You’re reading this article probably because you want to stop people you’re not following from bothering you with messages on Instagram. Worry not, we are going to share with you shortly how you can turn off message requests on Instagram.
Similar to Facebook Messenger and Twitter, you will find message requests on Meta-owned Instagram. As mentioned before, message requests appear in the Requests section by default when a person whom you do not follow on Instagram or someone who’s not in your contact list messages you. As you might be aware, you need to accept message requests before they appear in your chat list unlike messages sent by people you follow that directly land in your chats list.
Now it is possible to stop receiving message requests after Meta’s integration of Facebook Messenger and Instagram released many new features like themes, emoji responses, and the ability to turn off message requests for new conversations.
The feature allows you to not only block message requests from strangers but also from spambots. Once enabled, only Instagram users who you follow or who are in your contact book will be able to message you. And what happens, when a person whom you don’t follow or is not in your contact list tries to message you, they’ll see an error message saying “[The user] can’t receive your message. They don’t allow new message requests from everyone.”
Let’s see how you can turn off message requests on Instagram. But first, make sure to update the Instagram app to the latest version on your iPhone or Android. That’s because the message request settings won’t reflect in the old version.
Step-by-step on how to turn off message requests on Instagram
Step 1: Launch the Instagram app on your device and tap the profile icon at the bottom-right corner.
Step 2: From the profile page, tap on the hamburger icon in the top-right corner to reveal the menu and then select settings.
Step 3: In settings, tap Privacy and select Messages.
Step 4: On the Message Controls page, scroll to locate the Other People section then tap on Others on Instagram.
Step 5: Select the Don’t receive requests option. This will stop unknown people and bots from sending you message requests on Instagram.
This feature isn’t available on computers, but it is available on Android and iOS devices.
Disable Message Requests Notifications Instead
Step 1: From your Profile, tap the hamburger icon in the top right corner.
Step 2: Select Settings.
Step 3: Tap Notifications.
Step 4: Tap Direct messages and calls.
Step 5: Under Message requests, tap the toggle next to off to switch them off.
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