How to Fix: "We Limit How Often You Can Do Certain Things On Instagram" in 2024

Have you ever encountered an error message on Instagram that says "We Limit How Often You Can Do Certain Things On Instagram"? As an avid Instagrammer, I know how annoying and confusing those restriction messages can be!

Not to worry, I‘ve compiled this detailed guide to help you understand why you‘re seeing those messages, how Instagram‘s limits work, and most importantly, how to fix it so you can get back to liking and commenting without restrictions.

Why Am I Seeing This Message on Instagram?

Let‘s start by understanding what these messages mean.

Essentially, this is Instagram‘s way of telling you that you have been temporarily blocked from performing certain actions like liking posts, commenting, following users etc.

This happens when their systems detect you are violating the platform‘s limits on user activities. Instagram imposes these limits to combat spam, bots and other abusive behavior that harms the community.

The full message reads:

"Try Again Later. We limit how often you can do certain things on Instagram, to protect our community. Tell us if you think we made a mistake."

Seeing this means your account has been flagged for suspicious activity, and you are restricted from actions like:

• Liking posts
• Commenting on posts
• Following new accounts
• Unfollowing accounts
• Posting new content

The exact activity being restricted depends on what Instagram‘s automated systems have identified as potential spam or abuse from your account.

These restrictions are temporary, lasting 24-48 hours in most cases. Instagram expects you to adjust your behavior within this time to avoid further violations.

What Are The Limits On Activities Imposed By Instagram?

To understand how you may have triggered restrictions, you need to know what limits Instagram enforces on various user activities:

Likes

• You can like up to 1000 posts per day, as per unofficial estimates. Hitting this limit consistently can get you restricted.

Comments

• You can comment up to 200 times per day across posts, according to Instagram‘s data.

Follows/Unfollows

• You can follow up to 200 new accounts per day.
• You can unfollow up to 200 accounts per day.
• New accounts have lower follow limits of about 60 per day during the first week.

Direct Messages

• You can send up to 80 direct messages per day to accounts that don‘t follow you back.

Stories

• You can post up to 100 stories in 24 hours before you are stopped from posting new stories.

Live Videos

• Your live videos can run for up to 1 hour continuously, before you have to end and start a new live video.

Hashtags

• You can use up to 30 hashtags per post. Using more can get your post removed or restricted.

Tagging

• You can tag up to 20 different accounts per post.

Bio Length

• Your bio cannot exceed 150 characters. Trying to add more will show an error.

Caption Length

• The caption length per post is 2200 characters maximum.

Usernames

• Your account‘s username can be up to 30 characters long.

These limits vary and can be tighter for newer accounts. Limits may also vary slightly based on other factors like your account history, followers, type of content etc. as evaluated by Instagram‘s systems.

What Triggers The "Limit Reached" Restriction Message?

Based on my experience and reports from other users facing restrictions, here are some of the common triggers for this error message:

1. Violating Liking or Commenting Limits

This is the most common reason people see restrictions. If you‘ve liked posts way more than 1000 times in a day or left 200+ comments, you‘ve hit Instagram‘s limits.

For example, liking 2000+ posts daily for several days can get your account flagged quickly. Or if you left 500-600 comments under posts in a matter of hours.

2. Aggressive Follow/Unfollow

Following and unfollowing hundreds of accounts in a short period is seen as spammy behavior. If you do follow/unfollow sprees exceeding 200 accounts per day, restrictions will hit.

3. Using Bots or Auto-Likers

Third-party apps and services that promise automated liking or following are against Instagram‘s policies. Using them spikes up your activity and gets flagged.

4. Tagging Too Many Accounts

Tagging more than 20 accounts per post or commenting with a list of tags also raises abuse flags.

5. Posting Prohibited Content

Posting nudity, hate speech or violent content in violation of Instagram‘s guidelines can directly lead to restrictions.

6. Rapid Increase in Posts

Sudden, abnormal changes in posting frequency like 10+ posts daily from an account that barely posted 2-3 times a week also raises red flags.

7. Posting Repeated Comments

Spamming same comments like promotional messages or contest entries repeatedly can also look suspicious and limit you.

8. App Glitches

In rare cases, it could also be a simple app glitch mistakenly restricting your account.

Essentially, any activity that appears inorganic and spammy based on your past patterns can trigger restrictions automatically. The aim is to curb abusive accounts without impacting genuine users. But sometimes the automated systems can be a bit overzealous and wrongly restrict you.

How To Get Rid of "Limit Reached" Error on Instagram

If you‘re faced with restrictions on your account, here are some practical tips to get back to normal:

1. Simply wait it out

For first-time offenders, the easiest solution is to lay low and avoid any further potentially suspicious activity for a while. The limits will reset automatically after 24-48 hours in most cases.

Instagram expects you to adjust your behavior within this period to use the platform appropriately. Don‘t try to circumvent the restrictions.

2. Adjust your usage patterns

If you were constantly violating limits before getting restricted, change your usage patterns when you regain access.

For instance, space out likes to 100-150 per hour instead of thousands together. Similarly, limit follows and unfollows to 100-150 maximum per day. Don‘t spam comments or tags either.

3. Stop using any automation tools

If you were using auto-likers, unfollowers etc. before, stop immediately. Using third-party apps almost always backfires by getting your account suppressed or banned.

4. Post high-quality, engaging content

Spam accounts try to boost vanity metrics like followers etc. with mass posting. Instead, focus on posting content your audience loves organically. Good content gets rewarded by Instagram‘s algorithm with better reach.

5. Temporarily switch to a backup account

If restrictions on your main account persist beyond 48 hours, use a secondary backup account if you have one. This allows you uninterrupted access to Instagram while your main account recovers.

6. Update your app

An outdated Instagram app can also potentially trigger restrictions erroneously. Update to the latest version from your app store.

7. Contact Instagram support

If your account stays restricted for a long time, reach out to Instagram‘s in-app support and explain your issue politely. If there was a mistake, they can manually review and restore your account.

8. Change your password

Some users report that simply changing your Instagram password lifts restrictions, possibly resetting limits. It‘s worth trying out in some cases.

9. Remove problematic posts

Check your recent posts. If any contain offensive material in violation of Instagram‘s policies, delete them immediately. The prohibited content could have triggered the restrictions.

With some patience and by tweaking your usage to align with Instagram‘s limits, your account should come back online within a day or two maximum in most cases.

How Instagram Detects Suspicious Activity to Enforce Limits

But you may be wondering – how does Instagram even identify spammers and impose restrictions?

It‘s a complex, proprietary system but understanding it at a high level helps avoid common pitfalls.

The Instagram Algorithm

Behind the scenes, Instagram uses a complex machine learning algorithm that continuously evaluates millions of accounts and activities.

It looks for signals and patterns indicative of fake accounts, bots, spammers based on past data. Things like:

• Like/follow rates per hour

• Comments/posts frequency

• Ratio of followers to following

• Use of common spam hashtags, captions

• Profile metadata like emails, names etc.

• Activity timing and geo-patterns

• Association with other flagged accounts

Based on these signals, the algorithm flags suspicious accounts and imposes temporary restrictions to curb harmful activities. If the behavior persists, accounts may get suspended or banned.

Leveraging User Reports

Apart from automated systems, Instagram also heavily leverages user reports to detect policy violations.

If an account gets reported repeatedly for things like spam comments, fake followers etc. Instagram thoroughly investigates it. Any confirmed abusive activities leads to restrictions.

Using Text and Image Modulation

Instagram also applies text and image moderation to analyze content directly for offensive materials like hate speech, graphic violence etc.

Automated content analysis allows scanning posts at scale to flag accounts posting problematic content for immediate restrictions.

Imposing Invisible Limits

Interestingly, Instagram also imposes "invisible limits" on some accounts as an early corrective measure.

This means restrictions are placed but no warning message is shown. The account will simply not be allowed to like or follow more than a certain count. Only if limits continue to be violated will an explicit restriction message be shown.

The combined result of all these technical and policy measures is that Instagram has become very proficient at curbing fake accounts and spam at scale. But false positives impacting genuine accounts do happen on occasion.

How To Avoid Instagram Limit Restrictions Altogether

The best way to avoid restrictions is to use Instagram responsibly within its community limits:

• Space out activities. Don‘t like 500 photos or follow 300 new accounts in one short burst. Spread it out over days.

• Avoid rapid changes in behavior like suddenly posting 10 times more daily or commenting much more aggressively. Gradually grow engagement.

• Do not use any third-party services promising automatic likes or followers. It never ends well.

• Post authentic, high-quality content that resonates with your followers rather than spam posts to boost vanity metrics.

• Review Instagram‘s policies like community guidelines regularly and follow them meticulously.

• Have a backup account you can switch to in case your primary account gets restricted for an extended duration.

• Report spammy behaviors you notice from other accounts instead of engaging with them.

• Add two-factor authentication to your account to prevent compromises that can lead to restrictions.

• Do not buy or sell accounts. Both break Instagram‘s rules.

Exercising common sense and discipline in your Instagram activities, rather than trying to "hack" the system, will keep your account in good standing. Remember that Instagram‘s limits exist to improve the community experience for genuine users like you!

The Key Takeaways

Getting hit with "We Limit How Often You Can Do Certain Things On Instagram" messages can be inconvenient but it‘s rarely permanent.

In most cases, it‘s Instagram‘s way of warning you to tweak your behavior and use the platform responsibly before they impose harsher account suspensions.

The restrictions are automatically lifted within a day or two if you avoid further violations. Learn how Instagram detects and combats spam across its billion-plus community to benefit legitimate users.

Review the limits on liking, commenting, following etc. imposed by the platform and adjust your usage to align with them. Reach out to Instagram support if your account seems incorrectly restricted for a prolonged period.

Hopefully, these pointers will help you get your account back up and running if you ever run into usage limits on Instagram. Here‘s to engagement without limits or interruptions!