Learn how to receive a notification on your Apple Watch when a specific Instagram account such as a friend publishes a story, reel, image, video, and other items.
Countless photos and reels are shared on Instagram every day, so it’s natural that you’d want to tame notifications. But when that special friend (read: crush) posts something on Instagram, you’ll probably want to be notified immediately about it.
To receive an alert whenever a specific Instagram account posts something, set their notifications to appear on both your iPhone and Apple Watch in three steps:
- Step 1: Set Instagram to notify you about activity for a specific account.
- Step 2: Allow the Instagram app on your iPhone to send notifications.
- Step 3: Be sure your Apple Watch can receive Instagram notifications.
Step 1: Enable per-account Instagram notifications
Open the Instagram app and go to a person’s profile, then tap the bell icon in the top-right corner and turn on Posts, Stories, Reels, and Live Videos as desired. Whenever this account posts content you choose here, you’ll be notified about it.
Step 2: Allow notifications in Instagram for iPhone
Go to Settings > Notifications > Instagram on your iPhone and check that the Allow Notifications switch is turned on. If so, also enable the Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners options.
Step 3: Allow Instagram notifications on Apple Watch
Open the companion Watch app on your paired iPhone and select the My Watch tab. Now choose Notifications and turn on the switch next to Instagram in the Mirror iPhone Alerts From section. You’ll now be notified on your iPhone and Apple Watch every time that particular account posts to Instagram.
If there’s no option to mirror Instagram notifications or they’re not delivered to your wrist on time, restart both your iPhone and Apple Watch and try again.
Like with other watch notifications mirrored from your iPhone, you’ll only receive Instagram notifications on your wrist when the phone is locked. And if your iPhone is using a Focus mode like Do Not Disturb that mutes notifications, you won’t be alerted on the wrist either.
Use Instagram like a pro
What if no Instagram notifications are arriving at all? In that case, peruse our troubleshooting tips. Instagram is still running strong, and I use it regularly. But after all those years, there are still things about it that I didn’t know before.
For example, scheduled messaging where I can set a message to be sent on a specific day and time in the future. Or, the ability to publish an Instagram post, story, or reel for just one person. But what if Instagram isn’t your cup of tea and you use other social media apps? In that case, feel free to bookmark our tips to secure all your social media accounts and protect them from hacking.
Do you use per-account notifications on Instagram to track everything your secret crush posts on the platform? Let us know in the comments down below!