If you’ve ever asked the question “how many people can I unfollow on Instagram?” then you should know that the answer is around 100 to 700 people, depending on several factors.
Instagram limits any activity you do on the platform, including unfollowing people. If you unfollow many people within a short period of time, your account may be suspended.
In this guide, we’ll be tackling all of your questions regarding this issue, so read on for more!
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How Many People Can I Unfollow on Instagram?
The maximum number of people you can unfollow on Instagram per day is around 200 if your account is three months old or more. Users with accounts that are more than a year old can unfollow up to 700 accounts per day. If your account is relatively new, you can unfollow less than 100 people a day.
– Unfollowing Rules on Instagram
Instagram offers two major rules you have to keep in mind:
- There is a daily limit on specific activities, including the following and unfollowing limits.
- Unfollowing and following accounts are considered the same action on Instagram. Therefore, the accounts you follow and unfollow are counted together.
However, it is worth noting that Instagram is vague concerning the above rules because it does not specify the actual limit officially. Nevertheless, the collected evidence shows that the daily limit of accounts you can follow and unfollow varies from one account to another. The number of IG followers, account age, engagement rates, account’s activity, etc., make the difference.
As stated earlier, you can unfollow up to 200 Instagram user profiles if your account is three months or older. Nonetheless, if your account is less than three months, it is safe to unfollow a maximum of 100 profiles. You should only unfollow 10 accounts per hour to keep your account’s activities organic.
When you encounter situations where you can’t unfollow Instagram users, the primary reason could be that you have violated Instagram policies. You might have unfollowed other accounts at high speed.
Instagram has a very powerful algorithm that detects several activities on the platform. For example, if you unfollow many accounts in a short while, the algorithm flags the behavior as bot-like activity or spam. This can earn your account a temporary or even permanent ban.
– Follow Limit Rule
The Instagram follow limit rule deters spam activities, abuse, and automated activities. It aims to create a level playing field for all users. For instance, small businesses will not be able to compete against their big counterparts if unlimited follows are allowed.
Companies or individuals with financial resources can hire people to follow multiple accounts to stamp their position. Alternatively, they can use apps that automate activities on the platform. The other apparent reason is you might have reached your limit.
Factors Determining Maximum Accounts to Unfollow on IG
Multiple factors determine the number of people or pages you can follow or unfollow on Instagram. Like other social networking platforms, Instagram allows its users to use its platform with much leniency freely, but if you overdo some things, you will be suspended.
Here are factors that determine the number of accounts to unfollow on IG:
– Engagement Rate
Instagram pushes stories and posts with a higher user engagement rate in the search bar for the relevant audiences. So if you see Instagram stories popping up in the search bar, it’s due to higher engagement rates. Also, higher engagement rates may feature an account in various search results and appear in the suggested follower’s section.
Several factors determine your IG account’s engagement rates, but comments and like are the critical engagement deciding factors on Instagram. Core features such as time spent by a user on a post, Instagram story shares, number of direct messages, etc., are essential in determining the final user engagement score.
A good engagement rate on your account exposes you to certain benefits from Instagram. However, for you to reap those benefits, you must adhere to Instagram’s limits as per the Terms of Service (TOS) and not violate any of their significant conditions.
– Account Activity
Your IG account activities determine if you are a reliable user, so you must be an active platform user to determine your reliability. Typically, your past activities on the platform can help to determine trustworthiness on the platform.
A trusted account does not have any form of suspicious activity. Furthermore, it must not have faced temporary bans. If the account has had a previous ban or a warning, its status might be downgraded. That means your perks are downgraded too.
Therefore, ensuring that you stay within the Instagram rules is vital to avoid bans or to raise suspicion. Rather than using bots, use your account manually.
– Account’s Age
Any account that is less than three months old has a meager limit. Such account users have not established a trusted relationship with the platform. Even if you receive a high engagement rate or have many Instagram followers, if your account is new, your limit remains low.
So Instagram considers any account that has been active for three or more months as an old account. With such an account, you can follow or unfollow many accounts in a day or per hour. However, to maintain a high limit, you should not engage in any suspicious activities.
– Number of Followers
An account with more followers is highly visible to the Instagram algorithm and has several benefits. However, your followers must be active users of the platform. Some IG users might decide to buy Instagram followers to get better benefits from the platform.
This move can land you into serious trouble, such as a permanent ban. Instagram’s algorithm is intelligent enough to spot such activities and will impose bans rather than upgrade your account. Buying followers is only ideal if you are looking for good content, gaining people’s trust, and improving user interaction, but it is not a deciding factor in attracting natural followers.
– Account Type
There are three account types on Instagram — creator, personal, and business — each tailored for a specific purpose. Personal Instagram accounts are for individual use, while influencers mostly use creator accounts. But if you are a business person, it is recommended that you open a business account.
A business account has more exposure than a personal account, especially when you disable the privacy features. Research has shown that business and creator accounts have a slight edge over personal accounts. So if you want more engagements of high limits, it is recommended that you select either a creator or business account.
If you love your privacy or are interested in personal entertainment, go with a private account.
Consequences of Unfollowing in Bulk
The immediate consequence is that your account will be blocked. Typically, if you unfollow in bulk at once and realize you cannot perform any task on your account, either app or browser, you might have been blocked.
This ban is usually temporary and may limit you from accessing certain features only. However, you will receive a permanent ban if you continually use third-party apps or bots to conduct activities on Instagram.
To know if your account has been blocked, you will receive a pop-up notification saying “This action was blocked; please try again later.” Also, your account might be blocked if you find it hard to log in. However, the unfollow option stops working if you have reached your limit.
– Duration of the Unfollow Limit
This limit may take up to three days. If you are facing an Instagram limit issue on your IG account, stop all activities on your IG account and resume other activities after two hours.
However, the time you need to continue using your account depends on how much Instagram thinks you are at risk and your account history. In most instances, after encountering the unfollow restrictions, it might take between 24 and 72 hours to resume activities.
If the imposed bans exceed 72 hours, contact the support team and discuss your problem.
– Penalties for Unfollowing
Instagram will penalize you if you unfollow in bulky within a very short amount of time. However, if you unfollow other accounts according to the stipulated rules, Instagram will not penalize you.
As stated earlier, you may face a temporary ban when you unfollow many accounts too soon. But if you repeat the mass unfollowing after a temporary ban, your Instagram account may be permanently banned.
If your account faces a temporary ban/block, the following steps might help:
- Log out of your Instagram app and cease all activities on other apps, bots, tools, etc.
- Do not open your account within the next two to three days.
- Link your account to other social media platforms like Facebook.
- Talk to Instagram customer support.
Available Alternatives to the Unfollow Feature
There are some practical alternatives if you do not want to use the unfollow feature on Instagram. These alternatives can help you curate your news feed as well as help you enhance your user experience on the platform.
If you are facing excessive followers, try these methods:
– Mute Accounts
When you mute an Instagram user, it will remove their content from your feed but retains them on your list of followed accounts. Typically, you will not be able to see their action; thus, this is the best alternative to unfollowing.
How do you mute an IG profile? The mute option is under three dots on the top right of the user’s posts.
– Block Accounts
When you encounter the question, why can’t I unfollow on Instagram, and you want to unfollow a user profile, hit the block button. Blocking is very handy if you have a significant issue with an account or want to unfollow them, but you cannot due to restrictions.
When you block an account, that person will have no means of finding and interacting with you. So if you face harassment, trolling, or spamming, and reporting them doesn’t solve the issues, block them. They won’t be able to communicate with you or follow your posts when you block them.
– Be More Selective
You should not follow all the accounts you come across on Instagram. Take time to check out their profiles. This will help determine whether you have shared interests with the people you intend to follow.
Besides, checking their profiles helps to determine whether their content will be of value to you. This way, you will avoid having to unfollow them later.
– Restrict a User
If you are facing an unfollow restriction, restricting users can be one of the best alternatives. When you restrict a user, they will remain in your follow list, but you will not see any of their activities on your feed.
Furthermore, such an account cannot like or comment on your Instagram posts. And the best part is that the person will not be able to realize that they were restricted at all.
Bypassing Instagram Unfollow Limitations
– Use Third-Party Apps
Third party apps can help when you use them with a sense of ownership. However, if you carelessly use them and leave loopholes, the algorithm will spot you. This will get your account suspended.
Third-party applications come with several handy features. For instance, they have automatic unfollow features, which you can set to unfollow accounts at regular intervals. Just set the timing based on the values we have highlighted above, and it will work as instructed.
While third-party software is handy, they always cause several issues, including data loss. If you must use them, then find trusted software.
– Manually Unfollow People at Different Time Intervals
This is the safest method you can use to beat the algorithm. Check the age of your accounts and unfollow other users’ profiles based on the limits stipulated at the start of this article. While unfollowing, taking a break for an hour is recommended before proceeding with the process.
Unfollowing at a slow pace gives the process a human touch; thus, the application won’t confuse it for a robot or third-party tool.
Conclusion
About two billion people are on Instagram, so to keep the platform safe and an equal platform for everyone, there is a need to impose some restrictions. While there are several restrictions in place (comments, likes, hashtag limits, etc.), the restriction we have explored here concerns the number of accounts/people you can unfollow.
- The number of people you can unfollow depends on your account’s age, engagement rates, account activity, and type of account.
- If your profile is less than three months old, you can only unfollow 100 people daily. However, if your Instagram account is three months or older, you can unfollow up to 200 people daily.
- It is important to keep every unfollow move organic to minimize restrictions. That means unfollowing about 10 accounts an hour with a 30-second break between actions.
- If you are facing an unfollow restriction, use alternative tactics such as muting, blocking, or restricting users.
Always read Instagram’s terms of service before engaging in any activities. This way, you will not contravene the rules and, therefore, not face avoidable bans.
