How to see hidden comments on Instagram, and unhide them (2026)

Instagram hides comments in three ways, and each one lives somewhere different. You hid it yourself with Hide. Instagram's Hidden Words filter caught it. Or it came from an account you restricted. All three can be seen and undone on your own posts, and none of them deletes the comment. Comments hidden on someone else's post are a different matter, covered at the end.

Where hidden comments go on Instagram

• Comments you hid. Hiding a comment moves it out of the public thread. It is not deleted, and the person who wrote it can still see it.
• Comments filtered by Hidden Words. When the filter is on, comments that match Instagram's list, or your own custom words, are held in a separate hidden-comments section under the post. Only you can open it.
• Comments from restricted accounts. A restricted account's comments on your posts are visible only to that account until you approve them.
• Comments hidden by another post's owner. On other people's posts, hidden comments are visible only to the owner and to whoever wrote them. There is no outside view.

How to see hidden comments on your own post

1. Open the post and tap the comment icon to open the thread.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the comments. If any were filtered, there is a View hidden comments link there. The wording shifts slightly between app versions, but it always sits below the last visible comment.
3. Tap it. The hidden comments open in their own section, each with the option to unhide or delete.
4. No link at the bottom means nothing on that post was filtered. If you are looking for a comment you hid yourself and cannot find it there, it was deleted, not hidden.

How to unhide a comment

1. Open the hidden-comments section as above.
2. Press and hold the comment, or swipe left on it, and choose Unhide.
3. The comment returns to the public thread in its original place with its original time. Nothing is reposted, so the writer gets no new notification.

Comments from restricted accounts

When you restrict someone, their new comments on your posts stay visible only to them until you decide. In the thread, their comment appears greyed out with a prompt such as See comment. Tap it, then choose Approve to make it public or Delete to remove it. To lift the restriction entirely, open Settings, then Privacy, then Restricted accounts, and remove the account from the list.

How to stop Instagram hiding comments

The filter lives under Settings, Privacy, Hidden Words. Two switches matter: Hide comments, which holds back comments Instagram considers offensive, and Advanced comment filtering, which holds back anything that looks like it. Below them is your custom list of words and phrases. Turn the switches off, or edit the list, and new comments stop being filtered. Comments already in the hidden section stay there until you unhide them one by one.

Can you see hidden comments on someone else's post?

No. A hidden comment is visible only to the account that owns the post and to the account that wrote it. There is no setting, trick or third-party app that reveals them. Any app or site that claims to will either ask for your Instagram login, which is a phishing risk, or charge you for nothing. The one exception is your own comment: log in as the account that wrote it and you can always see it, hidden or not.

Why hidden comments matter for reach

Engagement, comments included, is one of the signals Instagram uses to decide how far a post travels, and a thread with visible replies invites more of them. If the filter is quietly holding back half of your comments, your posts look quieter than they are. Check the hidden section on your best-performing posts now and then, and unhide the ones that are fine. If the thread is empty because nobody has commented yet, the fix is reach, not settings: more followers seeing the post, and a first few real replies to get the conversation going.