The Instagram interface can seem confusing at first but knowing how to navigate it efficiently can save you lots of time. The bottom navigation bar contains tabs for Home, Search, Reels, Shop and Profile. Home shows you posts from people you follow while Search lets you find accounts, hashtags and locations. Reels is for short videos, Shop contains tagged products you can buy & Profile is your own account. Getting familiar with these main sections is the first step to quickly getting around Instagram.
Use Profile Tabs
Your profile has several useful tabs that can shortcut you to different types of content. The Posts tab shows your uploads only. While Tagged shows posts and stories you’re mentioned in. If you have a business account. You can view Instagram stories anonymously by using Instagram Story Viewer by InstaNav. The Insights tab gives you analytics on your followers and engagement. The Saved tab lets you access posts and videos you have bookmarked for later. Checking these tabs can provide a quicker way to access certain types of content you want to see.
Edit Your Following List
Trimming accounts you no longer want to follow can make your Home feed less cluttered and more relevant to your interests. To edit your following list, go to your profile and tap Following. From there you can scroll through accounts you follow and tap Following again on any you want to unfollow. Doing an occasional “following purge” helps curate a Home feed with content you genuinely want to see.
Use Bookmarks
Instagram Save feature lets you bookmark posts, videos and profiles you want to revisit later. To save something, tap the bookmark icon below it. To see your saved content, go to your profile and tap the Saved tab. Photos and videos are stored in discrete folders. Creating bookmarks is helpful for flagging content to go back to when you have more time.
Try New Gestures
Instagram has added some handy gestures to make navigating even easier. From your Home feed, swipe diagonally to switch between feeds like Home, Explore & Reels. Swipe up anywhere to quickly access the camera. On profiles swipe across the tabs or down on posts to shortcut back to the top. Learning new gestures can really speed up getting around the app.
Personalize Your Feeds
You can customize your Home, Explore and Reels feeds to better suit your interests. In each tab tap the magnifying glass icon to access settings. Here you can hide suggested posts, snooze accounts temporarily and choose topics to see more or less. Personalizing your feeds this way serves content you want to see while minimizing irrelevant posts. You can also use IG Story Viewer App to explore all of these without leaving a trace.
Use Filters & Locations
When searching, make use of filters and locations to simplify finding relevant content. In Search you can filter by people, photos, videos and more. Selecting a location shows you top posts from that area. Search smarter by tapping the filters icon and narrowing results down before typing a term. The filters keep your searches targeted and effective.
Follow Hashtags
Following certain hashtags fills your feed with posts using those tags, letting you shortcut to content on topics you like. To follow a hashtag, search for it and tap the Follow button on its profile. Use a mix of both accounts and hashtags in your Following list to see a diverse range of content related to your interests.
Check Notifications Frequently
Your notifications tab shows when someone mentions you, likes your post, follows you or sends a message. Keeping up with notifications ensures you don’t miss important activity. The app bubbles up notifications in real-time, but checking the tab often clears out seen ones so you stay up-to-date. View notifications as a habit to stay looped in on your Instagram interactions.
Hide Posts After Viewing
If your Home feed moves too fast, you can have posts automatically hide once you’ve seen them. Go to Settings > Account > Posts and toggle “Hide Seen Posts” on. This prevents posts from cluttering up your feed once you’ve viewed them. It also encourages you to keep scrolling down for new content, rather than seeing the same posts repeatedly.
Adjust Your Data Usage
To control how much data Instagram uses, go to Settings > Account > Cellular Data Use. Here you can enable options like Use Less Data, Disable Video Autoplay and more. Toggling these on prevents the app from eating up too much data volume when you’re not on WiFi. Optimizing data usage allows you to browse Instagram more without high mobile bills.
Conclusion
Mastering Instagram navigation makes spending time in the app much more efficient and enjoyable. Features like tabs, bookmarks, gestures, feeds and hashtags give you shortcuts to the content you want to see. Optimizing notifications and data usage also helps you stay active in the app without wasting too much time or mobile data. Use these tips to become a pro at navigating Instagram.