Instagram keeps saying 'Couldn't refresh feed'. I've tried everything, help?

At the end of my rope with this one. Every few scrolls I get "Couldn't refresh feed" and it just sits there. Sometimes a restart fixes it for ten minutes, then it is back. Things I have already tried, so please do not just tell me to do these: force closed the app, cleared the cache, logged out and back in, reinstalled it completely, and checked that my wifi is fine because literally everything else on my phone works. It happens on wifi mostly, but I think I have seen it on data too. My app is up to date as far as I can tell. Same account works fine on my partner's phone, so it feels specific to my device or my network. Has anyone actually gotten to the bottom of this one for good, rather than a temporary band-aid?

MMira Mehta9d ago276 views

4 answers

Best answer

That error is usually an outdated app version, a soft rate-limit from too many actions too fast, or a DNS hiccup. What genuinely fixes it: update the app from the store (not just reinstall), switch between wifi and mobile data to rule out a router-level block, and if you've been following/refreshing a lot, give it a few hours. If it only happens on wifi, change your DNS to 1.1.1.1, that fixes a surprising number of these.

EEmil Meyer8d ago

Android or iPhone? The steps differ a fair bit. – Beck Tan 6d ago

Just tried the top suggestion and it worked instantly, cheers.

MMaria Bauer6d ago

Does the same apply to the desktop version, anyone know? – Lena Weber 5d ago

Which app exactly? A couple of them handle this very differently. – Liam Volkov 5d ago

Exactly what I needed today. – Hiro Grant 2d ago

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Can confirm the top answer, worked on my end too.

RRhea Lima8d ago

The wifi-vs-data switch is the one that fixed it for me after a week of rage. Turned out my router was the problem the whole time.

BBruno Udoh8d ago

Instagram keeps saying 'Couldn't refresh feed'. I've tried everything, help?

4 answers

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