How to Stay Safe and Secure on Instagram

If you're worried about someone hacking your account and posting on Instagram without your authorization, setting up two-factor authentication (2FA) is a must. By requiring a second form of authentication after you enter your password, a hacker can't access your account without physical access to your connected device, even if they have your password.

To set it up, navigate to your profile and tap the hamburger icon (). Select the Settings menu (top of the pop-up on iOS, bottom-right on Android) and tap Security > Two-Factor Authentication > Get Started. You can then choose to set up 2FA through text message or an independent authentication app, such as Google Authenticator.

If your phone is having connectivity issues and can't receive an SMS security code, that's where recovery codes come in. Go to Settings > Security > Two-Factor Authentication > Recovery Codes, and use the displayed code to log in.

To help users differentiate between fake emails and official Instagram correspondence, Instagram is rolling out an "Emails from Instagram" tab, which "will allow anyone to check if an email claiming to be from Instagram is genuine," the company says.

The feature can be found via Settings > Security > Emails From Instagram. A "Security" tab will display a list of the emails Instagram sent you within the past 14 days regarding your account security and the locations from which you've logged in. A second tab, dubbed "other," will show you any remaining emails Instagram sent to you over the same period.

You can watch out for hackers by going to Settings > Login Activity on the desktop. This page will show you a list of locations where you have logged in with your account. You can verify your current location and look through previous activity. If there are locations you don't recognize, it's a good idea to log out from those devices and change your password.

When you post to Instagram, anyone on the platform can see your pictures and videos by default. If you only wish to interact with people you actually know, set your account to private via Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy and toggle Private Account to on.

When your account is private, you'll have to approve new followers before they can see your photos or videos. Only approved followers will be able to find your posts through search, see which posts you've liked, and send you direct messages. With a private account, Google also won't index any of your photos to Google Images.

Instagram has a feature allowing people to see when you are actively using the app; just look for a little green dot next to a friend's picture in your direct messages. It's there to tell people when you are online to answer a DM, but it can be a little intrusive when you just want to be left alone. Turn it off via Settings > Privacy > Activity Status and toggle the option off.

If someone is harassing you or posting inappropriate content, report them to Instagram. You can do this on the account's profile page, or directly through an individual post, comment, direct message, or story. Just tap the three-dot icon () on the top right of an Instagram post or bottom right of a story. To report a specific comment, long-press on it (Android) or swipe left (iOS) and tap the exclamation point icon.

You can fill out a form report on Instagram's website as well. If Instagram finds that the account, comment, or video breaches its terms of service, the account in question will be suspended. By reporting an account, Instagram automatically blocks the user for you. However, you can also manually block the account by opening the three-dot menu on the account in question and selecting Block.

Instagram has also taken more targeted action to stop bullying on the platform. A new feature called Restrict hides a particular user's comments and notifications if you want to stop seeing their posts and comments without unfollowing or reporting them.

To enable the feature, go to Settings > Privacy > Restricted Accounts and add accounts manually; or go to the user's profile, tap the three-dot icon on the top right and select Restrict. On iOS, you can also swipe left on a comment to restrict. Once Restrict is enabled, comments on your posts from restricted users will only be visible to that person. You can view the comment by tapping "See Comment," then choose to approve it, delete it, or ignore it. You won't receive any notifications for comments from a restricted account.

If you think restricting an account is overkill, you can mute a user. You will remain friends with them but stop seeing their updates in your feed. Instagram will not notify users that you've muted them.

Mute an account from your feed by tapping the three-dot menu () next to the name and choosing Mute. Or go to an account's profile, tap Following, and select Mute from the pop-up menu. You'll have the option to mute an account's posts, their stories, or both. To quickly mute just their stories, long-press the story icon at the top of your feed and select Mute from the menu. In Direct Messages, tap the information icon () on the top right, where you can opt to mute messages and/or video chats.

Go to Settings > Privacy > Muted Accounts to manage your mute list.

If blocking, muting, or restricting a follower all fail, use the nuclear option: remove them. Go to your profile, tap Followers, and find who you want to remove. Tap the three-dot menu next to their name and tap Remove. This is a helpful feature for when you want to turn your account private and need to remove some followers.

Wondering if an account is legit? Instagram now gives you the tools to help identify real accounts and scammers. Just navigate to their profile, tap the three-dot menu, and select About this Account.

Instagram will show you when the user joined the platform, what country the account is located in, any ads they are running, a history of username changes, and accounts with shared followers. If something seems amiss, you can block and/or report the account.

Instagram gives you full control over who can and cannot interact with your photos and videos. To turn commenting off for a specific post, tap the three-dot icon in the right-hand corner of your post and tap Turn Off Commenting.

Further options are available under Settings > Privacy > Comments, where you can block specific accounts and set content filters in order to hide certain words or phrases. If your account is public, choose who can comment (everyone, people you follow and your followers, people you follow, or your followers).

In Settings > Privacy > Story, you can hide your stories from specific accounts, set message reply permissions, and determine whether or not users can share these stories.

Anyone can tag you in a photo, and these photos are viewable by tapping the photo icon on your profile. But you can remove yourself from these posts or adjust your settings to approve tagged images before they appear on your profile.

Go to Settings > Privacy > Tags and turn off the switch next to Add Automatically. To remove individual items, find an image, tap the three-dot menu, then tap Hide Options (Android) or Photo Options (iOS). Here, you can opt to remove a tag or hide that photo from your profile. You can also tap the tag in the image itself to remove it or hide the photo from your profile.

To manage multiple photos at once, go to Settings > Privacy > Tags > Hide Photos and Videos and select all the images you'd like to be removed from at once. Tap the eyeball icon (Android) or Hide (iOS) to remove them from your profile.

Facebook is making a big push for e-commerce on Instagram, but before you click and buy that targeted item showing up in your ads, add a passcode to your credit card. Go to Settings > Payments > Security Pin and turn it on, which will add an extra layer of security in case you misplace your device.

Many third-party apps connect to Instagram to provide additional functionality across the web, but it's easy to lose track of how many apps you've connected to your account. Keep tabs on these connections via Settings > Security > Apps and Websites, where you can view active and expired authorized apps, then remove or grant access to the services you want. From the web, click the gear icon to access the settings menu and click Authorized Apps.

For more, these Instagram tips will have you snapping photos and video editing like a pro in no time.