Tags and mentions fail in different ways. A tag that’s refused stops the whole post until you take that person off. A mention never stops a post: if it doesn’t work, the name just stays as plain text, with no link and no notification.

When a tag is refused

The card at the top of Home says Couldn’t post and One person does not accept tags from you. Tap their chip to remove it. With more than one, it gives the number. Under that it says Tap Edit to change who is tagged.

  1. Tap Edit. The post opens on New post, with your caption and photos still there. Tag people shows how many to remove, in red.
  2. Tap Tag people. The refused people’s chips are red. Tap each one to remove it, then tap Done.
  3. Tap Share post again.

On the website, the new post window says Some of those people cannot be tagged and marks them under Tag people. Remove them and share again.

The app doesn’t say why a tag was refused. It’s one of these:

  • the account was deleted after you tagged it
  • the person only takes tags from people who follow them, and you don’t
  • the person only takes tags from people they follow, and they don’t follow you

A post for a circle can only tag people in that circle. Tag someone outside it and the message is You can only tag people who are in this circle. Remove the marked tags, or add them to the circle. Add them in Settings → Circles, or untag them.

Other limits on tags

  • You can tag up to 20 people. At 20, the sheet says That is the most a post can tag — 20.
  • You can’t tag yourself.
  • If you can’t find someone in Search people, check the spelling of their username.

The post still goes up, and the @ name shows as ordinary text. That happens when:

  • the username is spelled wrong, or the account no longer exists
  • the person limits who can mention them
  • the caption already has 20 mentions
  • the @ is stuck to the word before it, as in an email address