Instagram is an incredibly popular social media platform, and one of the ways it remains so is by keeping user active and engaged.
In order to maintain an active user base, Instagram utilizes a policy of deleting all inactive accounts that fit certain criteria.
This means that you must use caution with your Instagram profile, as you might end up losing all of your posts by failing to log in frequently enough. This policy affects everybody, no matter how popular their account is or how many posts they have.
But how much time needs to pass for Instagram to proclaim an account inactive? What does Instagram exactly take into consideration while determining whether an account should be deleted or not?
This article will dive deeper into Instagram’s Inactivity policy.
HOW DOES INSTAGRAM FLAG ACCOUNTS AS INACTIVE?
During the account creation process a strict Instagram policy which has certain terms and conditions is requested to follow and agree.
Therefore, users who fail to comply the same do face consequences
The base of terms and conditions is;
For example, Instgram holds the right to delete any post that contains inappropriate content, without any consent of the user.
Also, it saves all the data for a later potential usage. They can suspend the without notice if something opposite the algorithm is found getting done.
An Instagram account can be flagged as inactive based on a number of factors, including the following:
• The date your account was created
• The last time you logged into your account
• Whether your account has shared any photos, videos, or stories
• Whether your account has liked other photos
• Whether your account has followers, etc.
WHEN WILL INSTAGRAM TAKE AN ACTION TO DELETE THE ACCOUNT?
Instagram has not made any clear statement regarding how much time needs to pass before an inactive account is deleted.
However, the staff encourages their users to log in and use their platform every once in a while to avoid the risk of getting their accounts deleted.
Although there are no official statements that support this, some users believe that Instagram deletes accounts if they were completely inactive for anywhere from 1 to 2 years.
HOW TO AVOID GETTING YOUR ACCOUNT DELETED?
If the Instagram account is made just for the engagement with people and you don’t feel like constantly binging over the platform, then you just need to open the app once in a while just to keep activity going on.
The easiest way to avoid this thing is to log in every now and then.
for example, if you log into your Instagram account once a month…then it is most likely to be considered as inactive.
If you keep interacting with other posts in any way, your account is basically immune to the inactivity flag.
CAN YOU TAKE AN INACTIVE USERNAME?
People often cannot choose the username that they wanted because another user has already claimed the name.
It can be very frustrating when you can’t use your favourite nickname without adding extra characters to it.
However, it is also a common scenario that those taken usernames are actually inactive.
Does that mean you can take them?
if you notice that another account already holds your desired username is inactive, all that you can do is report it to Instagram. Once Instagram’s staff review your report, they will decide whether the account should be deleted or not. You may end up with the username you have always wanted.
But it can take quite a while for Instagram to review your report. Also, they might decide that the account that you’ve reported isn’t inactive and that it shouldn’t be deleted.
If you’ve lost access to your Instagram account either because you no longer have the login credentials, or it was hijacked, you do have a few options. For the latter, you’ll want to report and verify your Instagram account to get it back. If you no longer have access to your email or password try this so that you can log in:
• Try logging in with your phone number
• Attempt to log in with Facebook – if the accounts were linked this should get your right back in
• Use the ‘Need Help Signing in’ option from Instagram – Fill out the report for a compromised account and wait for the email response which could take several hours.
• Try re-gaining access to your email account
• Have a friend look up your username from their account
