Instagram message requests: where they hide, and why your DM ended up there

There's a folder inside your Instagram inbox that never makes a sound. When Instagram launched it in 2021, it was the “hidden requests folder”. Today the label says Spam, it lives inside Requests, and Instagram's rule for it is short: You won't receive notifications for spam. Add the Requests folder it sits in, and the collab offer from a brand, the reply from a recruiter or the link a creator promised you can wait for weeks: delivered, and never seen.

Here's where every folder is, why a message lands in each one, and, if you send DMs for a living, how to keep yours from getting lost in them.

What are Instagram message requests?

A message request is a DM from someone you don't follow who you haven't accepted before. Meta's Business Help Center puts it in one line: Requests are direct messages from accounts that you don't follow. Instagram keeps them out of your chats until you decide what to do with them.

People you follow skip the queue. Instagram's rule: Messages from people you follow on Instagram will appear in your Chats list. And once you accept a request, that person stays out of Requests. Instagram says it from the sender's side: your future messages will go directly to their inbox.

Where are message requests on Instagram?

On your phone and on a computer, requests sit behind a link at the top of your Messages screen. These are the paths Instagram's own help pages give today:

Instagram moves buttons around between app versions, so your screen may look a little different. The order to remember: Messages, then Requests, then Spam.

On a Business or Creator account

Professional accounts get a sorted inbox. Meta's description: This organized inbox has 3 folders: Primary, General and Requests. Requests is still for messages you haven't accepted, and hidden requests are moved into it too. If your Requests list is long, Meta adds a filter: tap All requests and pick Top requests to see your requests organized by important accounts.

Why did my message go to requests?

The folder depends on the person receiving the message: who they follow, who they've accepted, and their settings. Your DM becomes a request when they don't follow you and haven't accepted a message from you before. Instagram's own wording hedges: such a message, depending on their settings, may appear as a message request. Three situations surprise people:

• You follow them, they don't follow you. Following is one way. What counts is whether they follow you.
• They restricted you. Instagram moves the chat from your main Direct inbox to Message Requests, and future messages from people that you've restricted will automatically move to Message Requests (Instagram Help).
• A business answered your comment. When a brand or creator's automation DMs you after a comment, Meta sends it to your Inbox if you follow them, or to the Request folder, if they do not (Meta, Private Replies).

Put it together and you can predict where any DM lands. Flip the facts below. Rules Instagram or Meta publish are marked Documented. Where the docs go quiet, we say Likely and explain why.

And if a message doesn't arrive at all? Two settings stop requests before they reach any folder. Someone can choose not to receive message requests (more on that below), and Teen Accounts are automatically set to only receive messages from accounts they follow or have previously connected with (Instagram Help).

Hidden message requests: the folder now called Spam

If you're hunting for “hidden requests”, look for Spam. Instagram's 2021 launch post promised that filtered DM requests would go into a separate hidden requests folder (Instagram, April 2021). Today's help page says requests that may be offensive, unwanted or spam, or are hidden based on your Hidden Words preferences will appear in a separate Spam folder. Same folder, new name: the page still calls its contents “hidden message requests”.

Four details from Instagram's Spam help page are worth knowing:

• No alerts. You won't receive notifications for spam. You only find these by looking.
• Previews can be blanked. some message previews will be hidden based on your Hidden Words preferences, so open the thread to read it.
• People you've chatted with are never filtered. Messages from accounts you've already connected with won't be hidden, even with offensive words in them.
• The filter is a phone thing. Hidden Words preferences for spam are not currently supported on web browsers. Change these settings in the app.

To clean it out, open Spam and tap Delete all (on iPhone, tap Edit first), or open one thread and choose Accept, Delete or Block (Instagram Help).

Accept, delete or block a request (and does the sender see “Seen”?)

Open a request and you get three choices:

• Accept. The conversation will be moved to your main messages folder. From then on, their messages skip Requests and they can send photos and videos.
• Delete. The request goes away. Nothing in Instagram's help pages says the sender is told.
• Block. Accounts you've blocked won't be able to send you message requests. Instagram adds that if someone has several accounts, you may need to block each account.

Reading a request first is fine. Meta's Business Help Center says request messages aren't marked as “seen” until you accept them. That line sits on Meta's page about professional inboxes, and Instagram's general help pages don't repeat it, so for personal accounts it's widely reported rather than written down.

Reading a request doesn't mark it “seen”. Only accepting it can.

After you accept, normal read receipts apply. You can switch them off for everyone at Profile → Menu → Messages and story replies → Show read receipts, or for one chat by tapping its name, then Privacy & safety (Instagram Help). Restricting someone does this too: They won't be able to see when you're online or if you've read their messages.

How to turn off message requests on Instagram

You can stop people you don't follow from reaching you at all. One catch when you look for it: the setting has a different name in the app and on the web.

For creators: how to make sure your DMs don't sit unseen

If you run comment-to-DM, a lot of your DMs are message requests. Meta delivers each automated reply to a commenter's main inbox only if they follow you; everyone else gets it in Requests. On a Reel that reaches people beyond your followers, that can be most of the people who comment. A link that sits in Requests earns no clicks.

1. Tell people to check Requests. Say it in the caption, on screen and in your public reply: “Not following? Check your message requests.” It's six words, and it answers the “I never got it” comments before they happen.
2. Make the first line say what's inside. Requests show a preview of each message, and that preview is what people judge. “Your pantry list is ready 👇” gets opened; “Hi!! Thank you SO much for…” looks like the spam around it.
3. Ask for a tap before the link. Meta allows one private reply per comment, and Follow-up messages can only be sent if the recipient responds. A short opener with a reply button turns that response into one tap, and the link goes out right after. Our comment-to-DM guide shows the full flow, and our guide to “comment for link” posts covers the caption side.
4. Think twice about a follow gate. Non-followers are exactly the people whose DM sits in Requests, so asking them to follow first adds steps in the folder they're least likely to open. Meta's Spam policy counts requiring likes, shares, follows to gain access to specific, exclusive content as like/share-gating. More in our DM automation rules.
5. Check your own Requests and General. Meta's docs say that for an account using the API, All new conversations from Instagram users who aren't followers of your app user will appear in the Requests folder, and once your tool replies the chat is moved to the General folder, regardless of the inbox settings. Meta's Business Help adds that notifications are turned off for the general folder by default. So replies to your automated DMs can pile up there unheard.

DMFa.st starts Instagram comment automations with a short opener and a “Send it” button by default, and the public reply variants are yours to write, so adding “check your requests” is one edit.

Instagram message requests: FAQ

Why can't I see my message requests on Instagram?

First check the right place: Messages, then Requests in the top right, then Spam inside it, which never notifies you. If nothing is there, check Profile → Menu → Messages and story replies → Message requests; if you chose not to receive requests, they never arrive. Teen Accounts are set by default to only get messages from accounts they follow or have connected with, and accounts you've blocked can't send you requests at all.

Do people know if you read their message request?

No, not until you accept. Meta says request messages aren't marked as “seen” until you accept them. After you accept, they see read receipts unless you turn them off under Messages and story replies → Show read receipts.

How do I find hidden message requests?

Instagram now calls them Spam. On your phone: Messages → Requests → Spam. On a computer: Messages → requests → Spam. Some previews are hidden, so open each thread to read it, then accept, delete or block.

Can I turn off message requests?

Yes. In the app, go to Profile → Menu → Messages and story replies → Message requests. On a computer the same setting is called Message controls. You can send requests to your Requests folder or not receive them at all. People you follow still reach your chats.

Why did my message go to requests instead of their inbox?

Because they don't follow you and haven't accepted a message from you yet, or because they restricted you. Following them doesn't change it. Once they accept, your future messages go straight to their inbox.

Can I send a photo in a message request?

No. A message request can only contain text until the other person accepts it. Send a short text first; photos, videos and voice notes work after they accept.