Okay so I was scrolling through Instagram yesterday trying to leave a quick note for my close friends like I always do. But wait… where the heck is the notes option? Seriously, it just vanished from my DMs screen. At first I thought maybe I was going crazy or something, so I closed and reopened the app three times. Still nothing.
My First Reaction
I started poking around everywhere thinking it moved spots. Checked my profile settings – nope. Went through all tabs on the DM page – nothing. Even restarted my phone because tech magic, right? Wasted like 20 minutes doing this.
What I Tried Next
Obviously I jumped online searching for answers. Saw people saying:
- Update your app – did that
- Reinstall Instagram – tried twice
- Toggle airplane mode – actually made things worse temporarily
None of that brought Notes back. Super frustrating when the feature just ghosts you like that.
The Account Switch Test
Then I got this crazy idea – what if I log into my backup spam account? Created that account last year to follow cat memes, never touched it since. And surprise! Notes worked perfectly there. So it definitely wasn’t my phone or app version causing the issue.
Digging Through Settings
Went back to my main account settings while comparing with the meme account. Finally spotted it under Privacy → Hidden Words. Somehow on my main account, the “Hide Message Requests” toggle was turned on. Never touched this setting before, no idea how it got enabled. Maybe some random update flipped it?
Flipping the Switch
Turned off “Hide Message Requests” and BAM! Notes popped right back where they belonged above my DMs list. Tested it by dropping a note to my friend Sarah and she saw it instantly. Felt like solving a mystery, except this mystery was stupidly annoying.
Seriously Instagram, just let people know if a privacy setting kills features like this. Would’ve saved me all that headache. Now you know where to look if your notes disappear!
