Option 1: Instagram's read receipts setting
Instagram has a setting to stop sending read receipts, for all your chats or for a single chat. Look in Settings under Messages, or tap the person's name at the top of a chat. Menus move around between versions, so search Settings for "read receipts" if you can't find it.
- It's official and doesn't need anything extra.
- It doesn't hide your story views or "typing".
Option 2: read the notification
The preview in the notification doesn't mark the message as seen. Fine for a short message. Long ones are cut off and photos don't show.
Option 3: restrict
If you restrict an account, their messages go to message requests and they can't see when you've read them. It also changes other things, like their comments on your posts. Use it for someone you're keeping at a distance, not as a reading trick.
Option 4: Privacy mode in MsgSaver (PC)
MsgSaver runs Instagram in its own window on Windows. With Privacy mode on for Instagram:
- No "Seen" when you open a chat and read it.
- No "typing..." while you write.
- Watch stories without showing up in the viewer list. More in watching stories without being seen.
Turn on Privacy mode for Instagram in MsgSaver, then open Instagram from the tray menu.
MsgSaver also keeps a copy of messages people unsend, so if someone takes a message back, you can still read it. See unsent Instagram messages.