Top 5 Ways to Fix Instagram Messages Blacked Out on Android and iPhone

While Instagram is used for sharing photos and videos, it lets you contact your favorite people using Direct Messages (or DMs). However, your experience while sending or receiving Instagram DMs may not always be without issues. One such instance is when your Instagram messages appear blacked out on your Android or iPhone.

Encountering problems with Instagram DMs can be frustrating, especially if use it to talk to your friends or customers regularly. Instead of using Instagram on your computer to access your messages, try the following suggestions to fix the underlying issue.

1. Enable Dark Mode

Enabling dark mode on your Android or iPhone is an easy fix for reading blacked-out messages in the Instagram app. Well, it is a temporary solution if you don’t have time to figure out what’s causing the problem. Of course, it may not work for your phone either.

Android

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your phone.

Step 2: Tap on Display and select the Dark option from the following menu.

iPhone

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap on Display & Brightness and select the Dark option.

2. Force Close and Reopen the Instagram App

Restarting the Instagram app is another effective solution for fixing the blacked-out messages. That terminates all the app-related processes and gives the app a fresh start.

If you use an Android phone, long-press on the Instagram app icon and tap the info icon from the resulting menu. On the App info page, tap the Force stop option at the bottom.

For those using an iPhone, swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or press the Home Screen button twice) to bring up the app switcher. Swipe upwards on the Instagram card to close the app.

Reopen the Instagram app on your phone and try checking your direct messages (DMs) again.

3. Update the Instagram App

The problem of blacked-out direct messages (DMs) on Instagram may be result of a bug. And if it’s affecting a lot of people, then an update might be out for the app. However, if you have disabled automatic app updates on your Android or iPhone, you need to check for the app update manually.

Head over to Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone) and search for the Instagram app. If a newer version is available, tap the Update button.

Instagram for Android

Instagram for iPhone

After that, open the Instagram app and check if the issue is still there.

4. Leave Instagram App Beta

Have you enrolled in Instagram’s beta program to get early access to new features? You are likely to experience such issues as these versions of the app often contain bugs. In some cases, your Instagram messages might not appear at all. To avoid such problems, consider leaving the Instagram’s beta program and switch to the stable version of the app.

Here’s how to exit the Instagram Beta program on Android.

Step 1: Open the Google Play Store on your phone. Tap the search bar at the top and type Instagram in the text box.

Step 2: Select the first result that appears.

Step 3: Scroll down to the ‘You’re a beta tester’ section, and tap the Leave button. Select Leave again to confirm.

Meanwhile, iPhone users need to open the Testflight app and hit ‘Stop Testing’ at the bottom of the Instagram beta page.

After you exit the Instagram beta testing program, your account will be removed from the beta testing group. After a while, you’ll receive an app update that will roll you back to the stable version of the app. Following that, check if your Instagram messages are still blacked out.

5. Clear Instagram App Cache (Android)

Instagram app collects cache data on your phone to load content faster and reduce data usage. If this data somehow becomes corrupt, it could prevent the Instagram app from loading properly on your Android.

Fortunately, Android makes it easy to remove this problematic cache data. To clear the Instagram app cache, use these steps:

Step 1: Long-press on the Instagram app icon and tap the info icon from the menu that pops open.

Step 2: Select Storage and tap the Clear cache option at the bottom.

Restart the Instagram app after this, and try to view your DMs once again.

Unlock the Mystery

Such issues with the Instagram app on your phone can keep you from reading your DMs and ruin your experience. Hopefully, one of the above tips has helped you fix blacked-out messages in the Instagram app, and things are back to normal.