Comment likes on Instagram: how to like a comment, see who liked it and what it gives the author

How to like and unlike a comment

A heart shows up under your reply, and you want to know who left it. Two things on the screen answer that. The heart icon stays to the right of every comment, and a count appears beneath the text after the first tap. Instagram's Help Center describes both in its article on this feature.

In the phone app

1. Open the post or reel and tap the speech bubble icon below it.
2. Find the comment you want, and expand the replies under it if needed.
3. Tap the heart to the right of the text. A count appears under the comment.
4. To remove the like, tap the same heart again.

A double tap on the photo likes the post itself, not a comment below it. Likes on a comment are visible to anyone who opens the thread and taps the count. The person who wrote the comment will see your username in that list even with notifications turned off.

In a desktop browser

On the Instagram website the steps are almost the same. Open the post, find the comment and click the heart beside it. The Help Center adds a second method: a double click on the comment itself likes it too. Clicking the heart again removes the like. Clicking the count under the comment opens the same list as the app.

How to see who liked a comment

A comment with likes carries a line showing their number. Tap it and a list of people opens. You can check this under your own comment and under anyone else's, and the route is the same. The only difference is who can open the thread in the first place.

Public account. Posts and their threads are visible to anyone on Instagram. The list of likes on each comment opens just as freely.

Private account. Only approved followers see the posts, the thread and the likes in it. People who don't follow the account see neither the thread nor the counts. What stays visible without following or logging in is covered in our guide to Instagram comments without an account.

The count and the list sometimes change in front of you. A person may have removed the heart, and their name left the list. The comment may have been deleted, or the person behind the like blocked: these causes are covered below, in the section on missing likes.

Public likes are no reason to confront anyone

The list is public, yet it says nothing about intent. A heart under an ex's or a colleague's comment means one thing: someone tapped an icon. You cannot read a motive from a like. Don't hold anything you find in this list against anyone. When someone's reactions bother you, block the account: their comments and likes disappear from your posts.

Notifications for comment likes

The Help Center page on notifications lists four triggers. Someone likes or comments on your post. An account you follow mentions your username in a comment. Someone follows you or sends a follow request, or tags you in a photo. A like on your comment is not named on that list.

So the count under your comment is the reliable place to check. The count and the list of names work whether or not your notifications are on. You can switch each type of alert on or off in the app's notification settings.

Meta, the company that owns Instagram, publishes system cards in its Transparency Center: plain explanations of how its systems pick content. The card on Instagram notifications, updated July 1, 2026, splits alerts into two groups. A ranking system picks suggested accounts, activity from your connections and suggested content. Alerts about messages, comments and account security sit outside that system. You can turn off the setting that shows the most relevant notifications first, and the list then runs from newest to oldest.

Nobody gets notified when a like is removed, and the entry simply disappears. Our guide on finding out whose likes land on your posts covers that in detail.

Why a comment like disappeared or won't register

The heart vanished or won't respond, and the app gives no reason.

• The comment was deleted or hidden. Its author may have removed it, or the post owner may have hidden it. The likes leave the thread along with the comment.
• A block. According to the Help Center page on blocking, a blocked person cannot like or comment on the blocker's posts. Their earlier comments and likes vanish and do not return after an unblock. Details are in our guide to blocking someone on Instagram.
• Restrict. According to the Help Center page on Restrict, new comments from a restricted person on your posts are visible only to that person until you approve them. Other viewers see neither the comment nor its heart.
• The account was deactivated. According to Instagram Help, a temporarily deactivated account's photos, comments and likes stay hidden until the owner logs back in.
• A temporary action block. Instagram treats very frequent likes as spam and pauses actions for a while. How to recognize it and what to do is covered in our guide to Instagram restrictions.

Comment likes and the order of a thread

The thread under a post is not sorted by time. Meta's system card on Instagram comments, updated April 3, 2026, describes the order in three steps.

1. Comments that matter most to you go first: your own, your friends' and pinned ones.
2. The rest get a score. The system weighs how relevant a comment is to the post and how popular it is among all viewers.
3. A filter runs last and removes anything that breaks the Community Guidelines.

Likes on comments feed into the predictions behind that score. When the system estimates whether you will reply to a comment, it counts how many likes that comment has. It also checks whether the viewer is the post's author. How often you like comments shapes the prediction of whether you will like this one. Another model estimates how likely you are to report a comment.

Step one explains a common surprise. You see your own comment first, while other viewers see it wherever the score placed it. You can switch the order inside the thread. The card names three modes: most recent, comments from accounts with paid Meta Verified status and, for creators with subscribers, subscribers only.

Why creators should like their followers' comments

Instagram's FAQ for creators advises liking or authentically replying to comments on your reel within the first 7 days. Instagram says this generates more engagement, which can help the reel reach more people. A heart from the author works as a quick thank you and costs nothing. How to build a reason to comment into the reel itself is covered in our guide to reel scripts.

Why bought comment likes break the rules

The Community Guidelines ask people not to collect likes artificially. Since November 19, 2018, Instagram has been removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity. What an account pays for bought reactions is covered in our guide to free follower boosts.

Which followers comment and like the most

The list under one comment answers a question about that comment alone. It gives no picture of the whole profile. Doing it by hand means opening dozens of lists and tallying usernames in a spreadsheet.

The “Who likes and comments most” report gathers public comments and likes under a public profile's recent posts. It then ranks people by how many reactions they left. You do not need to log in to your account. For each person it shows likes, comments, a total score, a rank and a link to their public profile.

The top row means “reacts most often”, not closeness. Instagram shares private messages with no one. Only reactions that any visitor to the profile can see are counted. Comment likes are not part of the ranking: the report counts likes on the posts themselves and the comments under them.

A ranking like this helps you decide whom to thank with a reply, whom to invite to a giveaway and whose questions to answer in your next post.

Quick answers on liking comments