To make your Instagram account private, follow these steps:

1. Open the Instagram app and go to your profile by tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
3. Select Settings (or Settings and privacy).
4. Tap Privacy.
5. Under the Account Privacy section, find the Private Account option and toggle it on.
6. Confirm by tapping Switch to Private when prompted.

Once your account is private, only people you approve as followers can see your posts, stories, and followers list. People who want to follow you will need to send a follow request that you can approve or deny. Your profile (username and profile photo) will still be visible publicly, but your content will be hidden from non-followers

. Additional notes:

• If you have a business account, you need to switch to a personal account before you can make your profile private.
• You can review and remove followers anytime to control who sees your content.
• Private accounts do not show posts in public hashtag or location searches to non-followers.
• To revert to a public account, simply toggle off the Private Account option following the same steps

This method works on both iOS and Android apps, and similar settings are available on the Instagram web version