How to Get Rid of Annoying Instagram Follow Suggestions

Here's how to get rid of and manage Instagram follow suggestions so that they annoy you less.

While Instagram's follow suggestions can help you find accounts you might enjoy, they can also repeatedly recommend people that you are not interested in following or actively want to avoid on the platform.

Regardless of the reason you want the social media platform to stop suggesting certain accounts, there are ways to manage these recommendations. Here are some tips you can try to get rid of annoying Instagram follow recommendations.

Why Does Instagram Recommend Accounts to Follow?

Social media companies like Instagram benefit from having our eyes glued to our screens. The longer we’re on the apps, the more opportunities there are for them to sneak in a few ads when we’re scrolling our feeds, flipping through stories, or viewing reels.

For this reason, it serves us people and brands that it thinks we’ll happily follow. Obviously, it doesn't always work out this way.

Similar to your Instagram Explore page, Instagram bases recommendations on people that you have multiple mutual friends or connections with, profiles you’ve searched recently, or contacts found on your device.

While this feature can sometimes be great, there are times when there are good reasons you’re not connected already. In some cases, it can even bring back people from your past, who deserve to stay there.

How to Remove Specific Accounts to Follow

Whether it’s an old flame, a high school bully, or an ex-colleague, staying private on Instagram is a task worth taking. With this in mind, here are several ways for how to say goodbye to those pesky Instagram suggestions.

How to Remove Specific Account Suggestions

To manually turn off suggestions on Instagram, follow these steps:

1. Scroll through your feed until you come across a suggested account.
2. Next to Because you follow [Account Name], tap X.

How to Disable Notifications About Friends to Follow

If you’re tired of being notified about people you should follow and wonder how to remove discover people on Instagram, here's how:

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1. On your mobile phone, open the Instagram app.
2. Select your profile picture.
3. Tap the Hamburger button.
4. Choose Settings.
5. Tap Notifications.
6. Select Following and Followers.
7. Under Account Suggestions, select Off.

How to Delete Synced Contacts

Every so often, the culprit is right on your contact list. Instagram sometimes chooses suggestions based on your synced contacts. To ask Instagram to back off from adding people with numbers on your phone, follow these steps:

1. On any web browser, go to Instagram.
2. Log into your Instagram account.
3. Click your profile picture.
4. Select Settings.
5. On the left side bar, choose Edit Profile.
6. Click Manage Contacts.
7. Select Delete All.
8. Press Delete to confirm.

Bear in mind that this doesn’t prevent Instagram from re-uploading your contacts in the future. Thankfully, there's a way to prevent that, too.

How to Prevent Contact Syncing on Instagram

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To stop Instagram suggestions from your mobile contacts in the future, do this:

1. On your mobile phone, go to the Instagram app.
2. Select your profile picture.
3. Tap the Hamburger icon.
4. Select Settings.
5. Tap Account.
6. Slide the button next to Connect Contacts to disconnect your contacts.

Make Instagram Work for You

With all the talks about how social media is bad for you, there are some ways to make the experience a bit more positive. Remember that unless it’s your job, social media is meant to be fun.

If you still find that even with deleting these suggestions, Instagram is still getting on your nerves, then it may be time to consider taking a break from it.

Alternatively, there are plenty of options to change the content you see on Instagram.