Instagram’s embeds setting explained: what “allow people to embed your posts” controls

The short answer

1. What it controls: whether your public posts, reels, guides and profile can be embedded on other websites with Instagram’s own Embed option. Turning it off removes that option for your content.
2. What happens to existing embeds: Instagram says embeds already placed on other sites may take some time to disappear after you turn the setting off.
3. Private accounts: content from private accounts can’t be embedded at all, and switching to private also turns the Embeds setting off.
4. Developer embeds: Meta’s oEmbed documentation says accounts that have disabled Embeds are not supported.
5. API-based feed widgets: Meta’s documentation for the Instagram API that feed tools use does not mention the Embeds setting. We have not found any official statement either way, so we can’t promise how it behaves. The safe approach is to check your feed after changing the setting.

The rest of this article explains each point and what it means for your own website.

What an Instagram embed is

An embed is Instagram’s built-in way to show one post, reel, guide or profile on a website. On a computer or in a mobile browser, you open the post on Instagram, choose Embed from its menu, and copy a block of code. Anyone who pastes that code into a web page gets a box that looks like the post on Instagram.

According to Instagram’s Help Center, if your account is public, anyone can embed your posts, reels, guides or profile directly on their website, blog or news article. When someone does, your content appears on their page so people can see it without opening Instagram, and the embed includes your username and a link to your Instagram account.

Two details are worth knowing. First, Instagram says you can’t copy embed codes from the Instagram app; you need a computer or a mobile browser. Second, embedding works for anyone’s public content, not just your own. That is why the setting exists: it lets the owner of a public account say no to embeds by other people.

If you want to embed one of your own posts, our guide on how to embed a single Instagram post walks through copying and pasting the code step by step.

What the Embeds setting turns off

Instagram calls it the Embeds setting. Older versions of the app described it as allowing people to embed your posts or profile on other websites, which is why many people search for “allow people to embed your posts”. The idea is the same in every version: it is an on/off switch for Instagram’s embed feature on your account.

When the setting is off, Instagram’s Help Center lists it as one of the reasons the Embed option doesn’t appear. The three reasons it gives are:

1. The post or account is private.
2. The account is public but has Embeds turned off.
3. The content or profile cannot be embedded.

So if you turn the setting off, people who visit your posts on the web should no longer find an Embed option for your content. That covers posts, reels, guides and your profile, since those are the things Instagram says can be embedded from a public account.

The setting does not make your account private, hide your posts or stop people from viewing them on Instagram. Your posts stay public. Only Instagram’s embed feature is affected.

What happens to embeds that are already live

This is the part people most often get wrong. Turning the setting off does not instantly remove every embed of your content from the internet. Instagram’s Help Center notes that embedded links on third-party websites may take time to be removed after you turn off the Embeds setting.

Instagram doesn’t say how long that takes, so don’t count on a specific time. If you turned the setting off because of one particular website, give it some time and then check that page again. If the embed is still there after a reasonable wait and you have a legal concern, such as copyright, use Instagram’s official reporting channels rather than relying on the setting alone.

The Embeds setting and private accounts

Embeds and private accounts are closely linked. Instagram says private accounts and content from private accounts can’t be embedded. It also gives two ways to turn off embedding for a public profile:

For most businesses, the first option is the only realistic one. Instagram’s Help Center says business profiles can’t be made private; to make an account private, it has to be switched back to a personal account first. And a professional account is what website feed tools need.

If you’re weighing whether to go private, our article on showing a private Instagram account on your website explains why a private account can’t power a website feed and what your options are.

Where to find the setting

Instagram’s Help Center has a separate article titled “Turn off embed settings on Instagram”, with versions for Android, iPhone, iPad and computers. When we checked it on October 12, 2026, the article noted that the feature isn’t available to everyone. In other words, you may not see the setting on your account, and the exact menu can vary by device and app version.

Because Instagram moves its settings from time to time, we won’t list a menu path that may already be out of date. Here is the most reliable way to find it:

1. Open your Instagram settings on the device you use most.
2. If your settings screen has a search box, type embed. The result should take you to the Embeds setting if your account has it.
3. If search finds nothing, open Instagram’s Help Center article “Turn off embed settings on Instagram” and choose your device. The article shows the steps for that device.
4. If neither works, the setting may not be available on your account yet. Instagram says the feature isn’t available to everyone.

After you change the setting, check the result. Sign out, or use a private browser window, open one of your posts on instagram.com and look in its menu. If the Embed option is gone, the setting is working.

Meta’s oEmbed: the developer side of embeds

Besides the copy-and-paste embed code, Meta offers developers a tool called oEmbed. A website or app sends it a link to an Instagram post and gets back the embed HTML and some basic information about the post. A website tool that turns a pasted Instagram link into an embedded post may be using oEmbed behind the scenes.

Meta’s oEmbed documentation is clear about the Embeds setting: it says accounts that have disabled Embeds are not supported. It also says posts on private, inactive and age-restricted accounts are not supported. So turning off Embeds affects both the manual embed code and tools that build embeds through oEmbed.

Meta does not document a specific error message for this case, so different tools may react in different ways. One might show a plain link instead of a post, another might show nothing. If you rely on a plugin that turns Instagram links into embedded posts, check those pages after you change the setting.

What about feed widgets that use the Instagram API?

Here is where it gets less clear, and we want to be careful not to claim more than Meta says.

A website feed widget usually does not use Instagram’s embed code or oEmbed. It uses the Instagram API instead: the account owner signs in with Instagram, grants an app permission to read the account’s profile and posts, and the widget shows those posts on the owner’s own site. That is a different mechanism from embedding, and it starts from a different place. An embed can be made by anyone from any public post. An API feed only exists because the account owner connected it and approved the permission.

Meta’s documentation for the Instagram API with Instagram Login, the version feed tools use today, describes what apps can do with it, such as reading and publishing media, managing comments and reading insights. It does not mention the Embeds setting. Meta’s description of the basic permission, instagram_business_basic, says it allows an app to read an Instagram Business account profile’s info and media, and it doesn’t mention embeds either.

We searched Meta’s developer documentation and Instagram’s Help Center and found no statement that the Embeds setting changes what the API returns to an app the owner has authorized. We also found no statement that it doesn’t. So the honest answer is: Meta does not document it.

In practice, this means two things:

1. Don’t assume the setting blocks API feeds. If your goal is to stop a particular feed tool from showing your posts, the reliable way is to remove that tool’s access in Instagram’s list of connected apps and websites. See how to see and remove apps connected to your Instagram account.
2. Don’t assume it never could. Meta could change how its platform works, and it doesn’t promise anything here. After you change the Embeds setting, check your own feed.

How Social Feed by grip space displays your posts

Social Feed by grip space is one of these API-based tools. It does not use Instagram’s embed code, embed.js or oEmbed. Here is how it works:

1. You connect your Instagram professional account with Instagram’s own sign-in. Social Feed asks for one permission, instagram_business_basic, which reads your profile and posts. It can’t post, comment or send messages.
2. You paste one script tag on your website. When a visitor opens the page, the script draws the feed right where the tag is, as part of your page, without an iframe.
3. The images and videos load directly from Instagram’s servers, and the posts link back to your Instagram account.

Because the feed doesn’t go through Instagram’s embed feature, the Embeds setting is not something Social Feed reads or checks. Whether Instagram itself treats API access differently when Embeds is off is the part Meta hasn’t documented, as explained above. If you’re curious about the technical difference, our comparison of Instagram embeds vs. feed widgets shows what each one loads on a page.

Check your feed after changing the setting

Whatever tool you use, a quick check takes less than two minutes:

1. Change the Embeds setting in Instagram.
2. In the Social Feed dashboard, open Settings & preview for your widget. The preview reads your posts through the same connection your website uses.
3. Open the page on your website where the feed appears, in a private browser window so you don’t see an old copy.
4. If both show your posts, the setting change hasn’t affected your feed. If the preview shows a red message saying your Instagram connection has expired, the problem is the connection, not the setting; reconnect the account.

Who should turn embeds off?

Leaving embeds on is the default, and for many businesses it is useful: when a blog, a local news site or a partner embeds your post, your username and a link to your profile come with it. Turning it off makes sense in a few situations:

If you mainly want more people to discover your account, leaving embeds on is usually the better choice. If you want your posts on your own website, a feed tool you connect yourself gives you control over the layout and which posts appear, regardless of how you set embeds.

Embeds setting vs. other ways to control your content

The Embeds setting is one of several controls. It helps to know which one to use for which goal:

For the last two rows, see how to hide your Instagram feed temporarily and how to filter your feed by caption keywords.

If you manage Instagram for a client

Agencies and freelancers sometimes turn settings off while tidying up a client’s account, and the website side is easy to forget. Before you change the Embeds setting on an account you manage, make a quick list of where its content appears on the web: single embedded posts in blog articles, embeds created by a website builder from pasted links, and any feed widget. Single embeds and builder embeds are the ones Instagram’s and Meta’s documentation say are affected. After the change, open each of those pages once, and tell the client which ones you checked.

Troubleshooting

I can’t find the Embeds setting. Instagram says the feature isn’t available to everyone. Try searching your settings for “embed”, check the Help Center article for your device, and make sure your app is up to date. If it still isn’t there, it may not be offered on your account yet.

I turned embeds off, but my post still shows on someone’s site. Instagram notes that existing embeds may take time to be removed. Wait and check again later. A screenshot or an uploaded copy is not an embed, so the setting won’t remove it.

I don’t see the Embed option on my own post. Check the three reasons Instagram lists: the account or post is private, Embeds is turned off, or the content can’t be embedded. Also remember that the embed code can’t be copied from the Instagram app; use a computer or mobile browser.

An Instagram link on my website stopped turning into a post. If your website builder turns Instagram links into embeds, it may use oEmbed, and Meta says accounts with Embeds disabled are not supported. Turn Embeds back on, or replace the embed with a feed widget.

My feed widget stopped working around the same time. Check the connection first. A changed password, a removed app or a switch away from a professional account are common causes. Our checklist for an Instagram feed not showing on your website covers them one by one.

Frequently asked questions

Does turning off embeds make my account private? No. Instagram says you can turn off the Embeds setting without switching to a private account. Your posts stay public on Instagram.

Does turning off embeds remove my posts from Google? Instagram doesn’t say anything about search engines in connection with this setting, so we can’t tell you that it does. It controls embedding on other websites.

Can I allow embeds for some posts and not others? Instagram describes Embeds as a setting for your account, not for individual posts. We haven’t found an official per-post option.

Will my Social Feed widget break if I turn embeds off? Social Feed doesn’t use Instagram’s embed feature, and Meta’s API documentation doesn’t mention the Embeds setting. We can’t promise how Meta handles every case, so check the preview and your website after the change. If something looks wrong, email us.

Do I need embeds turned on to use Social Feed? Social Feed connects through your own sign-in and Instagram’s API, not through embed codes. What you do need is a professional (Business or Creator) account. See Instagram professional accounts if you haven’t switched yet.

Can other people put my posts in their own feed widget? Not with Social Feed. A feed can only show an account that its owner connected with their own Instagram sign-in. Social Feed doesn’t offer feeds of other people’s accounts or hashtag feeds.

Questions about your own feed? Email us at info@grip-space.co.jp with the address of the page where it should appear.

Related reading

To understand the permission you approve when you connect a feed, read Instagram API with Instagram Login explained. New to Social Feed? Learn what Social Feed by grip space is, see the setup guides for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and plain HTML, compare plans and pricing, or sign up for free.

Sources

1. Instagram Help Center, “Embed an Instagram post or profile”: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/620154495870484
2. Instagram Help Center, “Turn off embed settings on Instagram”: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/252460186989212
3. Meta for Developers, “oEmbed” (Instagram Platform): https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/oembed/
4. Meta for Developers, “Instagram API with Instagram Login”: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-api-with-instagram-login/
5. Instagram Help Center, “Make your Instagram account private”: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/448523408565555
6. Meta for Developers, Permissions Reference: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/permissions/