How to reset the Instagram algorithm, step by step

Instagram has a real reset button. Open Settings, tap What you see, tap Content preferences, then tap Reset suggested content. Instagram added it in November 2024 (Meta Newsroom).

The reset clears your recommendations in Explore, Reels and Feed. From that moment Instagram starts learning again from whatever you tap, like, save and watch next. It does not unfollow anyone and it does not touch your own posts.

Here is how to do it, what it clears, the lighter fixes if you do not want a full reset, and what a reset will not do.

The official way to reset the Instagram algorithm

These steps come from Instagram’s own announcement (Instagram, How to reset your content suggestions).

1. Open your profile and tap the menu in the top right.
2. Tap Settings, then scroll to What you see.
3. Tap Content preferences.
4. Tap Reset suggested content.
5. Confirm. Instagram then offers a list of accounts you follow. Unfollow the ones you no longer want to hear from.

The reset is available to everyone, including teen accounts. Once it runs, your Explore page and Reels tab will look generic for a day or two. That is normal. They rebuild from your new taps.

Tip: do the unfollow step. The accounts you follow are the one part of Feed the reset does not clear, and they still shape what Instagram thinks you like.

What the reset clears and what it keeps

The word “reset” makes people nervous. Here is exactly what changes.

Part of Instagram	After the reset
Explore page	Cleared, rebuilds from new activity
Reels tab	Cleared, rebuilds from new activity
Suggested posts in Feed	Cleared, rebuilds from new activity
Accounts you follow	Kept, unless you unfollow them in the reset flow
Your own posts and Stories	Untouched
Your DMs, saved posts, likes	Untouched
How your posts reach other people	Unchanged

That last row matters. The reset changes what you see. It does nothing to what other people see of you. If your reach dropped, this is the wrong tool. Our guide on the Instagram shadowban covers the right one.

How the Instagram algorithm actually works

There is no single Instagram algorithm. Instagram has said so in plain words (Instagram ranking explained). Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels each have their own ranking, tuned to how people use that part of the app.

Explore and Reels are mostly posts from accounts you do not follow. Instagram picks them by looking at what you have interacted with before. The signals it names are:

• Your activity: what you have liked, saved, shared, commented on, and watched.
• Details about the post: how popular it is, and how fast people are reacting to it.
• Details about the poster: how often others have interacted with that account lately.
• Your history with the poster: whether you two have interacted before.

So when Explore fills up with something you do not want, it is because you tapped on it. One late-night scroll of a topic can shape a week of suggestions. The reset wipes that history and lets you start over.

How to reset the Instagram Explore page without a full reset

A full reset is blunt. Instagram also gives you smaller tools, and they are enough for most people (Instagram, How to reset your content suggestions).

Not interested. Tap the three dots on any post or Reel and choose Not interested. Instagram shows you less like it. Do this five or six times in a row on a topic and it fades fast.

Interested. On Explore, the three dots also offer Interested. Use it on the posts you want more of.

Snooze suggested posts. In Feed you can snooze suggested posts for 30 days. Your Feed goes back to only accounts you follow for a month.

Hide words. In Settings you can hide posts and comments that contain words you choose.

Clear search history. Go to Settings, then Your activity, then Recent searches, and clear it. Searches feed suggestions too.

If you only want Explore to stop showing one topic, start with Not interested. If the whole app feels off, run the full reset.

The first week after a reset

The reset is the easy part. The next few days decide what you get. Instagram is watching every tap, so be deliberate.

1. On day one, search for three or four topics you actually want and open a few posts on each.
2. Save and share the posts you like. Saves and shares are strong signals.
3. Watch Reels on the right topics all the way through. Skip the wrong ones fast.
4. Use Not interested the first time something off-topic shows up. Do not let it slide.
5. Do not lend your phone to anyone for a week. Their taps count as yours.

By the end of the week, Explore should look like the person you meant to be.

How to change what Instagram shows other people

The reset is about your view. If you want your own posts to show up in other people’s Explore and Reels, the rules are different, and they come from Instagram’s help page on Explore.

• Public account. Private accounts are not recommended to non-followers.
• Recommendation Guidelines. Posts must follow them. Open Settings, then Account Status, to see if anything you posted is not eligible.
• One clear topic. Instagram matches posts to people by subject. An account that posts about everything is hard to match to anyone.
• Keywords in the caption. Say what the post is about in plain words. Our free Instagram caption generator can help draft one.
• Shares, saves and watch time. These are the reactions that move a post out to strangers. Likes alone do less.

Our guide on how to get more views on Instagram Reels goes deeper on the Reels side of this.

What a reset will not do

It will not fix your reach. Your reach is decided by how people react to each post, not by your own suggestion history.

It will not clear an Account Status flag. If a post broke the Recommendation Guidelines, you have to remove it or request a review. The reset does not know or care.

It will not make Instagram show you only accounts you follow forever. Suggested posts come back. Snooze them for 30 days if you want a break, then snooze again.

And it will not put your posts on anyone else’s Explore page. Nobody can buy that. Instagram picks Explore posts by behaviour, one viewer at a time.

Where bought views fit

We sell Instagram Reels views from $2.95 and Instagram likes from $2.95, so here is the honest line. Bought views and likes change how a post looks to the human who lands on it. A Reel with 5,000 views reads as worth a tap. A Reel with 12 does not.

They do not change the ranking. Instagram decides who sees a post next by how those viewers react, and a bought view is not a reaction. Use them to make a post look alive, then let real reactions do the rest, or do not use them at all.

A reset routine

• Run the full reset once, when Explore has drifted too far to fix by hand.
• Use Not interested the same day something wrong appears, not a week later.
• Clear search history after you research something you do not want to see again.
• Snooze suggested posts for 30 days when you want Feed to be only your follows.
• If you are a creator, check Account Status once a month.

The algorithm is a record of your own taps. Change the taps and it follows.