How to Change Mention Settings in Instagram

Tired of receiving unwanted notifications from spam accounts or being tagged in posts that have nothing to do with you? Adjusting your Instagram mention settings is a quick way to clean up your notifications and take full control of how your profile is discussed online. We'll show you exactly how to find and change these settings, manage who can tag you, and handle unwanted mentions that slip through.

Why Your Instagram Mention Settings Matter

Before jumping into the step-by-step instructions, it helps to understand why these settings are so important for both personal users and brands. Controlling who can mention or tag you isn’t about being antisocial, it’s about strategic online presence management. Here’s why you should care:

• It reduces spam. The most common reason people look for these settings is to stop the endless notifications from giveaway contests, spam bots, and accounts tagging dozens of random users for attention. By limiting mentions, you instantly cut down on this digital noise.
• It protects your brand image. For businesses, influencers, and creators, your Instagram profile is a digital storefront. The "Tagged" section of your profile acts as a gallery of user-generated content and social proof. If it’s filled with low-quality or irrelevant posts, it can dilute your brand's credibility. Curating this section is essential.
• It protects your peace of mind. Sometimes you just need a break. Whether you're dealing with online harassment or simply want to disengage for a while, turning off mentions can create a less overwhelming social media experience.

In short, managing your mention settings is a powerful form of boundary-setting. It gives you the power to decide who gets to bring your profile into their conversations.

Controlling Who Can Mention You: A Step-by-Step Guide

Instagram gives you precise control over who can use the "@" symbol to mention your username in their captions, comments, and Stories. This main setting is your first line of defense against unwanted chatter. Here’s how to find and adjust it.

1. Go to your Profile. Open the Instagram app and tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Open the Settings Menu. Tap the three horizontal lines (the "hamburger" menu) in the top-right corner to open the menu. Then, select "Settings and privacy."
3. Navigate to Tags and Mentions. Scroll down through the options until you find the "How others can interact with you" section. Tap on "Tags and mentions."
4. Choose who can mention you. In this menu, you'll see a section titled "WHO CAN @ MENTION YOU." Here, you have three options. Let's break down what each one means.

Your choice here depends entirely on your goals for your account. One size does not fit all.

The 3 Mention Settings Explained

Option 1: Allow mentions from everyone

This is the default setting. It means any of Instagram’s two billion-plus users can type `@yourusername` and send you a notification. For brands, businesses, and public figures, this setting is often the best choice. It maximizes your reach and makes it easy for customers, fans, and partners to engage with you. It allows social listening and organic conversations to happen. The downside? It opens you up to the most spam.

Option 2: Allow mentions from people you follow

This is a fantastic middle-ground, especially for personal accounts. When you select this option, only the people you choose to follow can mention you. This effectively creates a private circle of trusted contacts. It’s a great way to stay connected with friends and family while blocking out noise from strangers and bots. If a brand is running a highly curated community, this could also work, but it’s generally more suited for personal use.

Option 3: Don't allow mentions

Feeling overwhelmed or dealing with targeted harassment? This is your lockdown option. By selecting "Don't allow mentions," you prevent everyone from being able to tag your username in captions, comments, or Story text. Anyone who tries will see that you don't allow mentions. It’s the ultimate tool for privacy but comes at a cost: it completely shuts down public engagement and discoverability through mentions. This is best used temporarily or by high-profile users facing abuse.

Mentions vs. Tags: What’s the Real Difference?

Many people use the terms "mention" and "tag" interchangeably, but on Instagram, they are two very different things with separate controls. Grasping this distinction is the key to truly managing your profile.

• A Mention is when someone types your `@username` in a caption, comment, or Story. It's like saying a person's name in a conversation. It creates a notification, links to your profile, but does not automatically add the content to your profile.
• A Tag is when someone specifically marks your account in a photo or video itself. This content then appears in the dedicated "Tagged Photos" tab on your profile (the one with the person-in-a-square icon).

Why does this matter? Because someone can mention you in a caption without tagging you in the photo. Or, they can tag you in the photo without mentioning you in the caption. You need to manage both to have total control.

The Ultimate Tool for Brand Control: Manually Approving Tags

If you’re serious about curating your online image, enabling manual tag approval is a non-negotiable step. This setting doesn't stop people from tagging you, instead, it puts all tagged content into a pending review queue. Nothing shows up on your profile's "Tagged" tab unless you explicitly approve it.

This is extremely powerful for brands who want to showcase only the best user-generated content, or for individuals who want to avoid having unflattering images appear on their profile grid.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Follow the same first steps: Go to Profile -> Menu -> Settings and privacy -> Tags and mentions.
2. Under the "HOW YOU MANAGE TAGS" section, tap on "Manually approve tags."
3. Toggle "Tag approval" on. It will turn blue.
4. Once enabled, you’ll see a "Pending Tags" section. This is where you can review, approve, or hide any photos and videos people have recently tagged you in.

With this setting on, you can let people tag away, knowing you have the final say on what appears on your profile. You can still be tagged, you’ll just get to vet everything first.

What to Do After You’ve Been Mentioned or Tagged Undesirably

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, an unwanted mention or tag gets through. Maybe you had open settings before and want to clean up your past tags. Or maybe someone you follow mentioned you in a post you’d rather not be associated with. Here’s what you can do:

How to Remove a Tagged Photo from Your Profile

If you've been tagged in a photo that’s already on your profile (either because you approved it or because you didn't have manual approvals on), it's easy to hide it.

1. Go to the specific photo or video you've been tagged in.
2. Tap the image once to bring up the tags.
3. Tap your username from the list of tags.
4. Select "Hide from my profile." The tag remains, so people can still see it by tapping on the photo, but it will no longer appear in your "Tagged Photos" grid.
5. If you want to remove the tag completely, you can choose "Remove me from post." This severs the connection entirely.

Dealing with Unwanted Mentions in Comments

If someone mentions you in the comment section of a post you don't control, you can't remove the mention yourself. The original poster or the commenter would have to delete it. However, you can:

• Report the comment: If it violates Instagram's community guidelines (e.g., spam, harassment), press and hold on the comment and tap the report icon.
• Block the user: Your ultimate tool. Blocking an account prevents them from mentioning, tagging, or messaging you ever again.

Managing Your Story Mentions Specifically

You may have noticed that when someone mentions you in their Story, you get a notification with an option to "Add this to your story." Instagram provides a separate setting just for this.

If you want to stop people from being able to re-share your feed posts to their Stories, you can go to Settings and privacy -> Sharing and remixes. Here, you can disable the option "Allow others to share your posts to their stories."

Final Thoughts

Adjusting who can mention you and manually approving tags restores your control over your digital identity. By following these steps, you can eliminate spam, protect your brand image, and use Instagram in a way that feels safer and more intentional. It's a small change that makes a huge difference in your day-to-day social media experience.

Staying on top of your brand mentions - the good ones, that is - is just as important as filtering out the noise. When customers and fans give you a shout-out, engaging with them is one of the best ways to build community. That can feel overwhelming when those notifications are scattered across different platforms, which is why we built Postbase with a unified inbox. We bring all your comments and DMs from all your social accounts into one simple place so you never miss an opportunity to connect.