Why Did My Instagram Message Requests Disappear?

Did your message requests on Instagram disappear in your direct messages?

Maybe you had one or more message requests on Instagram a while back and you want to reply to them.

Or maybe you didn’t have the time to read them before, but you want to do it now.

However, when you try accessing your message requests, they have disappeared.

Disappearing message requests is a common issue among Instagram users.

So you’re definitely not the only one encountering it.

In this article, you’ll learn why your message requests disappeared on Instagram, how you can fix it, and more.

1. Why Did My Message Requests on Instagram disappear?
2. How to fix Instagram message requests that disappeared
3. Do message requests on Instagram expire?
4. How do you get rid of message requests on Instagram?
5. Conclusion

Why Did My Message Requests on Instagram disappear?

Your message requests on Instagram have disappeared either because of an unsent message, you’re blocked, the account has been deactivated, or you’ve followed the person.

If your message requests on Instagram have disappeared, it’s either because of an unsent message, you’re blocked, the account has been deactivated, or you’ve followed the person.

Instagram message requests are also known to glitch out, so they might disappear/reappear at times.

Other times, your message requests have disappeared due to a glitch.

Fortunately, if that happens, there’s an easy way you can use to fix it.

Instagram direct message requests are known to be very glitchy.

At times, your message requests might have disappeared, from your direct message list.

After some time, it might reappear again even though you haven’t done anything.

Let’s get into all the reasons why your message requests have disappeared on Instagram and the next steps you can take.

1. Unsent message

The first reason why your message requests have disappeared on Instagram is that the person has unsent their message.

When someone unsends all of their messages, their message request will be deleted as well.

You won’t be notified when someone unsends their message in your message requests.

Instagram has a feature where you can unsend a message.

To unsend a message, tap and hold on the message and select “Unsend”.

When you unsend a message, it will no longer be visible by both parties.

Let’s suppose that someone recently sent you a direct message.

If they are not following you, their message will go to your message requests.

If they happen to delete their message, their message request will be deleted as well.

In addition, you won’t be notified of its deletion.

So, if you used to have a message request in the past, but it suddenly disappeared, the person might have unsent their message(s).

2. You’re blocked

Next, if someone blocks you on Instagram, their message request will disappear.

When someone blocks you on Instagram, their message request will be deleted.

When someone blocks you on Instagram, your direct message thread with them will still remain.

This means that you can still see your chat with them.

However, you won’t be able to send them messages.

On the other hand, if someone blocks you after they’ve sent you a message request, it will be deleted.

This is because their profile won’t be visible to you anymore.

Hence, if your message request has disappeared on Instagram, the person might have blocked you.

3. Glitched out

The third reason why your Instagram message requests have disappeared is that they are glitched out.

If you can’t see your message requests on Instagram, it might be due to a glitch.

To fix this, pull down to refresh your direct message list and your message request(s) should reappear under the search bar.

Instagram message requests are known to be very glitchy.

At times, they might disappear in your direct message, and reappear after some time.

Your message requests are located in your direct message list.

They are visible on the right side below the search bar.

In the event that your message requests have disappeared, you can try refreshing your direct message list.

In most cases, refreshing your direct message list can help restore your message requests.

Here’s how you can do so:

1. Go to your Instagram profile.
2. Tap on the “paper airplane” icon to access your direct messages.
3. Pull down to refresh the page.
4. After the page is refreshed, you should be able to see your message requests (if any) under the search bar.

Your message requests will be indicated as “x requests”.

For example, if you have 3 message requests, you’ll see the phrase, “3 requests” under the search bar.

Tap on it to view all of your message requests.

4. Deactivated account

When someone deactivates their account, their profile will disappear from Instagram.

When someone deactivates their Instagram account, their message request will be deleted.

This means that no one will be able to find them on Instagram anymore.

If you search for their username, their profile won’t be in the search results.

In addition, if the person has sent you a direct message prior to deactivating their account, their message request will be deleted.

This is similar to when someone blocks you.

5. You’ve followed the person

Lastly, if your Instagram message request has disappeared, it might be because you’ve followed the person.

Message requests come from people who are not following you.

When you follow someone prior to accepting their message request, their message will be moved to your direct messages.

Message requests come from the people that you’re not following on Instagram.

People who are not following you will be able to send you a direct message.

However, their message will not be sent directly to your direct messages.

Instead, it will be sent to your message requests.

For example, when someone you follow messages you on Instagram, their message will land in your direct messages.

However, if someone that you don’t follow messages you, their message will land in your message requests instead.

So if you happen to follow someone prior to accepting their message request, their message will be moved to your direct messages.

This might explain why one or more of your message requests have disappeared.

How to fix Instagram message requests that disappeared

To fix a message request that disappeared on Instagram, you need to refresh your direct message list.

Pull down to refresh your direct message list and your message requests should appear on the right side below the search bar.

Your message requests are located on the right side below the search bar.

If you don’t see your message requests, you need to pull down to refresh the page.

Once you’ve refreshed the page, your message requests should reappear under the search bar.

If you’re still unable to see your message requests, then you might not even have any requests in the first place.

Otherwise, the person might have unsent their message.

Do message requests on Instagram expire?

No, message requests on Instagram do not expire.

An Instagram message request will only be removed if you’ve accepted/declined/deleted it.

Otherwise, the person must have unsent their message.

Instagram message requests will only be deleted if you took action on it.

This includes accepting, declining, and deleting the message request.

When you accept a message request on Instagram, it will be moved to your main direct messages.

On the other hand, declining or deleting the message request will permanently remove it.

Otherwise, the person must have unsent their message.

How do you get rid of message requests on Instagram?

To get rid of message requests on Instagram, you have to change your message request settings to “Only people you follow”.

Here’s how you can prevent others from messaging you on Instagram:

1. Go to your Instagram profile.
2. Tap on the menu.
3. Tap on “Settings”.
4. Select “Privacy”.
5. Under “Interactions”, tap on “Messages”.
6. Under “Allow new message requests”, select “Only people you follow”.

Once you’ve changed your setting from “Everyone” to “Only people you follow”, only people you follow on Instagram can send you messages.

In addition, you won’t receive message requests from others.

Conclusion

Disappeared message requests are a common issue on Instagram.

In most cases, you can fix it by refreshing your direct message list.

Otherwise, the person might have unsent their message.

However, if you deleted or declined a message request, there is no way to recover it.

Further Reading

How to Clear Instagram Direct Message Notification But No Message

How to Change Your “For You” Page (FYP) on TikTok

Why Can’t I See My Following List on Instagram?

Author: Lim How Wei is the founder of Followchain. Feel free to follow him on Instagram.