Instagram Instants: How to Turn It Off, and What Ofcom Is Investigating

Internet · By SpikeToday · Oct 11, 2026, 21:48 UTC

To turn off Instagram Instants, open your profile, tap the three-line menu at the top right, scroll to Content Preferences in the settings and switch on "Hide Instants in Inbox". The "Hide Instants in Inbox" step comes from TechCrunch's May 14 guide, and menu names can change when Instagram updates its app. To stop receiving them for now, press and hold the pile of Instants in your inbox and swipe right. Separately, on October 6 the UK regulator Ofcom opened an investigation into whether Meta properly assessed the risks of Instants before launching it.

How to turn off Instants

1. Go to your profile and tap the three-line menu at the top right to open your settings.
2. Scroll down to Content Preferences.
3. Switch on Hide Instants in Inbox.

After that you will not see the Instants feature in your inbox, and you will not see Instants that people send you, TechCrunch says. The "Hide Instants in Inbox" setting and these steps come from TechCrunch's May 14 guide, and Instagram can rename menu items, so the wording in your app may differ. If you only want a break, press and hold the pile of Instants in your inbox and swipe right to stop receiving them temporarily. You can also block or mute specific people, TechCrunch noted at the launch.

How to undo an Instant you sent by mistake

• Right after you send one, an Undo button appears under the shutter button. It retracts the photo before people view it.
• Or open your archive with the four-box icon at the top right of the camera and delete the Instant. That unsends it to friends who have not opened it yet.

Both options are from TechCrunch's guide. A photo that someone has already opened cannot be taken back.

What Instants is

• Disappearing photos. You take a photo with Instagram's in-app camera and share it with Close Friends or mutual followers. It can be viewed once and stays available for 24 hours (TechCrunch).
• No uploads or edits. You cannot upload from your camera roll or edit the picture, though you can add text.
• Where it is. Tap the mini photo stack at the bottom right of your inbox. Meta is also testing Instants as a separate app in select regions, including Spain and Italy.
• The default audience. The camera has a toggle between "Friends" and "Close Friends", set to "Friends" by default. The photo is sent the moment you tap the shutter, so many people sent photos to their whole Friends list by accident, TechCrunch reported.
• Replies and screenshots. Recipients can react with emojis and reply. Meta says they cannot screenshot or record an Instant. Your shared Instants are kept in a private archive for up to a year, and you can turn them into a recap for Stories.

What Ofcom is investigating

On October 6, Ofcom announced a formal investigation into whether Meta breached its duties under the UK's Online Safety Act by not carrying out "a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment and children's risk assessment before the launch of Instants", the BBC also reported. Ofcom's enforcement director, George Lusty, said: "Our online safety laws are clear – significant changes to platforms must be risk assessed before they're launched."

• Meta's response: "We conducted a risk analysis and briefed Ofcom about this feature on a number of occasions before launching it", a Meta spokesperson said, adding that Meta will co-operate. Meta says Instants has built-in protections, including Teen Accounts and blocks on screenshots, reshares and forwarding.
• What could follow: fines under the Act can reach £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater, Ofcom says. Ofcom will first gather and analyse evidence; if it finds a failure it will issue a provisional decision, Meta can respond, and only then does Ofcom make a final decision. No penalty has been proposed in this investigation, Yahoo Finance reported. In an earlier case, Ofcom let Snap file a revised risk assessment and closed the case in January with no fine.
• The wider fight: Meta, TikTok and X are separately challenging Ofcom's enforcement of the Act in court, arguing they should not have to give so much information in response to its formal requests. Meta also argues that Ofcom should not be able to base fines on global annual revenue, according to the BBC.

None of the reports we read says Ofcom has ordered Instants to be switched off. The investigation is about Meta's risk assessment before launch.

Timeline

More Instagram guides: how to rearrange your grid, what Instagram Plus costs and how to add tagged posts to your grid.

Sources

• TechCrunch: How to turn off Instagram's new Instants feature and retract photos you accidentally shared (May 14)
• TechCrunch: Instagram's new 'Instants' feature combines elements from Snapchat and BeReal (May 13)
• Ofcom: Ofcom investigates Meta's compliance with UK online safety laws (October 6)
• BBC, via Yahoo: Ofcom investigates Meta over Instagram Instants feature (October 6)
• Yahoo Finance: UK Opens Investigation Into Instagram Instants (October 7)