If Instagram is not working or loading, follow these useful tips to fix any Instagram problems you might be experiencing.
While the Facebook-owned company is one of the top social media platforms in the world, that doesn’t mean it cannot run into issues.
How to Fix Instagram Not Working
If your Instagram is not working, try restarting your phone. If restarting your phone doesn’t fix the problem, try using Instagram both on Wi-Fi and on your mobile data connection to determine if the problem is because of a poor Wi-Fi or mobile data connection.
If Instagram is not working yet, don’t panic, there are several other proven steps you can take to fix this issue. Follow every step below and I’m confident you’ll get your Instagram working again.
1. Check Instagram Status
If you are not able to reach Instagram, it’s always a good idea to check the site to see if it is up. Now it may not be best to check the connectivity from the same device, but you can try another pc or device to check the status.
How do you do that? Go to the DownDetector Instagram page to see if there are problems. The site will mention something like No problems to ensure that the Instagram site itself is not the problem.
You can also look at the Instagram Twitter Handle for any updates on outages. If Instagram is down, there is nothing much you can do at your end. Please wait for it to get back up!
2. Check your connection
Check if your data is working. Did you run out of your data plan? You don’t need to reset your Android phone, just reset your network settings. If you are connected to Wi-Fi, then try resetting your network settings.
For Android – Open Settings > General Management/System > Reset/Reset Options -> tap on Reset Wi-Fi, mobile, and Bluetooth.
For iPhone or iPad – Open the Settings app > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
You will lose your Wi-Fi passwords, so make a note of them before doing these steps.
3. Update the Instagram app
Facebook owns Instagram, and Facebook is one of the companies that are killing it at DevOps. That means engineers at Facebook are dealing with a stream of 10s, 100s, or even 1000s of deployments a day.
These releases translate to fixing many bugs. If you’re continually running into issues with your Instagram feed, it’s always a good idea to make sure you are on the latest release. At times just updating the app is sufficient.
Updating Instagram on Android
- Go to the Play Store
- Select the options toolbar on the top left.
- Select My Apps & Games
- Find the installed apps, locate Instagram
- Update It
Or
Turn on Auto Update on Android, and never worry about manually doing the update.
- Go to the Play Store
- Select the options toolbar on the top left.
- Settings
- Select Auto-Update Apps
Updating Instagram on iPhone
- Go to the Apps Store
- Tap your profile picture at the top right corner of the screen.
- Scroll down to the list of Apps, locate Instagram, and check for any available update.
If updating is not fixing your issue, just go ahead and delete and reinstall the app. Your previously uploaded data is safe in the cloud, and you will be where you are when you log in to the newly updated app.
4. Restart the Instagram app
Running apps in the background take a toll on your memory, soon you run out of your RAM, and your apps start glitching. It’s always a good idea to close out all apps in the background, specifically if you want just to restart the Instagram app then do the following.
On iPhone 8 and earlier
- Double click the Home button to bring the open apps. Swipe up to close the Instagram App.
- Pro Tip: Use up to four fingers to close multiple apps and clear the memory. There is no close-all option on iPhone, unlike Android.
On Newer iPhones without the Home button (iPhone X and later)
- Begin to swipe from the bottom of the screen and go up to halfway.
- You will see the open apps, locate Instagram, and close it. Again, try the four-finger method to close multiple apps.
On Android
- Hit the bottom left icon.
- When all the apps come up, locate the Instagram app and swipe up to close it
Tip: Android has the Close All button at this point; use it to close all apps and free up your memory.
Check this out: How to Use Instagram Threads App: A Beginner’s Guide »
5. Delete cache and data
Don’t you like it when Instagram feeds load so smoothly? It happens because Instagram pre-fetches a certain amount of data and stores it on your phone.
This cache takes up space on your phone. It does help in your experience, but soon it takes up a lot of space. Clearing cache at times helps in solving minor issues with the app.
Clearing cache on Android
- Go to Settings
- Tap Apps & Notifications
- Locate the Instagram app
- Tap on Storage
- Find Clear Storage and Clear Cache.
Clear storage will delete all Instagram data stored by it locally on a smartphone.
Clear Cache of Instagram from iPhone
In an iPhone, there is no option to only clear the cache. You’ll have to delete and reinstall the app.
- Open the Settings app.
- Go to General and then iPhone Storage.
- Locate Installed Apps, and go to Instagram.
- Select the Delete option.
- Reinstall the app from the iOS App Store.
These steps remove the cache and other files and reduce the size of storage taken up by Instagram.
6. Uninstall and reinstall the Instagram app
When nothing works, uninstalling and reinstalling the app works. Follow the above-listed procedures to go about doing the same on an Android and iPhone device.
iOS 13 has changed how we used to delete apps on an iPhone. Check this guide for step-by-step instructions on how to delete apps on iOS 13.
7. Restart your phone
Restarting a phone often clears up memory, reinitiates the apps, and gives a fresh start to the operating system and underlying processes. It’s usually a good idea to keep restarting your phone.
On an Android, go to Settings and search for Auto restart. You can schedule your phone to reboot automatically at a given schedule.
8. Check the Instagram Help page for known issues
Finally, it’s always recommended to visit the application owners’ help pages to know the latest. You can find many troubleshooting steps here on Instagram’s official Help page.
Final Thoughts on Instagram Not Loading
Instagram is an extremely popular app and noticeably will always have a very high degree of traffic and usage.
Given the demand, the developers often encounter many use cases that were not thought of previously.
Fixes for the same are released throughout the year. Always keep the latest version to stay ahead of the game.
Don’t forget to share or recommend this guide as it may others that face similar problems.
