Unfollowing someone on Instagram [1] is almost like unfriending someone in real life. You're basically saying that you don't want to see their face or keep up with their life any longer. When you don't necessarily want to go that far, but need a break from his or her recent vacation Stories, you can choose to mute them. This is especially great for avoiding any awkward in-person encounters in case they have an app that notifies them [2] when someone's unfollowed them. Plus, you have the option of unmuting them whenever you're ready.
How to Mute Someone's Instagram Stories
- Go to your Stories feed at the top of your homepage, and hold down the user you want to mute.
- You have the option to either "View Profile" or "Mute" — select "Mute."
That's it! Now, you'll no longer see their Stories, but you will be able to see their photos in your feed.
How to Unmute
- Go to your Stories up top again, and continue scrolling left until you reach the very end. (All your muted users will be grayed out.)
- Find the user you want to unmute and hold down their icon.
It's that easy!