Among Instagram’s over 500 million daily active users, some — including you — may inadvertently liked too quickly, comment too efficiently, or send too many friend requests, resulting in your app screeching to a stop. You’re left staring at an error: feedback_required.
Platforms like Instagram have a complex system of anti-bot technologies that monitor users’ activity. Like challenge_required, feedback_required is one of the many checks Instagram has when it suspects automated activity.
Let’s explore what triggers an Instagram feedback required error, what that means in general and for you, and how you can fix it — both as a normal user and when automating. If you’re only interested in the fix, you can go straight to the solution or the solution for automators.
What Does Feedback Required Mean on Instagram?
The feedback required error is a temporary block Instagram places on an account. The error is triggered by suspected spam or automation. The people most likely to see this error are Instagram users who like mass-liking, mass-following, and/or engaging in other mass-anything.
Instagram also has less direct ways of indicating you’ve been temporarily blocked with pop-ups like “Try again later”.
You’ve likely encountered the error after liking many, many posts within a short time or commenting the exact same message too many times. Unusual behavior like this appears bot-like to Instagram, which like many websites, hates bots and automation. Let’s break down the most common reasons you’ll see a feedback required error on Instagram.
Why Does It Say Feedback Required on Instagram?
Instagram has nearly endless amounts of data on what activity makes up the behavior of a “normal” Instagram user. If an account deviates from “usual”, expected behavior too much — or matches too closely activity associated with bots — the feedback required error is triggered automatically. From Instagram’s perspective, this stops a malicious actor and protects a potentially compromised account.
Fast and Repetitive Actions
Repetitive actions in quick succession within a limited timeframe is the most common reason a normal user will run into a feedback required error. Quickly liking many posts or following too many accounts is seen as suspicious behavior and, if left unchecked, could overwhelm a server. Rate limiting is a common feature of any website and app.
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Spam
Another way a normal user will run into this Instagram block is by posting the same comment (word for word) in multiple places. While spam-related activity can fall under fast and repetitive actions, it doesn’t have to be in quick succession.
Suspicious Network/IP Changes
Sometimes it can be your network that triggers feedback required. This is especially true if those network changes assign you IPs from different geolocations. Switching back and forth between WiFi and mobile data too quickly, for example, can cause the app to misinterpret these several failed requests as suspicious, which triggers the error. The same is true when trying to connect to Instagram through a low-quality VPN. You shouldn’t use a free VPN for a whole host of reasons anyway.
Suspicious Login Attempts
Similar to rapid network changes, unexpected login attempts can trigger Instagram to temporarily block your account. A normal user is most likely to run into this problem when logging into their account with a VPN still on, for example. Rapid login attempts from different geolocations are more likely to automatically trigger Instagram’s systems.
Instagram’s Fault
You might be using an out-of-date version of Instagram, which causes the app and Instagram’s systems to bug out. Alternatively, Instagram’s servers might be having issues causing your account to be falsely flagged.
How to Fix Feedback Required on Instagram
Here are some immediate solutions for a normal user to fix the feedback required error on Instagram:
- Restart the app: Close Instagram and reopen the app. If this fails, turn off your phone and retry.
- Change your network connection: Switching your network for a stronger connection introduces a different and more stable IP address for accessing your account, which sometimes fixes the error.
- Update your app: Updating your app eliminates any incompatibility between code or security protocols that might have triggered the ban, thus allowing you to access your account.
- Clear your app cache: Sometimes old, corrupted data in your cache interferes with the normal functioning of your account. Clearing the cache can solve this issue:
- On Android: Go to Settings > Apps > Instagram > Storage > Clear Cache
- On iOS: Offload the app and reinstall it to effectively clear the cache while retaining login data and settings, or delete and reinstall the app for a complete reset.
- Log out and log back in: Log out of your account, wait for some minutes and log back in.
- Turn off your VPN: Instagram may have flagged someone using the same VPN as you for spam activities, which taints the IP you’re using (likely only temporarily). Turning off the VPN and retrying a different network can resolve the error.
- Wait it out: The feedback required error is a temporary error one. Pausing activity for a few hours to a day may lift the ban.
How to Prevent Instagram Feedback Required When Automating
If you’re doing social media automation, many of the aforementioned reasons for the error will have set alarm bells ringing. Let’s discuss them in greater detail, acknowledging that Instagram defines what’s “normal behavior” across the entire user base not any one person’s behavior.
Delays and Humanization
Implement delays if you don’t have them set up. If you have them implemented, experiment with different intervals between actions. The best approach to delays is finding a reasonable upper and lower limit to wait and then randomize the delay somewhere in between. Experiment by scrolling Instagram manually and measuring the time between certain actions.
Alongside delays, normal users generally don’t only do one action for minutes at a time. Mix up your activities: scroll, like, watch a reel, open a profile, follow — mimic the actions of a real person. This can cut down drastically on how often you’re tripping feedback required.
Try Different Rotation
Frequent, illogical IP rotations within a session can flag your bot, especially if those IPs aren’t within a specific region but spread out across the world. This ties directly to our next point.
Coherent Profile
All your browser fingerprints should be pulling in the same direction. From user-agent to device time zone to installed languages, having all “your” identifiable information forming a coherent profile helps convince Instagram’s systems that your automation is human behavior.
Use Session Cookies
Session cookies imitate real user behaviour and help build a digital footprint that appears human. Instagram uses these session cookies to authenticate a user session. Thus, when using automated tools to access your accounts, embedding them with session cookies increases the legitimacy of the originating account.
Better Proxies
If you’re sure all of your ducks are in a row in terms of code, consider using higher quality proxies. Mobile proxies in particular help add a layer of authenticity that can help in environments more hostile to automation.
Conclusion
Instagram feedback required is an automatic temporary block by Instagram’s anti-bot system, which is triggered by spam or other bot-like behavior on an account. Normal users can fix the problem with simple solutions like restarting the app, waiting it out, and more.
Key takeaways:
- Feedback required is an automatic temporary block targeting spam actions.
- Feedback required is one of several Instagram anti-bot errors.
- Although temporary, it can be one step that leads to a permanent ban.
- For most people, immediate solutions like changing networks, or logging out and back in can fix the error.
- For users doing automation, spacing out actions or introducing more variation, among other things, can help avoid the same problem in the future.
By contrast, users who have triggered the feedback required error because they’re using automation have to go back to their code and implement delays, introduce variety in the script’s actions, and use other methods to strengthen the “human-like” qualities of their scripts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Instagram saying feedback required?
You did too many actions at once on Instagram and triggered an anti-bot check. This is an automatic error from Instagram because you liked too many posts, spammed the same comment, etc.
How do I fix feedback required on Instagram?
Restarting the app, changing networks, or clearing the app’s cache often resolves the issue. If it doesn’t, waiting will.
What does feedback_required mean?
It’s a temporary block from Instagram because your account was automatically flagged for spam.
