How to Tell If Your Instagram Message Was Read

Find out if your message was read (or if they’re just ignoring you)

Co-authored by Nicole Levine, MFA Reviewed by Candace Gasper

Last Updated: June 12, 2025 Fact Checked

This wikiHow guide teaches you how to know if someone has read your Instagram DM. Because Instagram turns on read receipts by default, and there's no way to turn the feature off, it's very easy to see if someone has opened your message.

Things You Should Know

To know if someone read your direct message on Instagram, open the message and look for "Seen" at the bottom.
"Seen" will disappear if the person replies to your message.
There is currently no way to turn off read receipts on Instagram, but that option may be coming soon.

Steps

Download Article

2
Tap the chat bubble on your feed. When you're viewing your Instagram feed, you'll see this icon at the top-right corner.
- If you don't see this icon, tap the Home tab first.
Advertisement
This opens the DM.
4
Look for "Seen" at the bottom of the message. If the other person has read your message but hasn't sent a reply, the word "Seen" will be visible just above the typing area at the bottom-right corner.
- If the message is a group chat, you'll see the names of everyone who has read your message next to "Seen."
- "Seen" will disappear once the person replies to your message.
- While you can't turn off read receipts on Instagram, there are some workarounds that let people sneakily read DMs without being seen. The workarounds are pretty involved, so most people don't use them.
- Instagram is reportedly working on allowing users to turn off read receipts, but the feature hasn't rolled out yet.^{[1]
  X
  Research source}