How to limit your Instagram usage on iOS and Android

Instagram time limit in use on iOS
(Image credit: TechRadar)

Instagram, and its parent company Meta, have increasingly been aware of how much time we all spend on our devices and social media.

While there are ways on iOS and Android to manage your time, through ScreenTime and Digital Wellbeing, for example, Instagram has its own take to help manage your time on the app.

But while these features are useful, they can be hard to find and customize to your liking, which is why we've laid out how you can best use the three features that Instagram has made available to better help manage your daily usage.

Instagram Usage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

1. Go to 'Your Activity'

Go to your profile and press the three lines on the top right, then press 'Your activity'.

Instagram Usage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

2. Select 'Time Spent' in the list

You'll see a bunch of options to manage your data, your search history, archived content, and more. Go to 'Time Spent' in this list.

Instagram Usage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

3. Your choice of two usage options

You have two options here, but both can be enabled if you wish. The first is 'Set reminder to take breaks', which can remind you after 10, 20, or 30 minutes to take a break with a full-screen notification.

Instagram Time Limit and Take break features

(Image credit: Instagram Usage)

4. Set a daily time limit

The second option is to set a daily time limit, which can be 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours. Once the time runs out, you're unable to use Instagram for the rest of that day.

Instagram Usage

(Image credit: TechRadar)

5. Manage your notifications

However, if you want to manage your usage by changing the notifications, you can also do this by going to 'Notification Settings', and selecting 'Pause All' for a certain time.

Daryl Baxter
Software & Downloads Writer

Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time he's written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', alongside podcasting and usually found playing games old and new on his PC and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that's about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.