do not have the faintest idea how to succeed in this intent, since you have never done anything like this.

If that’s the case, you have no reason to worry: if you want, I can explain how to proceed. In the next paragraphs of this guide, in fact, I will have the opportunity to explain in detail how to reset Instagram. First I will show you how to reset the profile by deleting content, followers, etc. and how to permanently eliminate it (if I wanted to make such a drastic decision) to start from scratch; then I will explain how to restore the default settings of the social network and how to reset the Instagram home (what you will probably know as “feed”).

How do you say? Is this exactly the kind of information you were looking for? Then I’d say we can get started. Strength and courage: make yourself comfortable, take the time you need to concentrate on reading the next lines and put into practice the instructions I am giving you. I assure you it is not difficult. That said, there is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and wish you a big good luck for everything!

Index

• How to reset Instagram profile
  • Empty the profile
  • Delete the profile
• How to reset Instagram settings
• How to reset Instagram home

How to reset Instagram profile

Let’s get straight to the point and see how to reset the Instagram profile by going to “empty” it from all its contents or by deleting it and then opening a new one. The procedures I’m about to show you are valid for both resetting Instagram on iPhone and Android, so you can follow them regardless of the phone in your possession.

Empty the profile

If your intent is to simply “clean up” your Instagram account, you can clear your profile by deleting the content you have posted, the list of followers, people you follow and so on.

First, therefore, access Instagram from your Android or iOS device and tap on the symbol of the little man or on the thumbnail of your profile photo (bottom right), so as to go to the main screen of your account.

Now, to delete a post, tap on the preview of one of the contents you have published, then press the icon of the three dots (top right of the same) and select the item Archive (if you want to make it disappear only from the feed) or presses the word Delete (if you want to delete it permanently). Well: you just have to repeat the operation for all the other posts you have published on your profile and that’s it.

If, on the other hand, you want to delete your profile photo, once you are on the main screen of your account, keep your finger pressed on it (top left) and select the item Remove profile picture (on Android) or Remove current photo (on iOS).

Have you added any featured stories and want to delete them too? To do this, just make a long tap on the preview of the highlighted story you want to delete, select the Delete the highlighted story item in the opened menu and confirm it by pressing the word Delete.

If you want to delete your biography, instead, click on the Edit profile button, delete the content you entered in the text field dedicated to the bio and save the changes, by pressing the symbol (✓) (on Android) or on the End item (on iOS).

As for the deletion of followers and followed users, the procedure to follow is this: tap on the corresponding number near the Follower or Followed item and press the Remove button (in the case of followers) or Follow already (in the case of users followed). Repeat this for all followers and followed users.

If you are wondering if there is a way to delete all the photos from Instagram and/or how to delete all the users followed on Instagram, the answer is nì : Instagram does not officially allow you to do so, but there are some “tricks” and some tools of third parties that allow to obtain more or less satisfactory results in this sense. To learn more, take a look at the guides I have dedicated to these topics and that I have just linked to you.

Delete the profile

If you do not want to “empty” your Instagram account or, in any case, you are looking for a more radical solution, you can delete it and then open a new one, in order to start your adventure on the photographic social network from scratch. Deleting the Instagram profile – it is good that you know it – is an irreversible operation: photos, comments, likes, friends, and all other data are permanently removed and can no longer be recovered, so think about it first to proceed.

In any case, I recommend that you download a backup copy of the photos and videos you have uploaded to the platform, by going to your profile and then in the menu (≡)> Settings> Security> Download data. More info here.

Once you have possibly obtained the backup of your data, go to this page, log in to your account, specify why you are deleting your account? using the appropriate drop-down menu, write the password of your account in the appropriate text field at the bottom of the page and, in conclusion, press the red button Delete my account permanently.

For more information on how to delete Instagram account, I refer you to reading the guide that I dedicated entirely to the topic.

How to reset Instagram settings

Are you planning to reset Instagram settings, but don’t know how to do it? Well, at the time of writing, there is no Instagram function that allows you to restore the default settings of the photographic social network. This means, therefore, that you will have to proceed manually.

To do this, access Instagram from the official app of the service for Android or iOS , press on the symbol of the little man or on the thumbnail of your profile photo (bottom right), tap the button (≡) located at the top right and select the Settings item from the opened menu.

Now, you have to go to the section of your interest (eg Notifications, Privacy, Security, etc.): it depends on the setting you have changed and you want to restore. Then you have to press on the wording corresponding to the option you have customized and repeat the thing for all the settings you have changed on your Instagram account.

If, on the other hand, your problem is that the Instagram app is not working well and therefore you want to try to reset it to see if it fits, I recommend that you do the following.

• Restart your phone: If you don’t know how, check out my guides on how to restart Android and how to restart iPhone.
• Forcibly restart the Instagram app: you can do this by calling up the multi-tasking menu (with a swipe from the bottom of the screen upwards, starting from the center, on devices without a physical Home button; pressing the appropriate button in the lower bar of Android or with a double tap on the Home button of iPhones with physical Home button) and dragging the app box upwards, and then restart it normally. More info here is available in my tutorials on how to close apps on Android and iPhone.
• Delete the data of the Instagram app: you can only do it on Android, by going to the Settings> Apps> Instagram menu and tapping first on the memory option and then on those for clearing cache and data.
• Reinstall Instagram: If you don’t know how, read my tutorial on how to reinstall Instagram.

How to reset Instagram home

Do you want to know how to reset the Instagram home? Well, if you have “cleaned up” your profile by deleting all the users you follow (as I indicated in one of the previous chapters ), you don’t have much else to do, as the social network feed will be empty (you will see the contents you have posted you, unless you’ve removed those as well) and some sponsored posts.

If, on the other hand, you have not stopped following all users on Instagram, you can act from the settings to customize the display of content posted by certain accounts. To do this, log in to Instagram on your Android or iOS device, press the house icon (bottom left), tap the magnifying glass icon (top right) and search for the profile of your interest via the search field at the top.

Once you have gone to the latter, press the Follow button, press the word Silence and set the switch next to the word Post and/or Stories to ON. Repeat these steps for the other users you no longer want to appear on the Instagram home and that’s it.

If you want to know how to reset the Instagram Explorer or the section that offers you new content, you must know that this is entirely managed by the algorithm of the photographic social network and, therefore, you do not have the possibility to apply who knows what changes.

However, you can “suggest” to the Instagram algorithm that you are not interested in a certain content and you will see that, over time, the “Explore” section of your profile will be “cleaner”. To proceed, after tapping on the house icon (bottom left) and pressing the magnifying glass symbol (top right), locate a content you don’t care about and tap its preview.

Finally, press the icon of the three dots (top right of the post) and select the item I am not interested in the opened menu. You just have to perform this operation from time to time, so that the Instagram algorithm can understand what are the contents that, in fact, you do not like.

Ultimately, deleting the history of searches made on Instagram can also be useful for the purpose. To do this, just go to your profile from the Instagram app and then menu (≡)> Settings> Security> Search history / Clear search history> Clear all. More info here.