Instagram: Anyone else unable to change notification settings for profiles you follow?

By Michael Dunn, 30 July, 2025

Forum
Accessibility Advocacy

Hey everyone,
As a blind user, I rely entirely on notifications to stay connected with the musicians and creators I follow. When I first set things up, I was able to go into each person’s profile and adjust notification settings — turning everything on so I wouldn’t miss a post, story, or live.
But now? When I followed a new profile recently, I found that:
I couldn't turn on their notifications at all, i.e. I also couldn’t adjust settings for any of the creators I already followed
It’s like the “Notification Settings” button just does nothing now. On iOS with VoiceOver, I’ve tried:
Triple-tapping the button (standard double-tap doesn’t work in this case)
Holding down on it
Reporting the issue through the app
Still nothing.
It seems like Instagram broke this feature, and if that’s the case, it’s a major accessibility issue — especially for blind users who depend on audio-based alerts to stay active on social media.
If sighted users are the only ones Instagram reliably supports, then it makes sense why many of us blind users feel excluded, disconnected, and invisible.
I’m planning to reach out to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to raise this legally if nothing gets fixed. If anyone else is experiencing this too, please speak up — this is a bigger issue than just one user.
Thanks,
Michael

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Comments

By Bryanah on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - 05:30

Hello,

It's not the most convenient thing in the world, but I have found that I can use Screen Recognition to access and change the notification settings. I hope this helps.

By Michael Dunn on Thursday, July 31, 2025 - 04:39

Hi Bryanah:
OMG, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! That's TOTAL magic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder why they decided to just hide it all under screen recognition? That just makes absolutely no sense to me. Very weird.