By default, anyone can view your profile and posts on Instagram. You can make your posts private so that only followers you approve can see them. If your posts are set to private, only your approved followers will see them on hashtag or location pages.

To set your posts to private from the Instagram app:

Go to your profile, then tap . 

Tap Settings.

Tap Privacy and Security.

Tap Account Privacy then tap to toggle Private Account on.

To set your posts to private from a computer or mobile browser:

Go to instagram.com on your computer.

Click , then click .

Click Privacy and Security.

Below Account Privacy, click to check the box next to Private Account.

Things to keep in mind about private posts:

Private posts you share to social networks may be visible to the public depending on your privacy settings for those networks. For example, a post you share to Twitter that was set to private on Instagram may be visible to the people who can see your Twitter posts.

Once you make your posts private, people will have to send you a follow request to see your posts, your followers list or your following list.

Follow requests appear in  Activity, where you can approve or ignore them.

If someone was already following you before you set your posts to private and you don't want them to see your posts, you can block them.

People can send a photo or video directly to you even if they’re not following you.