When someone you don’t follow starts a chat with you, it lands in Requests instead of Primary. Read it, then accept it to reply, or delete or block it. Until you accept, they can’t see that you’ve read their messages or that you’re online.
Find your message requests
- At the top of Home, tap the speech bubble. Your chats open.
- Tap Requests, next to Primary.
They’re also on your profile’s Requests screen, under Message requests. A request doesn’t add to the number on the app icon.
The website doesn’t show message requests yet. Open them in the app.
Answer a request
Open the request. Where the message box would be, it says Message request from and their name, with three buttons.
- Accept moves the chat to Primary, and you can reply. From then on they see when you’ve read their messages.
- Delete removes the chat for you.
- Block stops their messages, after asking you first. Their profile and posts stay as they are.
Which chats are requests
- A chat lands in Requests when someone you don’t follow starts it. If you follow them, it goes straight to Primary.
- A private reply to your story starts a chat too, so from someone you don’t follow it’s a request.
- Who can start a chat at all is up to Who can chat with you?. Someone it leaves out can’t send you a request either.
Choose who can message you
Choose who can message you in the app
- Open Settings → Privacy.
- Under Interactions, tap Who can chat with you?.
- Pick Everyone, People who follow you or People you follow back.
Choose who can message you on the website
In Settings, find Who can message you and pick Everyone, People who follow you or People you follow back.
People you follow back means people who follow you and whom you follow too.
What the setting does
- People it leaves out see no Message button on your profile, and can’t start a chat with you.
- Chats that have already started carry on. To stop one, block that person’s messages.
When someone you don’t want to hear from writes
Open the chat and tap their name at the top. More options opens.
- Mute, then the Messages switch, keeps their messages coming without a notification.
- Block them, and pick Block messages only to stop their messages and leave their profile and posts as they are. Block account is the full block: they can’t find your profile, and you both stop following each other.
- Delete chat clears the messages for you.