A lot of the time, a user may just place their finger on the message to read, swipe up, or swipe down and then mistakenly tap a second time on it, thereby liking it.
And there is no way for you to know that it’s a mistake unless they deliberately tap twice on the message again to unlike it.
The point that we are trying to establish is that when someone likes your message on Instagram and does not reply, do not give it too much thought and start fretting about what it may mean. You could simply ignore it and carry on with the conversation.
However, if it is a big deal to you and you want to find out what’s wrong, then read on to see why people may like your message on Instagram and not reply.
What Does it Mean When Someone Likes Your Message But Doesn’t Reply?
1. They’re Not Interested and Wanted to End the Convo Politely
We will start off with the possibility that you are scared of. Because, a lot of the time, it is the actual reason why they simply liked your message but did not respond:
The truth is that the person may just not be interested in talking to you anymore, whether it is after the first few conversations or after you have talked for a long time
Also, a lot of people find it difficult to come out and say that they no longer want to speak to you. And they may also not want to outright block you. So, they may just like your message and leave it at that as a polite way of saying that they can no longer be bothered to talk to you.
In other situations, you may have said something that did not sit well with them, and they like the message in irony and just move on. For others, too, it can be a way of saying that they do not want to confront you about what you have just said to them, so they are letting you have the “win”.
Whatever the reason, the point is that it is very likely that they liked your message and did not respond because they are no longer interested in talking to you.
Fix – Keep It Moving, There’s Nothing You Can Do
Here are indications that the person who liked your message is not interested in talking to you.
Opening Message: An opening message when you first text someone goes a long way to determine if they will want to talk to you or not. If you send a message that the user can’t be bothered to reply to, they may just give you a polite Like and ignore you
Message Dynamic: If you have been having conversations with this person and the conversation is not flowing well, they may get fed up with it. When they do, they may not want to tell you that they are no longer interested, so they just leave a Like instead.
Also, if there is an argument or disagreement over opinions or ideologies, people tend to walk away from such situations online. In this case, the person may like your last message as a sign of resignation and stop talking to you.
So, you can get a clue as to the person’s stance and reasons for sending a Like without replying from the nature of the most recent conversations that you have had.
Whatever the case, if there is an indication that the conversation hasn’t gone down well, then it is likely that they are not interested in talking to you.
And all you can do in this situation is to move on, really. It is true that nobody enjoys rejection, but there is no point ponding over someone that has no interest in talking to you in the first place.
2. They Forgot
On the other hand, the person may have genuinely liked your message and intended to carry on the conversation but forgot to reply. They may have gotten distracted, got busy, or they may even think of replying to the message without having actually done so.
Also, many people do not spend a lot of time on social media sites. Sending you a Like may just be their way of making a friendly exit from the conversation, which they will return to later.
One way to tell that this may be the case, is if the conversation had been going well up to this point. Or at least, if there was no uncomfortable exchange before it happened. It would make little sense for someone to walk away from a conversation that was going alright.
So, if someone likes your message and does not reply, and there was no obvious cause for them to ignore you, it is possible that they just forgot to reply, got distracted, got busy, thought that they replied, or they will eventually come back to it.
Fix – Say, ‘Did You Mean to Send A Message’?
When you feel that there is little reason for the person to ignore you, you could simply send them another message, perhaps asking them if they meant to follow up their Like with a message.
As we explained, it may be that they forgot to text after liking the message, or that they got distracted, and so on. The only way you can find out is to send a probing message like, “Did you mean to send a message?”, to know what their intentions are.
Chances are that they will get back to you once they see your message and you can continue your conversation.
3. You Didn’t Say Something That Was Easy to Reply to
Maybe you did not say anything wrong, maybe the conversation was good, maybe they did not forget to respond. It could be that they only liked your message and did not say anything further because there was nothing to say!
There are dynamics to conversations. There are messages you send that warrant a response and further conversation. While there are messages that someone can just like, appreciate, agree to, and leave it at that…because there is nothing more to add to it.
Or maybe your message was even a response to something they said and they just send a Like to acknowledge your response. More still, it could be that they are not very good at carrying conversations and need a bit of prompting to continue.
The point is that, if they can’t find anything further to say to your last message, they can send a polite Like just let you know that all’s good.
Fix – Revive the Conversation By Replying To One Of Their Stories When They Post
In a case like this, you could send another message to the person to continue the conversation. What you say to them depends on the nature of the ongoing conversation. If you want to continue the current conversation, you can say something to them about it to elicit a response. Ask a question, maybe.
If the conversation has come to its natural end, then start another. One great way to get them talking to you again is to reply to one of their stories or posts. Instagram is about getting a reaction after all.
In summary, don’t take it personal when they like your message and say nothing further. It could be that they are not very good at conversation, too. If they are the type to upload posts and stories, that is a great avenue to start a new conversation. Otherwise, look for something else that may interest them to keep conversation going.
4. Instagram is Down, So the Message Didn’t Go Through
The problem may also be that Instagram servers are temporarily down and so messages don’t get through to users on the app.
It may be hard to tell that this is the case because other parts of the app like logging in, uploading posts, making comments and likes, and so on may be working.
One way to find out is to get on Instagram’s page on Twitter to check if they have any updates regarding the situation.
You could also check sites like Down Inspector and Down Detector for live status updates on Instagram services.
Fix – Wait For Instagram To Go Back Up
If you check on any of the sites or on Instagram’s Twitter page and find that Instagram is actually down, all you can do is wait for Instagram to go back up so you can start messaging again.
5. There’s A Bug That Caused the Message Not to Go Through
It could also be that they did respond but a bug made the message not to go through. Now, the issue with this is that the bug may have occurred on your phone or on the person’s phone. The best you can do is to try to fix bugs on your own end and hope that it resolves the issue for you.
By bug, we mean that the Instagram app on your phone may stop working properly maybe due to an error in its software code, or because it no longer has the ability to integrate properly with your phone’s operating system, and so on.
To fix bug-related issues, you normally have to try a few solutions until you find the one that fixes the issue. So, let’s get right to fixing bugs on Instagram that may have caused the message to not get through to you.
Fix – Log Out Then Back Into the App
You should start your debugging by logging out of Instagram and then logging back in.
You may wonder what logging out and logging back in to Instagram has to do with their message not going through. To understand this, here’s a bit of technical background.
When you log into your Instagram account, you have created a login session. Your login details are stored so you don’t have to always log in every time you open the app. You also receive a Token.
Throughout the time you are logged in, that token you received allows you to access all the features on Instagram that you have permission to access including direct messaging, liking, following, privacy settings, notifications, and so on.
Now, there are times when your login session has issues and your token no longer functions properly. This would cause some errors like messages sent to you not showing up on your Instagram app, from Instagram servers.
To fix this, you need to log out of Instagram and log back in using the steps below:
To log out of Instagram app:
1. Tap on the profile icon at the bottom right of your Instagram app
2. Tap on the Menu icon at the top right of the profile window. It is usually 3 horizontal lines
3. Then select Settings
4. On the Settings page, scroll all the way down and tap on Log Out
5. Confirm the logout action
6. Then log back in on the next screen and check if the messages are now dropping
Fix 2 – Update Instagram to Get Rid Of Bugs
If logging out and logging back in does not fix the issue of people’s messages not getting through to you, it could be that the version of Instagram on your phone is out of date.
If your Instagram app is out of date, it may no longer be able to receive some services like new message delivery from Instagram servers. Or the problem may just be a code error which Instagram has released an update patch for.
This is why you need to ensure that Instagram, like every other app on your phone, is always up to date in order for it to continue functioning properly. To update Instagram:
1. Exit Instagram and swipe it away from recent items
2. Then, open your App Store or Play Store
3. Search for Instagram in the search bar and select it from the results
4. If there is an update available, you will see Update by the side.
5. Tap on update to begin installing the Instagram update
6. When it is complete, you should then see Open instead of Update.
7. Tap on Open to relaunch Instagram and check if you are now getting messages
Fix 3 – Clear Your Cache to Get Rid of Instagram Bugs
The cache is a memory that is assigned to an application installed on your phone, to store temporary information about your use of the application.
This is so that you can always access data on the app quickly and don’t have to repeat certain actions like logging in, setting your user preferences, and so on, every time you open Instagram.
So, information like your login details, some of your app preferences, your profile data and some images are all stored in the cache.
And, every time you launch Instagram, the app loads all the data from this cache memory to help you enjoy the smooth experience that you have on Instagram.
However, because of the importance of this cache memory, whenever it becomes corrupt or just suffers a minor glitch, the application (in this case, Instagram) will stop functioning properly, and may cause issues like messages not getting through on your app.
To fix this, you need to clear the cache memory in order to remove the corrupt data, and get your Instagram app working well again.
To clear cache on Android:
1. Long-press the Instagram app
2. Select App Info
3. Select Clear Data
4. Select Clear Cache
5. Confirm to clear the cache
On iOS
1. Navigate to Settings on your device
2. Select General
3. Select iPhone Storage
4. Select Instagram
5. Select Offload app
6. Confirm the action
7. Select Reinstall app
Fix 4 – Uninstall and Reinstall the App
If the problem persists after updating Instagram and clearing the cache, it is possible that the Instagram app on your phone has run into a serious problem for which there is no current fix.
In this case, you would need to uninstall the Instagram app on your phone and install it again to get a fresh start.
To do this:
1. Long-press Instagram on your phone home screen and select Uninstall or Remove, depending on your phone OS
2. Confirm to uninstall Instagram when prompted
3. Then, head over to your App Store or Play Store, search for Instagram and reinstall it
4. After reinstalling Instagram, you will be prompted to enter your login details afresh because this is a new setup
5. Enter the details and check if the issue is now resolved
Fix 5 – Contact Instagram Support
If the issue persists after trying all the fixes so far, then there is an unusual problem with the Instagram app on your phone.
In that case, you would need to contact Instagram for support on the issue. You can reach Instagram to report the issue using the steps below:
1. Tap on the profile icon at the bottom right of your Instagram app
2. Tap on the Menu icon at the top right of the profile window. It is usually 3 horizontal likes
3. Then select Settings
4. Tap Help, then select Report A Problem
5. Follow the onscreen instructions and make sure you include as much details as possible
Fix 6 – Wait For Them To Come Out With A Fix
The issue of messages not getting through may be a problem with Instagram services, and they are aware that users are not getting messages. Even if they weren’t aware, your report to them in the step above would make them know and start working to resolve it.
So, you just need to wait for them to come out with a fix so you can start having seamless conversations on Instagram again.