Hiding Comments on Instagram Live, as a Host and as a Viewer

The control lives in the Live itself and not in your general settings, so you can only reach it once you've started.

Comments stop for all viewers at that moment, while the broadcast carries on. To reverse it, return to the same menu. You can switch back and forth during a broadcast, which is useful for a talk or a demo where you want quiet during the main part and questions at the end.

Instagram adjusts its interface fairly often, so the exact wording may differ on your version. If the three dots aren't there, update the app, then look at the same comment box again.

Many people search for this after a bad experience with one or two commenters, and turning off everything can be an overreaction. A Live with no chat loses most of what makes it worth attending, since viewers come to take part. These tools are worth trying first.

Here sources disagree, and most of what's online is copied from one site to the next. As far as we can establish, Instagram doesn't document a viewer setting that hides the comment stream. Some articles say a feature existed and was removed; others describe a workaround.

The workaround you'll see most often goes like this: start typing in the comment box (some versions say to type "@." specifically) and leave it unsent, or use a certain gesture to clear the screen. Results vary by phone and app version. We couldn't confirm them against anything from Instagram, so we wouldn't promise they'll work for you.

Other things that do reliably help:

Be careful with any app or browser extension promising "clean" Instagram Lives. An extension that reads your Instagram session can read everything else in it too, and your password is worth far more than a tidier screen.

Hiding the chat during a broadcast doesn't guarantee the same result afterwards. If you share a replay, check how it presents comments before you post it, and consider removing anything you wouldn't want attached to the recording. Comments on the replay follow the same rules as a regular post, so you can delete them, filter them and turn them off.

Instagram doesn't publish how comments on a Live influence who sees it, so no one can give you a figure honestly. The practical case for keeping them on is simpler. Live is the format where people expect a reply, and answering by name is what turns a viewer into a follower. We looked more broadly at this in What's The Role Of Instagram Lives In Follower Growth?

If people are quiet, the problem usually isn't them. Open with a question that's easy to answer, such as where they're watching from, and read out the replies. Even small audiences warm up when they hear their own names.

Outside the Live, the same logic applies to your posts. People read through comments before deciding how seriously to take you, and we cover what's behind those threads in Who's Really Behind Those Comments on Your Instagram Posts? A brand-new post with an empty thread can look unattended, which is why some accounts seed the first few with INSTABOOST Instagram comments: no password is needed, only the post link. That sets the look of a post and doesn't start a conversation by itself, so you still have to answer people. Other tools are on our Instagram page.

The usual place to do it is inside the Live, from the three dots in the comment box. Your general settings can limit who may comment and which words get filtered, and those apply before you begin.

Yes, if it's temporary. Nothing on screen explains why the chat went quiet, so say it out loud and tell people when you'll open it again.

Yes. Instagram says any keyword filters you've turned on also apply to comments on your live video, so set them before you start.

Yes. Use the options next to their comment to turn off comments from that account. They still see their own comments, but other viewers don't.