Only your followers see what you share. Anyone else can still find your profile and see your name, picture, bio and counts. Your posts, though, sit behind This account is private, and following you takes a request that you confirm.
What people who don’t follow you see
- Your profile, with This account is private and Follow this account to see its posts. where the posts would be.
- Your follower and following counts, but not the lists behind them.
- Any people they follow who follow you, in the Followed by line under your bio.
Your posts
Every post goes to your followers only. That includes posts set to Everyone. Posts set to Followers, a circle or Only me work just as they did.
None of your posts show in Explore, search, or hashtag and place pages for anyone who doesn’t follow you, and they stop reaching strangers’ For you. A link to one of your posts won’t open for them either.
Your stories
Your stories, and the ones pinned to your profile, are for your followers only. They don’t go to Universe, where people find stories from accounts they don’t follow.
A few other things
- Other people can’t use a sound from your videos.
- You can’t boost a post. The app says Your account is private.
- Only people who can see a post can comment on it. On a private account that means your followers, and Who can comment on your posts can narrow it further.
What doesn’t change
- People who already follow you.
- Who can message you. That’s its own setting, Who can chat with you?, so with Everyone chosen, anyone can still start a chat with you.