Instagram, a photo and video posting social networking website that Facebook Inc. Users acquired, can post photos and videos that can be edited with filters and categorized using hashtags and geotagging. Sometimes Instagram may face issues and cause an “Instagram feed not loading” error.
It can be annoying when you desire to see new photographs, but Instagram says, “Couldn’t refresh the feed.” I will walk you through how to fix this error and refresh your feed step by step in this article.
Fixes To Instagram Couldn’t Refresh Feed Error?
- Check Internet Connection
- Check Phone Storage
- Restart The Phone Device
- Force Stop Instagram App
- Log Out From Account
- Clear Instagram App Cache And Data
- Accept Instagram Warning Message
- Re-Install Instagram App
- Check The System Time
- Try To Update Instagram App
- Check Instagram Servers
- Sign Out From Instagram And Then Back In
- Try To Change VPN App On/Off
- Open Instagram On The Web Browser
- Instagram Has Blocked Access To Your Account
- Disable Restricted Data Usage / Enable Unrestricted Data Usage
1. Check Internet Connection
There could be an issue with the internet connection if the full Instagram app does not reload. Use your phone’s browser to open a webpage or any app that requires an internet connection. If other apps aren’t working, the issue is most likely with your connection.
Check if your Wi-Fi router is within a few feet of you. Routers with a 2.4GHz band often have a greater range than those with a 5GHz band, so you’ll need to be close to a router in the latter scenario.
- Try loading other apps and web pages on your phone to ensure it’s linked to a good internet connection.
- You may also test your internet speed by using your web browser to speedtest.net to see if it’s fast enough to use Instagram.
- If your internet connections are slow, and Instagram isn’t the only service affected, it’s time to upgrade to a better internet plan.
- You have a mobile data plan that isn’t connected to the wireless network.
- When using Instagram, you can test enabling it to see if the feed is loading properly.
- You can quickly enable mobile data by performing one of the following actions:
- On Android, it’s as follows: To open Quick Settings, swipe down from the top and tap the Internet.
- On iOS: Swipe from the top right corner of your screen to open Control Center, then touch on the Mobile Data bubble.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
2. Check Phone Storage
Instagram collects various data, including login information, your data, cache, and logs. If your device’s storage is reaching capacity, Instagram won’t be able to store any new data the next time you open the app, preventing fresh posts from appearing in your feed.
iOS devices
- Go to Settings, General, and then [Device] Storage to access Device Storage.
- You may notice a list of storage-optimization suggestions, followed by a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each consumes.
- To learn more about an app’s storage, tap its name.
- It’s possible that cached and temporary data aren’t counted as usage.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
Android Devices
- Choose Apps or slide up to access your apps and Settings from the home screen.
- Now go to the storage area to see how much space is available on your device.
- Choose from Device care and Device maintenance.
- This will now display the remaining storage space on your device.
- If you have an SD card, the SD card’s remaining space will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
3. Restart The Phone Device
iPhones Devices
- Hold the side and volume buttons together until the slider appears.
- To switch off the phone, drag the slider.
- To turn on the phone device, press and hold the side button.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
Android devices:
- Press and hold the Power button until the option to Restart appears.
- To restart the phone, select the Restart option.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
4. Force Stop Instagram App
Instagram application issues might potentially prevent news feeds from loading. It is not difficult to address this problem. Simply force a stop/force a stop.
- Please begin by entering your phone’s settings.
- Then go to the app’s settings.
- Then look for the Instagram app on your phone.
- Press and hold the Force Stop button.
- You will receive a notification; please choose the Force Stop option.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
5. Log Out From Account
Try signing out of your Instagram app to eliminate the Couldn’t refresh feed problem.
- Go to your profile screen and tap the three-bar symbol in the Instagram app. From the menu, choose Settings.
- Tap Log out [username] at the bottom of the page.
- Restart the phone and log in again once you’ve logged out.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
6. Clear Instagram App Cache And Data
On your Android phone, clean the cache and data for the Instagram app. This will not remove the Instagram account or any of your data, including photos, messages, etc. You will be logged out of the app, and some of its settings will be reset.
Follow these instructions to remove the Instagram app’s cache and data:
- On your phone, go to Settings.
- Go to the Apps section. Select Instagram from the list of apps in the All apps section.
- After that, tap on Storage, then Clear Cache.
- Check to check if the problem has been resolved by restarting the phone.
- Select Clear data or Clear storage from the drop-down menu if the problem persists.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
7. Accept Instagram Warning Message
Most of the time, the Instagram feed not loading issue is caused by Instagram temporarily banning you. You may have disobeyed Instagram’s rules or broken its guidelines.
- Open the Instagram app on your phone.
- Tap on the three-bar icon on the profile screen.
- Select your preferences.
- Select Security, then Access Data.
- You’ll receive a notification or warning that says something along the lines of ‘you’ve broken the rules.’
- To fix the “Instagram feed not loading” problem, tap Okay, Accept, or Next.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
Alternatively, try opening Instagram on your computer. Make sure you’re using a browser to access Instagram rather than the app on your computer. Look for a message that says “guidelines breached” or “warning.” Select OK or Accept. If you can’t find the banner, try the instructions below:
- Go to the Instagram website and select Settings from your profile picture.
- PC Settings for Instagram.
- Select Privacy and Security. Account data should be selected. Accept or acknowledge the warning that appears on the screen.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
8. Re-Install Instagram App
The Instagram app is frequently the source of the problem. The cannot refresh the feed issue can be resolved by uninstalling and reinstalling the app. Remove the Instagram app as you would any other software.
Restart your phone and download the software from the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iOS) (iPhone). It’s worth citing that you won’t lose any of your photos if you uninstall the Instagram app.
Android Platform,
- To uninstall Instagram on Android, look for its app icon in the App drawer and long-press it.
- Select the (i) icon or the Instagram App info option from the open menu.
- Tap Uninstall from the App Info screen.
- Select Ok from the prompt that appears.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
iPhone and iPad
- Locate the Instagram app from your iPhone’s Home Screen, App Library, and Spotlight to delete it.
- Hold your finger on the app’s icon. Select Delete App from the overflow menu that appears.
- To uninstall the app from iOS, press Delete to confirm your action.
- Accordingly, you can reinstall the Instagram app on your Android or iOS device from the Google Play Store or App Store.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
9. Check The System Time
Another reason the Instagram feed isn’t working is if the clock on your device is incorrect. When this happens, your browser or app will be unable to communicate correctly with Instagram.
- Simply access your time and date settings and use the choices to set your time to automatic.
- Reopen the Instagram feed to see whether the “Instagram feed is not loading” problem has been resolved.
- Open the Clock app on your phone.
- Then select Settings from the three vertical dots.
- Tap Home time zone to select your home time zone.
- To automatically adjust your timezone, follow these steps: Change the date and time, then Set the time zone.
- To change your timezone based on your current location, go to Change the date and time, then Set time zone automatically, and then Set time zone using location.
- When traveling to another time zone, you can add a clock for your home: Select Automatic home clock from the menu.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
10. Try To Update Instagram App
Fix the “Instagram feed not loading” issue to update the most recent version from Google Play or the App Store. I recommend updating to the latest version of the app because it will fix any bugs or troubles you may be experiencing while looking through Instagram’s posts and stories.
- Open the Google Play Store app on your Android device.
- Go to your profile picture, then Manage apps and devices, and update the Instagram app if it’s available.
- On iOS, open the App Store app, and tap on Update all next to your profile picture in the upper right corner.
- After installing the update, check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
11. Check Instagram Servers
The phone may be unable to connect to Instagram’s servers, which are either unavailable or undergoing maintenance. If your internet connection is fine, this is the next most likely cause of Instagram’s inability to refresh your feed.
- The company’s server could go down for various reasons, including traffic overflow, server maintenance, or a bug in the app/platform, which could cause the Instagram feed to fail.
- If you’re not sure if that’s the case, a website like DownDetector can help.
- Downdetector lets you check the main server status of services like Instagram and when the service was last down, recent difficulties that other people have had, etc.
- Instagram’s developers will make the required changes to remedy the problem, so you won’t have to do anything.
- You may only have to wait for it to be fixed during this period, taking just a few minutes to a few hours.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
12. Sign Out From Instagram And Then Back In
Instagram’s inability to load your feed may be due to a momentary problem with your account. Such issues might arise as platform developers continue to make little changes to the app, which can sometimes cause severe problems for individual users.
- Simply click on your profile photo in the top right corner of your computer and select the Log Out option.
- Simply click the hamburger icon in the top right corner of your phone or tablet.
- Select the Settings option from the menu.
- Simply scroll down to the Logins area at the bottom of this page.
- You can now log out of your accounts from this page.
- After logging out of Instagram, log back in and see if your Instagram feed is loading properly.
- You’ll be brought to the sign-in screen after logging out of your Instagram account.
- You can now connect back into your account with your account credentials to see if the feed is now up to date and can be refreshed.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
13. Try To Change VPN App On/Off
Usually, your phone’s Instagram app should have no trouble connecting to its servers. Still, if you’re having Instagram feed not loading issue, you may try connecting your phone to a VPN service to remedy the problem.
You may be able to use VPN to stabilize the connection between your device and Instagram’s servers, depending on the quality of your VPN service.
- If you already have a VPN service installed on your phone, try turning it on and opening the Instagram app to see if your feed loads properly.
- You might try changing the server location in your VPN program to see if it helps.
- If you use a VPN service all of the time, even when signing in to Instagram, you can consider removing it.
- It ensures that your device connects to Instagram’s servers normally without external assistance.
- When you enable a VPN app on your device, most apps will be able to detect your IP address and VPN and will stop working.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
14. Open Instagram On The Web Browser
You can use Instagram’s web client to view your friends’ posts and stories from your account. At the same time, this social networking program’s web version has been around for a while.
It has lately gained identical functionality to its app version, allowing users to browse and add posts and stories directly from a web browser on both a phone and a PC.
- If you face the “Instagram feed not loading” issue in the app, try going to Instagram.
- Enter the account credentials and refresh the page from the web browser.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
15. Instagram Has Blocked Access To Your Account
Suppose you have a solid internet connection and there isn’t an outage on Instagram’s end. In that case, the only probable explanation for your feed refreshing is that Instagram has suspended activity for your account on its platform.
If the service detects that you have broken any of its Community Guidelines or have angered other users on its platform, you may be locked out of your account, which is likely why you can’t refresh your Instagram feed.
- Open the Instagram app on the phone and go to the Account tab at the bottom to see if you’ve been banned temporarily or permanently.
- Tap the Hamburger icon in the right corner of your account.
- From the drop-down menu that opens, choose Settings.
- Select Security on the following screen.
- Tap on the “Access data” under the Data and history’ area to see if there’s a warning message regarding your account or recent activities.
- If you answered yes, follow the on-screen steps to unblock your account.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
16. Disable Restricted Data Usage / Enable Unrestricted Data Usage
Both iOS and Android are designed to ensure that apps on your phone don’t consume excessive amounts of mobile data, saving you money at the end of the month. Certain apps may not load properly as a result of this.
If the Instagram app still can’t load your feed after turning on mobile data on your phone, the app doesn’t have unfettered data access. You can allow Instagram to access cellular or wireless data without restriction, allowing you to use Instagram without completely turning off your device’s data saver function.
Android Platform
- Locate the Instagram app in your phone’s App drawer and long-press on its icon. Select the (i) icon or the App info option from the open menu.
- Select Mobile data and Wi-Fi from the App details screen.
- To allow the app to browse the internet without restriction, turn on the Unrestricted data usage toggle at the bottom of the next screen.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
iPhone and iPad
- You won’t find the Unrestricted data usage toggle on an iPhone like you would on an Android device.
- If you haven’t previously, you can select to let Instagram utilize your mobile data. To do so, go to Instagram in the Settings app.
- Toggle the Mobile Data toggle on the next screen.
- Now check if the “Instagram feed is not loading” issue is fixed or not.
- Check if the “Instagram feed not loading” issue is fixed or not.
Conclusion
This problem with the Instagram homepage not loading, might occur at any time. The causes vary, from a faulty internet connection to a power outage. Instagram may occasionally fail to refresh your feed, causing the “Instagram feed not loading” issue. It prevents you from seeing new posts from others and displaying the “Couldn’t refresh feed” warning on the screen.