The biggest Instagram privacy setting is the choice between a public and a private account: on a private account only followers you approve see your posts, and nothing you share appears in search, Explore, hashtag or location pages. Your name, username, profile picture, bio, links and follower counts stay public either way, and business profiles can't be made private at all.
That second sentence is the part most people miss. Going private hides your posts, not your profile. If you're a business owner trying to decide how visible to be, it helps to know exactly where the line sits before you flip the switch.
Everything below comes from Instagram Help, as of Nov 2026. Menu names do shift between app versions, so if a label looks slightly different on your phone, look for the nearest match.
Public versus private, row by row
Instagram Help publishes a straight comparison. Here is the comparison in plain words:
| Question | Public account | Private account |
|---|---|---|
| Who can follow you? | Anyone | Only people you approve |
| Who sees photos and videos on your profile and feed? | Anyone on Instagram | Your followers |
| Who sees them in search, Explore, hashtag and location pages? | Anyone on Instagram | No one |
| Who sees your profile photo, name, username and bio? | Anyone, on or off Instagram | Anyone, on or off Instagram |
| Do links to your posts show in search engine results? | Yes, to anyone off Instagram | No |
| Who can download your reels? | Anyone, unless you change the setting | No one |
| Who can remix your videos? | Anyone, unless you change the setting | No one |
| Who can embed your posts on other websites? | Anyone, on or off Instagram | No one |
| Who can share your posts with others on Instagram? | Anyone on Instagram, unless you change the setting | Your followers, unless you change the setting |
There's one more row worth knowing. On a public account, the public accounts you follow, and that follow you, can be seen by anyone on Instagram and Threads. Private accounts in those lists are only visible to your followers.
The practical upshot for a brand: a private account drops out of every discovery surface Instagram has. Nobody new finds you through a hashtag, a location tag or Explore, and your posts don't turn up in a search engine. That's the point of private, but it's also why it rarely suits a business.
The parts of your profile nobody can hide
Instagram Help is blunt about this. Some profile details are always public to everyone, on or off Instagram, even to people without an account, and even if your account is private:
- Your name and username
- Your profile picture and avatar
- Your bio and the links in it
- Your follower and following counts
- Your Threads username
- Any channels you create
You can't hide these with a setting. Help's only advice is to edit your profile if there's something there you don't want people to see. So if your bio names your street, your children's school or your personal phone number, going private won't protect it. Take it out.
Why a brand account can't go private
Help says business profiles aren't able to make their accounts private. If you want to go private, you first have to switch back to a personal account.
That's a real trade-off for a business owner. Switching away from a business profile means giving up what comes with it, so most brands are better off staying public and tightening the other controls instead. Private makes more sense for a personal account you keep separate from the business.
Going private on your phone or computer
On the Instagram app
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right.
- Tap Menu in the top right.
- Below Who can see your content, tap Account privacy.
- Tap the toggle next to Private account.
- Tap Switch to private to confirm.
On a computer
- Click More in the bottom left.
- Click Settings.
- Below Who can see your content, click Account privacy.
- Click the toggle next to Private account.
- Click Switch to private to confirm.
If the toggle isn't there, check your account type. A business profile won't offer it.
Once you're private, Help says anyone who wants to see your posts, or your followers and following lists, has to send you a follow request first.
Teen accounts start private
If you're under 18, Instagram makes your account private by default. Teens under 16 need a parent's or guardian's permission to switch to public. Teens aged 16-17 can switch without permission, unless they've set up supervision with a parent or guardian. If you're a parent, the parental controls and supervision tools are where that permission lives.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
The other controls in the privacy menu
Public or private is the big switch, but Instagram's privacy hub lists a lot more. These are the ones I'd look at on a business account, where going private isn't an option:
- Who can like or comment on your content.
- Hide comments or message requests you don't want to see.
- Temporarily limit people from interacting with you, which helps during a pile-on.
- Activity Status, so people can't see when you're online.
- Remove a follower without blocking them.
- Account suggestions for your profile, which you can turn off.
- Who can see likes, and comments and mentions from private profiles.
- Apps and websites you've logged in to with Instagram.
Help also notes that once you have 1,000 or more followers, you can manage and remove bot and spam accounts following you. That's a useful clean-up for a growing brand account.
A few of these have their own pages: how to stop Instagram suggesting your account, and how to set up who can message you.
Help's last safety tip is a good test for any account: be comfortable that what you share represents you to a wide audience, the kind that might include parents, teachers or employers. On a public profile, that audience is everyone.
How I'd set it up
I'd keep a business account public, because private cuts you off from search, Explore, hashtags and location pages, and Help says a business profile can't go private anyway. Then I'd tighten comments, hide unwanted message requests and clean up the bio. I'd skip going private unless it's a personal account you don't use to win customers.
If you run a brand profile and aren't sure how public it should be, that's a call I help businesses make as part of their wider social plan. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
Can people see my bio if my Instagram is private?
Yes. Instagram Help says your name, username, profile picture, bio, links and follower and following counts are public to everyone, even on a private account.
Can a business account be private on Instagram?
No. Help says business profiles can't be made private. You'd need to switch back to a personal account first.
Do private Instagram posts show on Google?
No. Instagram Help says links to your photos and videos don't appear in search engine results when your account is private.
Are teen Instagram accounts private?
Yes, by default for anyone under 18. Teens under 16 need a parent's or guardian's permission to go public, as of Nov 2026.
Where is the private account setting on Instagram?
In the app, go to your profile, tap Menu, then Account privacy below Who can see your content, and turn on Private account.
