Instagram not working? Find the cause before you try a fix

First find out where the problem is

When the feed stops loading or a post will not send, there are only three places the problem can be: Instagram itself, your connection or device, or your account. Each has different fixes, and the fixes for one do nothing for the others. Reinstalling the app will not end an outage, and waiting for Instagram to come back will not lift a restriction on your account.

So before you try anything, spend two minutes finding out which of the three it is. The checks below go from the quickest to the slowest, and most problems are explained by the end of the second one.

Check 1: Is Instagram down for everyone?

Open our Instagram status page. Our server checks four things: the website, the servers the app talks to, the servers that deliver photos and videos, and the data service our own tools use. Each is shown as up, slow (an answer took more than 1.5 seconds) or down (no answer within 6 seconds, or a server error). A result is reused for up to two minutes, and the page refreshes itself every two minutes while it is open.

Read the board like this:

• Website or app servers down: a real outage is likely. Nothing on your side will fix it; wait and try again later.
• Only photos and videos down: the app opens, but images stay gray. Also on Instagram's side.
• Only our data service down: Instagram is fine; only our viewer and downloader tools are paused.
• Everything up: a full outage is unlikely. Go on to the next check.

Outages are often partial: one feature such as messages, one region or one app version. That is why the status page also has an "I have a problem" button and shows how many visitors reported a problem in each ten-minute block over the last six hours. A sudden rise in reports while the board is still green can be the first sign of a partial outage.

Meta also runs an official status page, Meta Status (opens in a new tab) (checked November 2026). It describes itself as covering Meta business products, such as ad tools, Meta Business Suite and Instagram Boost, so it can stay green while the regular app has problems. A green Meta Status does not prove that the app works.

Check 2: Is it your connection?

On the same status page, press "Test my connection". Your browser then loads one tiny file from instagram.com, waits up to 8 seconds and tells you whether Instagram can be reached from your network. If our server sees Instagram as up but your test fails, the problem is between you and Instagram.

1. Switch networks. Turn Wi-Fi off and try mobile data, or the other way round. If one works, the other network is the problem.
2. Turn a VPN or proxy off, or on. Some VPN servers are slow or blocked; some networks only work through one.
3. Think about where you are. School, office, hotel and public Wi-Fi networks often block social apps, and in some countries Instagram is blocked by the network.
4. Restart the router if every device on your Wi-Fi has the same problem.

Check 3: Is it the app or the phone?

If instagram.com opens in your phone's browser but the app does not, the app or the phone is the likely cause. Instagram's own first advice for something that is not working is to update the app (Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), checked November 2026). Work through these steps in order and test after each one:

Check 4: Is it your account?

When everything loads but one action keeps failing, or Instagram shows a message about your account, the cause is usually not technical. Look in these places:

• Account Status. In Settings, Account Status shows content that was removed for going against the Community Standards and features you can no longer use, with a way to request a review (Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), checked November 2026). A temporary block on following or commenting shows up here, not on any status page.
• Login problems. If you cannot log in, Instagram's I Can't Log In (opens in a new tab) page covers password resets, reset emails that do not arrive and lost access to your email or phone (checked November 2026). Wait a few minutes between reset requests instead of sending many in a row.
• A hacked account. If your password, email or phone number changed without you, or posts appear that you did not make, follow Instagram's hacked account (opens in a new tab) steps, which start at instagram.com/hacked (checked November 2026). Never give your password to someone who offers to recover the account for you.

When only one thing fails

Sometimes Instagram works except for one action. These four causes are easy to rule out, and none of them is an outage.

• The caption or comment will not post

  Count your hashtags. Instagram allows up to 5 hashtags on a post and says that if you include more than 5 on a single photo or video, your comment won't post (Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), checked November 2026). The limit was 30 until December 2025. Our post on choosing five hashtags helps you pick.

• A video upload stalls or fails

  Try a stronger connection first. If it still fails, the file may be in an unusual format, size or frame rate. The Instagram to MP4 converter turns it into H.264 video with AAC sound at up to 1080 pixels wide and 30 frames per second, in your browser.

• A photo is cropped or blurry after upload

  Instagram crops shapes outside its range and scales large files down. Prepare the photo at 1080 × 1350 or another supported size with the image resizer; the sizes guide lists every format.

• A song is missing from the music library

  The licensed music library is not available for every account type or in every country or region, and licensing agreements with rights holders can change (Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), checked November 2026). This does not fix itself on another network; the same page points to Meta's Sound Collection as an alternative.

Reporting a problem to Instagram

If the problem is still there after an update and a restart, and our status page shows Instagram as up, report it in the app. On Android and iPhone you can shake the phone while the app is open to bring up the reporting menu, then tap Report a problem; the same option is also in the app's settings (Instagram Help Center (opens in a new tab), checked November 2026). Instagram asks for as much detail as possible: what kind of phone you use, what you were doing when the problem happened, and a screenshot if you can.

During a broad outage there is little to report and nothing to fix on your side. Leave the status page open, since it refreshes every two minutes, and try again later. Logging out and in again or requesting new passwords during an outage does not bring the service back, and a forgotten new password is one more thing to fix once Instagram returns.

Questions about Instagram not working