Instagram Notifications Not Working? Here are 9 Ways to Fix it!

Instagram is one of the most popular social media app in 2020. But imagine not being able to get any Instagram notifications on your Android or iOS device? The same is being reported by a number of users, and today we take a look at why the Instagram notifications not working issue occurs in the first place and how to fix it without breaking your phone!

Today, as we live our lives through these tiny yet powerful mobile devices, notifications are what keep us updated about what is going around us or at least point us towards the direction of where the action is taking place. Notifications are one of the main reasons we check our smartphones, this especially rings true in the case of social media applications.

Since its launch in 2010, Instagram, an image-based social media juggernaut has been updating us through constant notifications about who has recently liked or commented on our pictures. We stay updated about who has sent us a direct message or recently followed us via notifications.

Imagine, waiting days for your crush to reply to your DM only to realize that they had instantly replied but you weren’t notified about it. Notifications are especially important for messages as most of us don’t check our inboxes often. Missing an update about a live stream from your favourite celebrity can lead to serious FOMO. Another case is when someone accepts your follow request, there is no other way to check except manually visiting their account to verify, which is incredibly frustrating. One can even miss a new post or story notification which defeats the whole purpose.

Notifications play a huge part in deciding how much, when, why and how often we open the application to check our feed or inbox. Yet, one of the most common issues reported by Android as well as iOS Instagrammers is ‘not getting notifications’.

How to Fix Instagram Notification not Working

In this article, we will go over the reasons for the ‘Instagram Notifications Not Working’ error and then proceed to fix it.

What are the causes of ‘Instagram Notification not Working’ Issue?

There are a few common scenarios that trigger this particular issue.

• Push Notification Settings: Sometimes, the push notifications settings are turned off inside the Instagram application which leads to no notifications from the application.
• Corruption of Cache data: Like many other applications, Instagram stores cache on your device to avoid the need to redownload images files. Corruption of which can indirectly affect notifications.
• Application malfunctions: In some cases, the Instagram application itself may be facing some issues to cause the malfunction.
• Device’s notification setting: In some cases, notification settings in your particular device may block or silence the notifications sent by an application.
• Account synchronization: Instagram settings are synced with the account. Changes made on one device can influence performance in other devices.

There are a few different methods to resolve the issue in Android as well as iOS and we have compiled a list of all the solutions below.

Method 1: Check Instagram’s Notification Setting

As Instagram has separate notification settings for Direct Messages, Comments, Likes, IGTV, Video Chats, Live Video, etc. push notification settings may be accidentally turned off by the user, stopping the outbound notifications. Changing this setting is the easiest method to start receiving notifications again.

1. Open the Instagram application on your phone and tap on the circular profile icon located on the bottom right of your screen.

2. Now, tap on the hamburger menu icon located on the top right corner.

3. At the bottom of the slide-in menu, you will find the ‘Settings’ options. Tap on it to open Instagram Settings.

4. In the Settings menu, select the ‘Notifications’ options. Inside Notifications settings, tap on the ‘Push Notifications’ option.

 

5. Make sure the toggle switch next to ‘Mute Push Notification’ is turned off.

6. Proceed to make sure that the ‘off’ option isn’t selected under any individual sections. As per your preference and needs, you can choose between getting notification from everyone or only the people you follow.

That’s it, go back to the main menu and now, Instagram will keep you notified about your account activities.

Method 2: Check your phone’s Instagram Notification Settings

Phone notification settings act as the gatekeeper to what notifications are displayed on your mobile device. If these notification settings are turned off then it doesn’t matter what the particular application settings are. Hence, making sure that these are turned on as well is important.

In an iOS device

1. Open Settings on your iPhone and tap on ‘Notifications’.

2. A list of all applications will appear in alphabetical order, scroll down to find ‘Instagram’ and tap on the arrow next to it.

3. Make sure the toggle switch next to ‘Allow Notifications’ is turned on.

In an Android device

1. Open the ‘Settings’ application on your phone. Scroll through the list of settings and click on Notifications or directly search for the same in the search bar, usually located on the top.

2. Once in the ‘Apps & Notifications’ Setting, find Instagram among others and select it.

3. Turn on the toggle switch next to ‘Show Notification’.

4. Once enabled, make sure all the individual settings are turned on as well.

Now check if you’re able to fix Instagram Notifications not working issue or not? If not then continue with the next method.

Also Read: How to Deactivate or Delete Your Instagram Account (2020)

Method 3: Turn off  ‘Do Not Disturb Mode’

Do Not Disturb Mode or DND mode is available in both Android and iPhone. Once enabled, your phone will temporarily block or silence any incoming notifications, alerts, phone calls, and text messages. Deactivating or turning DND mode off should bring back Instagram notifications on your device.

In an iOS Device

1. Go to your device’s settings and tap on ‘Do Not Disturb’.

2. Make sure the toggle switch next to ‘Do Not Disturb’ as well as ‘Scheduled’ is turned off.

Scroll further down and look for ‘Do Not Disturb While Driving’ and select ‘Manually’ next to ‘Activate’.

In an Android Device

1. Open Settings and click on ‘Sound & Vibration’

2. Find ‘Do Not Disturb’ and tap on it.

3. Proceed to make sure the switch is turned off.

Method 4: Disable Power Saving Modes

To save and extend battery life, modern phones have battery saving modes that are automatically enabled when your phone is low on battery. Once enabled, applications running in the background do not refresh, which in some cases cause a delay or block incoming notifications. Disabling this mode might be helpful in getting your Instagram notifications back on track.

In an iPhone, open the Settings application and scroll down to select the ‘Battery’ setting. Turn off the toggle switch next to ‘Low Power Mode’.

In Android, select ‘Battery’ inside the settings menu. Tap on ‘Battery Saver’ and turn it off.

Method 5: Restart your phone

If all the above-mentioned settings are perfectly in place and you still aren’t getting notified, try restarting your phone once. Restarting your device is the first step and the go-to solution when troubleshooting a technical problem.

Method 6: Update the Instagram Application

In a lot of cases, Instagram Notifications doesn’t work due to a bug in the application itself. Instagram itself is aware of a few bugs and issues that a user may come across, hence with every update, it tries to fix them. Therefore, updating the application may prove helpful.

In Android devices, a user can check the ‘Play Store’ for any new updates of the application.

Use the ‘App Store’ in iPhones to look for new updates.

Also Read: How to Delete Multiple Instagram Photos at Once

Method 7: Clearing Cache Data in Instagram

Cache data is useful in saving the information of the user on the device. It helps the application in completing the task faster. Social media applications are mega cache hoarders and their data can easily get corrupt or broken. Corrupted cache data can cause the application to malfunction and cause problems for the user, hence clearing them every now and then is important.

1. Before you start the cache clearing process, we recommend that you log out of your account first.

Visit the Instagram Settings menu (process mentioned in the initial steps of method 1)

2. Tap on ‘Log Out All Accounts’ at the bottom of the screen and exit the application.

3. Open Settings on your phone and type ‘Application’ or ‘Apps’ in the search bar. In there, find a list of all applications on the device. Search for ‘Instagram’ and tap on it to open.

4. Select ‘Storage & Cache’ to proceed.

5. Tap on ‘Clear Cache’ to delete all cache data.

6. Verify if the cache data has been cleared by the amount of memory occupied by the same. 0 B implies all cache has been cleared.

7. Reboot your phone once and log back into your Instagram account to check.

Method 8: Re-install the application on your device

When an application is reinstalled on your phone all the data and options are reset to the default ones. This includes giving the application necessary permissions when asked.

1. To uninstall the application, open the ‘App Store’ in an iPhone or ‘Play Store’ in Android and type ‘Instagram’ in the search bar. Once found, press ‘Uninstall’ and confirm by clicking on Ok in the following confirmation message.

2. Restart your device once the uninstallation process is complete.

3. Go to your ‘App Store’ or ‘Play Store’ again and reinstall the application. Once the process is complete, log into your account and grant the application all the necessary permissions, specifically the one about notifications.

Method 9: Check Notification settings from a different device

Instagram notifications are synced with your Instagram account, so if you have made changes in one device they will automatically be changed in the others. Thus, checking the setting in multiple devices is important.

For example: if you disable notifications on your iPad, they will be disabled in your Android device as well.

If none of the above-mentioned methods did the trick for you, consider reporting the issue at hand to Instagram itself and wait for their official response.

You can do so by visiting Instagram settings and tapping on ‘Help’ to report the problem.

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That’s the end of the article and we hope you were able to fix Instagram Notifications Not Working issue. But if you still have any questions regarding this tutorial then feel free to ask them in the comment section.