How to Hide Instagram Photos Rather Than Delete Them

Don't delete old photos, make them private instead

For years when it came to Instagram you were forced to either delete a photo or keep it public for everyone to see. Sure, you could make your whole profile private and not delete anything, but then you miss out on the social aspect of Instagram where you can get likes and comments from folks outside of your immediate social circle. It's not an ideal dilemma.

Unless you’re exceptionally careful about what you put online, chances are good that you’ve posted at least one photo that you wish you hadn’t.

• Whether it’s a drunken selfie, a photo of  your profile page ou have a few photos on your account that you’d rather not be there for the world to see, now you can actually hide those photos from your profile so they’re still there, but you're the only one that can find them. It’s the perfect solution for temporarily removing shots while you’re looking for a new job, entertain the dating scene again or otherwise trying to curate your profile in order to put your best foot forward.

Hiding an Instagram photo is pretty easy to do, as is making it public again, so there’s no huge commitment either way. Here’s how to make the magic happen:

1. Launch the Instagram app and then bring up the photo in question.
2. Above the photo, you’ll see three dots. Tap those dots to open a small popup menu (it will appear at the bottom of the screen).

1. Tap “Archive” at the top of the list to archive the photo. That will mean that it’s visible to you, but no one else. From the same menu, you also have the ability to turn off commenting on a particular post, edits it, or delete it entirely from your account.

You can view all your archived posts anytime you want by clicking the clock-with-an-arrow-around-it button one the top right of your profile late