Learn what settings to check for and fix if you’re not receiving push notifications for Instagram messages on your iPhone.
When you receive a new Instagram message, the app on your iPhone or Android notifies you instantly for real-time communication. However, you can miss these notifications due to changed settings, do not disturb modes, and various other reasons.
The solutions below will resolve these issues, allowing you to resume texting your Instagram friends and followers promptly. Most of these troubleshooting steps are also applicable if you’re not receiving Instagram direct message notifications on your Android device.
Check your Internet connection
All app notifications, including Instagram DMs, will be affected negatively if your Wi-Fi or cellular data connection is slow or unreliable. To remedy this, head to Control Center or your phone settings and connect to a faster Wi-Fi network, or try switching to 5G for better cellular speeds.
Ensure your iPhone is not in DND or Focus mode
If you were getting Instagram DM notifications but they stopped out of the blue, then it could be that your iPhone is in Do Not Disturb mode or a Focus mode that silences these alerts.
Open Control Center on your iPhone and make sure Focus isn’t active. When it is, the Focus icon is highlighted, and in that case, you’ll want to give it a tap to turn it off.
Alternatively, you can go to Settings > Focus > select a Focus and add Instagram to the list of allowed apps that can alert you even when a particular Focus mode is active.
Turn on messages from individuals and group chats
If you haven’t received any notifications from Instagram for new messages, then you might have turned them off within the app settings. Go through these steps to fix this.
- Open Instagram on your iPhone, tap the profile picture in the bottom-right corner, and then tap the hamburger menu icon in the top-right corner to access app settings.
- Tap Notifications.
- Select Messages.
- Tap “On” for “Messages from individual and group chats.” If you don’t get new message requests, group chat requests, and broadcast messages, you can enable them all from here.
With this setting fixed, you should now get new Instagram DMs on time, provided the app itself is allowed to alert you.
Turn on message notifications for the Instagram app
Even when all Instagram in-app notification settings are in order, you won’t get notifications if the app itself is blocked from sending alerts at the operating system level. Follow these steps to check and fix Instagram notification settings on your iOS device.
- Open the iOS Settings app and tap Notifications.
- Make sure Scheduled Summary is off. Then, scroll down and select Instagram from the list of apps.
- Make sure Allow Notifications is on, and choose a notification style by checking or unchecking Lock Screen, Notification Center, and Banners. You can also toggle the Sounds and Badges settings here.
Make sure your notifications are not paused or in sleep mode
Instagram offers you the option to pause all alerts temporarily. It also has a sleep mode that mutes your notifications when it’s time to sleep or when you need to focus on something more important.
Head to your Instagram settings > Notifications and make sure Pause all and Sleep mode are off.
Check if the conversation is on mute
Like the Messages app, you can choose to mute individual Instagram conversations. So, if you receive notifications for all Instagram DMs except a particular one, then this could be the reason.
- Open Instagram, go to your direct messages screen and select the conversation whose notifications you don’t get.
- Tap the person’s name at the top.
- If it says “Unmute,” tap it and turn off the switch for Mute messages. Going forward, you should receive notifications when this person texts you on Instagram.
Make sure you have not restricted the particular account
Instagram won’t notify you of messages from a person whom you have restricted. If you don’t get alerts from a particular account, go to their profile on Instagram, and if it says “Unrestrict,” tap it to restore full digital interactions with that individual.
Turn on Background App Refresh
Background App Refresh ensures iOS apps can refresh and fetch new content easily, even when they are not on the screen. If your DM notifications are delayed or you get them only when the Instagram app is open, head to iPhone Settings > General > Background App Refresh and make sure it’s on for both Wi-Fi and Mobile Data.
Turn off battery and data saving modes
While rare, your Instagram notifications may be delayed or disabled if your iPhone is in Low Power Mode or your Wi-Fi/cellular data is set to Low Data Mode. So, turn both off by going to device settings.
- Turn off Low Power Mode: Settings > Battery.
- Turn off Low Data Mode: Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options or Data Mode. If you’re on Wi-Fi, tap the info button ⓘ next to the Wi-Fi name and make sure Low Data Mode is off.
Follow the account whose DMs you don’t get
Instagram intentionally doesn’t notify you when spam accounts (or accounts mistakenly flagged as spam) send messages. If this involves a friend, acquaintance, or new follower, follow their account to ensure Instagram doesn’t mute future message notifications.
Additionally, Instagram may not notify large accounts of every DM they receive. If you’re a public figure, Instagram likely limits alerts to prevent constant notifications. To engage with someone, reply to their message or follow their account, and Instagram may start notifying you of their new messages.
Force quit the app, free storage, and restart your iPhone
Temporary system glitches in the app or on your phone can lead to various issues, including delayed text notifications. Force quit and reopen the app. If that doesn’t help, make sure you have a few GBs of free space on your device. Finally, power cycle your iPhone by turning it off and back on.
Update or reinstall Instagram
If the problem still isn’t fixed, update to the latest version of the Instagram app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. If that fails to address the problem, delete and reinstall the app. This will clear Instagram cache, previous local app data, and so forth, ensuring you get a fresh version of the app with little to no problems.
But before you do that, make sure you know your Instagram password and have added your email address and phone number to it. The latter can help reset your password if you’ve forgotten it.
Make sure someone else doesn’t have access to your Instagram account
Did you give your partner or someone else access to your Instagram account? If that’s the case, they may be getting alerts for new DMs sent to their device.
If you want to revoke that access, change your Instagram password, log out from all other devices, and take measures to secure your account. This will ensure those people no longer have access to your Instagram account and direct messages.
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