If I Hide Someone from My Instagram Story, Can They See My Highlights?

The short answer is no — but with one important exception.

If you hide someone from your Instagram story, they cannot see any new highlights you create after hiding them. Instagram ties highlight visibility to story privacy, so blocking someone from your stories also blocks them from seeing highlights made from those stories.

However, old highlights created before you hid them may still be visible. If you want those hidden too, you need to either remove them manually or re-create them after applying the privacy setting.

Below you will find a full breakdown of how this works, what happens in different scenarios, and answers to every related question.

Table: Instagram Story & Highlight Privacy (2025)

How Hiding Someone from Your Story Affects Highlights

Instagram treats highlights as an extension of your stories. When you hide someone from your stories, Instagram applies the same restriction to your highlights — but only partially.

Here is exactly what happens:

New highlights are hidden automatically

Any highlight you create after adding someone to your hidden list will not be visible to them. This includes any story you post while they are hidden, and any highlight you build from those stories.

Old highlights may still appear

If you had existing highlights before you hid someone, those highlights were created from stories that person could originally see. Instagram does not retroactively hide them in all cases. Old highlights created from stories posted before you hid someone may still be visible to them.

How to fix this

If you want to make sure someone cannot see any of your highlights — old or new — you have two options:

• Delete the highlight and recreate it after hiding the person
• Block the person if you want them to have no access to your profile at all

How to Hide Someone from Your Instagram Story

1. Open Instagram and go to your profile
2. Tap the three-line menu in the top right corner
3. Go to Settings and Privacy
4. Tap Privacy → Story
5. Tap Hide Story From
6. Search for and select the person you want to hide your stories from
7. Tap Done

The person will not receive any notification. They simply will no longer see your stories or new highlights in their feed or on your profile.

Does Hiding Your Story Also Hide Your Highlights?

Yes — but only for highlights created after you hide someone.

This is the question most people have, and the answer trips people up because it is not a simple yes or no. Instagram links story privacy to highlight privacy, meaning the same restriction applies to both. But that link only works going forward. It does not automatically clean up highlights that already existed before you made the change.

Short version:

• Hiding someone → hides new highlights ✅
• Hiding someone → does NOT automatically hide old highlights ⚠️
• Blocking someone → hides everything including old highlights ✅

Can You Hide Highlights from Someone Without Hiding Stories?

No. As of 2025, Instagram does not offer a separate option to hide highlights from a specific person without also hiding your stories from them.

The two are connected. Your highlights are built from your stories, and the privacy setting that controls who sees your stories also controls who sees your highlights. There is no standalone “hide highlights” option for individual users.

Your options are:

• Hide your story from someone (hides new highlights too)
• Block someone (hides everything)
• Set your account to private (non-followers see nothing)
• Delete specific highlights you do not want certain people to see

If Someone Hides Their Story from You, Can You See Their Highlights?

If someone has hidden their story from you, you will not be able to see their new highlights. Their highlight covers may still appear on their profile, but tapping them will show nothing.

You may still see older highlights they had before they hid you, depending on when the privacy change was applied.

You will not be notified if someone hides their story from you. The content simply becomes unavailable without explanation.

Can You View Highlights Without the Person Knowing?

Yes. Instagram does not notify profile owners when someone views their highlights. Unlike stories (which expire after 24 hours and show viewer lists while active), highlights do not generate notifications when viewed.

So if you can see someone’s highlights, you can view them without them knowing.

Instagram Privacy Settings Explained: Stories, Highlights, and More

Understanding how these settings connect helps you make better decisions about your privacy on Instagram.

Hide Story From

This lets you select specific people who cannot see your stories, live videos, or highlights created after the restriction is applied. They are not notified. They can still see your profile, posts, and existing highlights in some cases.

Close Friends

This works the opposite way. Instead of excluding people, you create a list of specific followers who can see certain stories. Stories shared to Close Friends show a green ring. People are not notified when added or removed from this list.

Block

The most complete privacy option. A blocked user cannot find your profile, see your posts, stories, or highlights, or contact you on Instagram. This affects both current and past content visibility.

Private Account

When your account is set to private, only approved followers can see your stories, highlights, and posts. Anyone who does not follow you will see a locked profile with no content.

Archive

Stories are automatically saved to your archive after 24 hours. Only you can see your archive. You use it to add stories to highlights. It is not a privacy feature but it is connected to how highlights are built.

Real Scenarios: When and Why to Use Story Hiding

You want to hide your story from someone without blocking them

Use the Hide Story From setting. They will not see your stories or new highlights, but they can still follow you, see your posts, and interact with your public content. This is the most common use case — keeping personal daily updates away from someone without cutting off all connection.

You broke up with someone or ended a friendship

Hiding your story keeps your daily life private without the drama of a full block. Just remember that old highlights may still be visible. If that matters to you, delete or recreate them after applying the setting.

You want to keep work and personal content separate

Use Close Friends to share personal stories only with people you trust, while your regular stories and highlights remain visible to followers. This is cleaner than hiding stories from a long list of coworkers or professional contacts.

Someone is harassing you or you want zero contact

Block them. This is the only setting that removes all content visibility — including old highlights — and prevents any further contact.

You want to check if someone can still see your highlights

Ask a trusted friend to check your profile from their account, or use a secondary account you control. This is the simplest way to verify what a specific person can or cannot see.

FAQ: Instagram Highlights, Stories & Privacy

If I hide someone from my Instagram story, can they see my highlights?

They cannot see new highlights created after you hid them. Old highlights from before you hid them may still be visible. To remove old highlight access, delete and recreate the highlights after applying the setting.

Does hiding your story hide your highlights?

Yes, for new highlights. If you hide someone from your story, any highlight you create afterward will not be visible to them. Old highlights may remain visible until removed.

Can you hide highlights from someone without hiding stories?

No. Instagram does not have a separate option to hide highlights from a specific person. Hiding stories and hiding highlights from a person are the same setting.

Can you hide your highlights on Instagram?

Not from specific people independently of stories. You can delete highlights, set your account to private so only followers see them, or hide your stories from someone which also applies to new highlights.

If someone hides their story from you, can you see their highlights?

You will not be able to see their new highlights. Older highlights may still appear depending on when the restriction was applied.

Can people see your highlights if your account is private?

Only approved followers can see your highlights on a private account. Non-followers see a locked profile with no content.

If I hide my story from someone, will they know?

No. Instagram does not send any notification when you hide your story from someone.

Can you view someone’s highlights without them knowing?

Yes. Instagram does not notify users when their highlights are viewed. There is no viewer list for highlights.

What happens to old highlights after I hide my story from someone?

Old highlights — those created from stories posted before you applied the hide setting — may still be visible to the person. To fix this, delete the old highlights and recreate them after hiding the person.

If I block someone from my story, can they see my highlights?

Hiding from story and blocking are different. If you hide someone from your story, new highlights are hidden but old ones may not be. If you block someone entirely, they cannot see any content on your profile including old highlights.

Does hiding stories hide highlights on Instagram?

Yes, going forward. When you hide someone from your stories, all new highlights are hidden from them automatically. Old highlights may still appear.

Can I hide Instagram highlights from someone?

The most effective way is to hide your story from them, which covers new highlights. For full coverage including old highlights, blocking is the only complete solution. Deleting specific highlights is also an option.

For more on Instagram privacy, check out Can You See If Someone Screenshots Your Instagram Story Highlights?

Related guides:

• Why do my story highlights keep disappearing?
• Why would someone hide their Instagram story from you?
• How to know if someone blocked you from their story?