Liking content on Instagram is one of the fundamental skills you’ll need to master if you want to begin interacting with the posts, comments, and messages uploaded by your followers and those you follow.
To learn how to like something on Instagram, simply follow our step-by-step guides below. For any additional information, see our FAQs at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
- How to like Feed Posts/IGTV Videos on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- How to like Feed Posts/IGTV/Reels on Instagram (Desktop)
- How to like Reels on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- How to like comments on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- How to like comments on Instagram (desktop)
- How to like messages on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- How to like messages on Instagram (desktop)
- Frequently asked questions
How to like Feed Posts/IGTV Videos on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- Open up the Instagram app on your mobile or tablet device and sign into your account if prompted.
- From the homepage, scroll through your feed until you locate a post you like
- To express your appreciation for the post by ‘liking’ it, you have two options
- Either double-tap the post
- Or tap the Heart icon beneath the post
- Either double-tap the post
How to like Feed Posts/IGTV/Reels on Instagram (Desktop)
- Open up your preferred web browser and navigate to the Instagram website. Sign into your account if prompted.
- From the homepage, scroll through your feed until you locate a post you like
- To express your appreciation for the post by ‘liking’ it, you have two options
- Double-click the post
- Click the Heart icon beneath the post
- Double-click the post
How to like Reels on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- Open up the Instagram app on your mobile or tablet device and sign into your account if prompted.
- From the homepage, tap the Reels icon (bottom-centre)
- Scroll through the Reels feed until you locate a Reel you like
- To express your appreciation for the Reel by ‘liking’ it, you have two options
- Double-tap anywhere on the video
- Tap the Heart icon at the bottom of the video
How to like comments on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- Open up the Instagram app on your mobile or tablet device and sign into your account if prompted.
- Find a post with a comment on it you wish to ‘like’, either by scrolling through the homepage feed, or by heading to your Profile (icon in the bottom-right) and choosing a post of your own
- To like the comment, you have two options
- Double-tap the comment
- Tap the Heart icon to the right of the comment
- Double-tap the comment
How to like comments on Instagram (desktop)
- Open up your preferred web browser and navigate to the Instagram website. Sign into your account if prompted.
- Find a post with a comment on it you wish to ‘like’, either by scrolling through the homepage feed, or by heading to your Profile (icon in the top-right, then click ‘Profile’) and choosing a post of your own
- To like the comment, you have two options
- Double-click the comment
- Click the Heart icon to the right of the comment
- Double-click the comment
How to like messages on Instagram (iOS/Android)
- Open up the Instagram app on your mobile or tablet device and sign into your account if prompted.
- Head to your Direct Messages (DM’s) by tapping the paper aeroplane icon in the top-right
- Open up the chat with the message in it you ‘like’ by tapping on the chat
- To like the message, you have two options
- Double-tap the message
- Long press (tap and hold) the message, and select ‘Like’ from the pop-up options
- Double-tap the message
How to like messages on Instagram (desktop)
- Open up your preferred web browser and navigate to the Instagram website. Sign into your account if prompted.
- Head to your Direct Messages (DM’s) by clicking the paper aeroplane icon in the top-right
- Open up the chat with the message in it you ‘like’ by clicking on the chat
- To like the message, you have two options
- Double-click the message
- Click the three horizontal dots to the right of the message, and select ‘Like’ from the pop-up options
- Double-click the message
And there you have it! Whatever it is you wish to like on Instagram, you can master the art by following our tutorials above. If you have any further questions or require additional insights, please see our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
What does it mean to ‘like’ something on Instagram?
‘Liking’ content is one of the foundational elements of any user’s Instagram experience. Liking something is to express your satisfaction and support for and with the thing – be it a feed post, a message, or a comment someone’s left you. Whilst accruing likes is most certainly not everything, and in fact can distort your perception of just how well or badly a post or comment of yours has been received, it is still one of the most obvious tools by which to measure the success of posted content, and the levels of engagement it has attracted.
When scrolling through your Instagram feed, you’ll likely often come across a picture or video, or even a string of comments which you like, find funny, heartening, or agree with. The quickest and easiest way to show that you like the thing is by ‘liking’ it via Instagram’s built-in reaction tools. When someone likes something of yours, that’s when you get a notification to say that your post has been liked – it’s one of the few ways to readily see what kind of reaction your content is receiving from your followers.
Why would I want to ‘like’ something on Instagram?
Liking something on Instagram is nothing more than an expression of your appreciation for a post. And, if you yourself like to post on Instagram, then you’ll know that receiving likes on a post feels good. (It’s designed to – though we’d like to make clear that this isn’t necessarily a good thing, since accruing likes, and thus releasing serotonin in the brain, can become uncontrollably addictive).
Aside from just feeling good, however, liking something also helps inform the original poster of how well their content is being received by those who see it. The more likes one post gets, the more likely Instagram’s algorithm is to promote subsequent posts by that user, making them more widely available and pushing them further up their followers’ feeds.
As such, liking something is a really excellent way to support a local business you like to frequent, helping out a friend with their personal project, showing support to those you follow, and generally bringing a little love to the online community.
What kind of content can I ‘like’ on Instagram?
You can like just about anything that’s posted on Instagram. The only content you can’t ‘like’ is Instagram stories. Other than this, you can ‘like’ feed posts, IGTV videos, Reels, comments other people have made, and even messages sent to you in DM’s.
How do I ‘unlike’ something on Instagram?
More often than not you can quickly and efficiently undo that mistaken ‘like’ by just repeating the same action. If you tapped the love heart icon to turn it read, thus ‘liking’ the content, then just tap that red heart again to make it blank, thus ‘unliking’ the content.
The only time this method doesn’t apply is if you liked something by double-tapping it. In this case, double-tapping it again will not remove the ‘like’. Instead, you’ll have to instead tap the newly highlighted heart icon below the post, or long press (tap and hold) the message or comment and select ‘Unlike’ from the pop-up options.
