If you want to clear instagram search suggestions then you are at the right place we will tell you some of the best ways to clear them easily. Instagram is one of the most popular platforms to connect with people.
Moreover, with time there have been several updates that have made it easier for users to connect and share posts, stories, and many more.
Along with several new features, Instagram has also brought its suggestions to users while searching for people. Like any other platform, Instagram also allows its users to search for other users.
This feature has helped people easily get in touch with their friends and acquaintances and quickly add them. However, the search history also remains for quite some time. This might be an issue later on, mainly because their name appears on the search history when people search for a particular user.
Most people regard this as a threat to privacy since the user’s name pops in the search history by pressing the search bar. Hence, it is considered best to remove or clear the search history.
Instagram Search Suggestions
Instagram provides a feature of suggesting usernames in the search bar, and these usernames are the ones that the person has already searched for. This would mean that removing them means you will have to know how to clear Instagram search suggestions.
Sometimes even after clearing the history, Instagram might suggest you some past usernames. Even though the usernames or the suggested accounts might change, a different set of usernames will be suggested by Instagram.
Since clearing the search history and search suggestions are slightly different, you might want to consider following these methods. You will be able to clear your Instagram search history either from your phone or the desktop itself.
Instagram Search history
Instagram search history is the list of accounts or hashtags you had searched for earlier. Based on this detailed search history, Instagram organizes an algorithm. This is why you will be able to see more similar accounts, hashtags, and even personalized ads.
Clearing the search history will prevent Instagram from suggesting certain accounts or hashtags. However, since the platform already stores the data and cache, chances are the various other suggestions will still be related to your previous searches.
As you click on the search bar, you will see the list of previously searched accounts and hashtags. You can either clear this from Instagram settings or the search bar. You cannot undo this action, so once you clear your search history, Instagram will not be able to retrieve the list.
Search History and Search Suggestions
As mentioned above, Instagram suggests several accounts to you based on your activity and search history. You will note that Instagram search suggestions and search history are slightly different.
There are chances of getting rid of suggestions from the search bar by clearing the list or the history. However, sometimes Instagram suggests certain accounts based on your activity as well.
Regardless of clearing the search history, Instagram will suggest certain accounts you had previously interacted with or searched for. So if you want to clear the history or the suggestions from the search bar, do it from the settings or the search bar itself.
However, even after clearing the history, you will be getting suggestions in the search bar. To remove this, you must clear the data, and the cache stored. This must be done by reinstalling the application or removing it manually on Android.
How To Clear Instagram Search Suggestions
- Clear History from Instagram Application
- Reinstall Instagram application
- Use Desktop to clear search suggestions
- Remove search suggestions manually
- Block the account
- Clear search suggestions from phone
- Clear cache and data
1. Clear History From Instagram Application
There are many ways for you to clear the entire history. However, if you do not want to and only remove specific username suggestions, you can move to the next method.
Clear your search history from the Instagram application is rather simple and easy. It wipes out all the searched usernames.
You will have to follow these steps to clear the history from the application itself.
- Launch the Instagram application.
- Go to your profile by clicking the bottom right icon.
- Select Settings from the three-line menu at the top right corner.
- Click on Your activity.
- After that, scroll to Recent searches.
- You will be taken to a page with a list of recent searches
- Click on Clear All.
- Click on Yes, I’m sure pop-up message.
All the recent searches from your search bar will be cleared as soon as you do this. This includes usernames, hashtags, and other searches as well.
After you follow this method, you can again click on the search icon, which is present in the menu at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the search bar and check whether it worked or not. You will have to note that this method simply clears your search history. It does not clear your search suggestions.
If you do not want the search suggestions, you might want to follow the method given below. This particular method will help you clear the search history. Other than that, the suggestions that appear on the search bar will also disappear.
However, Instagram will still suggest a few accounts and hashtags. You will have to follow the other methods mentioned below to remove those.
2. Reinstall the Instagram application
If you cannot follow any of the methods mentioned above or aren’t working, you can try uninstalling and installing the application again. This will help delete or clear the entire cache and data.
Sometimes the data and cache stored will not allow you to remove all the suggestions. Despite removing all the suggestions and clearing the history, Instagram might still suggest certain accounts or hashtags based on your previous activity.
One of the main reasons for this is that Instagram stores data and cache, which helps in the algorithm. If you uninstall the application from your phone, you will be able to remove the data and cache.
This enables you to clear all the suggestions as well. This method is rather simple, and if you want to remove the suggestions without going through the process of clearing search history and many more. You can uninstall the application.
If you are using iOS, you can remove the application by long-pressing the icon. This will allow you to get another pop-up message. Click on the Remove application from the device option. After that, you can click on Confirm. This method will remove the application from your device.
For Android phones, the method is similar. Long-press the application on your home page and drag it to the bin icon. The application will be removed from your phone.
After uninstalling the application from your phone, you can reinstall it from the App Store or Google Play. You can follow this method if you are using an iPhone.
- Search for Instagram on your App Store.
- Click on Install.
- After it has been installed, you can log in to your account.
However, if you are using Android, you will have to search for Instagram on Google Play. Navigate to the application and then install it. After installing the application, you should note that you will have to log in again.
Most of the time, while uninstalling the application, the device removes all the log-in credentials that were initially stored. Hence, if you are reinstalling Instagram, ensure your login details are ready.
After you log in, you can navigate to the search page and click on the search bar. You can check whether Instagram is still suggesting the accounts or not. You will not find any suggestions in the search bar with the entire reset process.
3. Use Desktop to Clear Search Suggestions
Apart from deleting the entire search history, if you want to clear the search suggestion, you can do so either through the phone application or the desktop. You will have to visit the official website, Instagram, and log in to your profile from the desktop browser.
You can then follow these steps to clear the search suggestions.
- Click on the Profile button.
- Go to Settings and click on Privacy and Security.
- Click on View Account Data.
- Navigate to the option named Search History.
- Click on View All.
Once you view them, you will be able to clear the history and the suggested accounts. Even though this process is quite similar to clearing history, it will also help you clear the suggested options.
Most of the time, Instagram suggests accounts based on your activity and the accounts you follow. Hence this particular method will clear all the suggestions based on the searches or other accounts.
4. Remove Search Suggestions Manually
Since Instagram does not allow the users to remove the search suggestions feature completely, you will have to remove the suggestions manually. The users will have to launch their Instagram application on the phone to remove the suggestions manually.
Follow these steps to remove the search suggestions from your search bar.
- Launch the Instagram application
- Log in to your account.
- As soon as you enter the application interface, click on the search icon.
- The search icon is at the bottom of the page.
- After that, tap the search bar.
- You will see several search suggestions after that.
Next to each username suggested, you will see an X next to it. You can click on the X next to the username you want to remove from the suggestions.
This is useful if you want to remove the suggestions individually. There might be cases wherein you want to keep a few suggestions but remove the others. In those situations, removing them manually through this method is considered the easiest and the most simple.
After this, you will only be able to see certain accounts in the search suggestions, whereas the ones you removed will be cleared. Since this method is to be done through the Instagram application, the process does not change either on iOS or Android.
5. Block the account
Instagram might be suggesting certain accounts, even after clearing the search history and the suggestion list. This mainly happens when you are typing a certain initial, and it immediately suggests an account you had previously searched for.
For instance, even after removing the account from your suggestion list, i.e. (Sarah. N), whenever you type S on the search bar, Instagram suggests Sarah. N. This issue might come up quite often.
Hence one way of resolving it is by blocking the account. Since you do not want Instagram to keep suggesting the account whenever you type S, you can visit their profile and block them.
You will have to keep in mind that this method works only when you are not following the account. This is because if you block them, they will be removed from your following/follower list.
So you might have to end up following them again, which seems tedious. So if you are following this account already, you can resolve the issue by clearing the data and cache. This can be done either manually or by reinstalling the Instagram application.
However, if you are not following the account, you can visit their profile and block them. Once you unblock them, you will notice that Instagram no longer suggests you the account in the search bar.
This blocking method works only if you are not following the account or you wouldn’t mind following them again. So if you are trying to remove your friend or acquaintance’s name from the list, you might want to clear the cache and data instead of blocking them.
6. Clear Search Suggestions from phone
Clearing search suggestions from the phone are very similar to the process done on the desktop. However, apart from clearing it from the settings, it can also be done directly from the search bar.
This is an easier method to clear search suggestions from the phone. You can follow these steps to clear the suggestions from the application itself.
- Launch the Instagram application.
- Log in and click on the search icon.
- The search icon is at the bottom menu. Navigate to the search bar after that.
- Tap on the search bar.
After you tap on the search bar, you will see the list of suggestions from Instagram. These suggestions are either based on your activity or mostly through your search history.
To remove these, you will have to click on the See All button in the right corner. It will then lead you to the entire list of search history and other suggested accounts or hashtags.
After you select this option, you will get another option of Clear All. This method also clears all the suggestions in one go. A message prompt about whether you want to clear your search history will appear on the screen. Click on Clear all.
Once you click on Clear All and the search history, the suggested accounts will also be removed from the search bar. This helps you remove the entire list of suggestions.
7. Clear cache and data
Apart from blocking the account or reinstalling the account, you can also try clearing all the data and cache from the device. This method is much more effective only on Android since it has the option of clearing data and cache directly from the device settings.
You will have to navigate through the device settings and locate the Instagram application there. Once you tap on that, you will see multiple options. You will have to select the option of Clear all Data from the menu.
Once you do this, the Instagram application on your phone will be reset. You will automatically be logged out as well. Once you log in, you can check whether the same accounts are being suggested or not.
Click on the search bar and try checking it. Clearing the data and cache from the device will remove everything stored in the application. This means that Instagram will also change the algorithm.
However, instead of going through this entire process, or if you are an iOS user, reinstalling the application will work perfectly.
Conclusion
Instagram often suggests accounts and other hashtags based on your activity. Other than that, it also suggests the users’ previous accounts that they have searched for. However, this might seem like a threat to your privacy, especially when you are trying to search for someone and previous usernames pop out along with the others.
To clear the history and the suggestions, you will have to follow similar methods on your phone application or the desktop browser. You also have the liberty to remove certain suggestions while keeping the rest of them manually.
While clearing search suggestions, you must remember that you cannot undo them. This would mean that once the history and suggestions are cleared, Instagram does not allow you to retrieve them. This could also mean that the Instagram algorithm is disrupted.Â
