Instagram is by far my favorite social network. It’s a lovely place where people share all the good stuff that’s going on in their lives…and memes. Epic memes. That, however, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a few annoyances.
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The biggest one is Instagram’s constant push notifications whenever someone I follow starts posting a Live Story. If you follow a few hundred people, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get at least a few of these a day. Here’s how to turn them—and any other Instagram notification, for that matter—off.
Open Instagram, go to your profile, and tap the settings icon in the top right. Scroll down and under Settings select Push Notification Settings.
Now you can set Instagram to send you push notifications From Everyone, From People You Follow, or Off for:
Likes on your photos. Comments on your photos. Likes on your comments. Likes and Comments on photos you’re tagged in. Any time you get a New Follower. Whenever someone accepts your Follow Request. When a Facebook Friend joins Instagram. When someone sends you a Direct Message. When someone tags you in a photo. When you have unseen notifications and you haven’t checked Instagram in a while. Someone you follow posts their first photo or Story. Product Announcements from Instagram. Whenever your videos reach a View Count milestone. Whenever Instagram responds to your Support Requests. Whenever someone you follow starts a Live Story. When ever someone you follow posts a Story Poll.
Scroll through the list and customize the settings so that you get notifications for things you want to hear about—oh, those sweet sweet likes—and don’t get them for the things you aren’t interested in—like Live Stories.
Instagram will also occasionally send you emails or text messages. To customize these, go back to the main settings screen and then select “Email and SMS Notification Settings”. Turn off any emails or SMS messages you don’t want to receive.