It can be really frustrating to find that after commenting on a person’s post, that Instagram decides to act weird and starts posting duplicate comments. 🤦♂️
One of the issues recently I’ve encountered was whenever you would try comment on an Instagram post, the comments end up getting duplicated on its own and then after there are 2-3 copies of my comment on that post.
It’s weird because I hadn’t typed out that comment twice, and even after refreshing the Instagram app, the duplicated comment remains.
This issue is more common on the Instagram mobile apps rather than the desktop, and there have been multiple reports from users that this is an issue that is constantly happening to them as well.
And since you’re reading this, we assume that you have encountered the same issue as well.
So what can you do about it to fix the issue?
Well, there are a couple of solutions to try out, which we’ve both tested and tried out with our own Instagram account, and we will be sharing them with you below. But most importantly, it’s worth taking note to understand why the issues occur in the first place. We will be going over those factors as well below before we guide you step-by-step on how to fix it.
Let’s jump right in.
- Refreshing the Instagram App
- Force Close Instagram
- Have A Stable Cellular Data or Wi-Fi Network
- Clear the Instagram App Cache
- Update Instagram to the Latest Version
- Reinstall the Instagram App
- Manually Delete the Duplicated Comment(s) and Contact Instagram Support
1. Refreshing the Instagram App.
The first solution (which you may have already tried) is to refresh the Instagram app.
Often, you may see the duplicate comment appear posted, but as soon as you swipe within the Instagram app to refresh it, the duplicate comment goes away.
Now, why does this happen? Well, it’s possible that the app is experiencing some bugs that may be what’s causing the duplicate comment to appear temporarily but disappears after you refresh the feed. Another possibility is a network connection disturbance where if you’re using apps like VPN in the background can interfere with the Wi-Fi network/cellular data you’re using while skimming through Instagram. We will get more into this in Method 3 below.
For now, try refreshing Instagram to see if it solves the issue.
Here’s how you do it:
- Assuming you already have the Instagram app opened, simply swipe the screen downwards from the top of the screen (you can refer to the GIF below to see how it is done).
That’s pretty much it! You can head back to the post where your duplicated comment to see if it is still there.
2. Force Close Instagram.
A few users have also claimed that by force closing the Instagram app, it helped to remove the duplicated comment issue.
Force closing the Instagram app allows the app to completely be shut down from running on your device. After doing so, we can then just relaunch the Instagram app, and it should work without any bugs or technical issues as it reconnects with the servers.
This is a handy little trick that helps whenever you encounter any issues with any apps on your device.
Here’s how you force close the Instagram app on both iOS and Android devices:
If you’re on an iOS device with Home button
- Head back to your Home page but pressing once on your Home button.
- Next, press twice on your Home button until you see all the list of apps that are running on the background of your device.
- You can simply now just swipe each app away by swiping upwards on each of the apps to force close them. Make sure you do this for the Instagram app.
- Reopen your Instagram app and test again to see if the duplicate comment is gone.
If you’re on an iOS device without a Home button
- Try force closing the app by swiping upwards from the bottom part of your screen and the holding in the middle until you see the app drawer.
- From there, swipe away Instagram or all your apps. Once done, reopen Instagram and test again to see if the duplicate comment is gone.
If you’re on an Android device
The way to close an app varies between devices. On both Google Pixel and OnePlus devices, you will need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold in the middle of the screen (similar to that of Apple devices). Then swipe away the Instagram app or all your apps.
The following video should help demonstrate how to do it:
If you’re on Samsung Device
- Tap on the menu button (three-line icon)
- Next, find the Instagram app and then swipe it away to close it. You can also tap on the Close all option to close all of your apps at once.
Once again, try to reopen Instagram and see if this does the trick.
3. Have A Stable Cellular Data or Wi-Fi Network.
The solution that helped fix the duplicate comment on the Instagram issue personally for me was to address the unstable Wi-Fi network I was connected to.
Although I did not find this issue to occur a lot when I was using Instagram on my Cellular Data, the issue did happen a lot when I was connected to public Wi-Fi hotspots and unstable home Wi-Fi networks.
The best way to find out if this is the case is to try connecting to a different Wi-Fi network or switching to Cellular Data from Wi-Fi to see if the issue persists.
It also helps to turn off any VPN apps you may have turned on in the background of your device. Since having a VPN connection can interfere with the network, you’re connected to.
4. Clear the Instagram App Cache (on Android)
If you’re on an Android device, then it has been suggested by a couple of users on Reddit and other forums that clearing the cache helps to fix the Instagram duplicate comments posting issue.
Although the steps to clear the app cache varies depending on which device you have, we have provided the steps for Samsung, Google, and OnePlus devices below:
If you’re on a Samsung device
- Go into your Settings app and then tap on Apps.
- Next, tap on Instagram.
- You will first want to make sure you hit the Force Stop option to stop it from running in the background. Then scroll down and tap on Storage.
- Now tap on the Clear Cache and Clear Data options, which will effectively clear the cache and data which Instagram stores on your device.
If you’re on a Google Pixel device
- Open the Settings app on your Pixel and then tap on Apps & notifications.
- Next tap See all apps.
- From the list of your apps, you will want to look through the list and find Instagram. Tap on Instagram.
- Now, first, hit the Force Stop button to close the app from running in the background.
- Then tap on Storage.
- Lastly, tap on the Clear Cache and Clear Data options, which will effectively clear the cache and data which Instagram stores on your device.
We’ve also provided for you the official video produced by Google here:
If you’re on an OnePlus device
The steps are similar to that of Google Pixel devices since OnePlus is relatively stock Android. 🙂
Once you’re done, test again by logging back onto Instagram and then test by writing a comment on one of your own posts or your friend’s posts to see if the comment duplicates.
5. Update Instagram to the Latest Version.
Yes, the ‘update app to the latest version’ method does sound cliche and overused in a lot of support guides, but the truth is that a lot of users just ignore it and don’t keep tabs on it at all.
Your device, whether that’d be iOS or Android, does from time-to-time update your apps automatically on its own. However, there are times when the app updates don’t get installed, and it’s in times like this that you will have to manually do it yourself.
So if you’ve been putting away any app updates or if you’ve not gotten to it lately, then perhaps there is a pending update waiting to be installed that may address the issue.
Here’s how you can update Instagram to the latest version:
If you’re on an iPhone or iPad
- If you’re on an Apple device, go into your App Store, tap on your Apple profile icon from the App Store Today tab.
- Then under the Available Updates section, you should find there if any app updates are pending for Instagram.
If you’re on an Android Device
- Go into your Google Play Store app and then tap the Menu (three-line icon).
- Next, tap on My apps & games. Then look if Instagram has any update available on the list. If there is, tap on the Update button to begin installing the app update.
6. Reinstall the Instagram App.
Additionally, if updating the Instagram app didn’t help, you can try to reinstall the app to see if it solves the issue.
Reinstalling the app can help remove any minor technical issues or corrupted app cache. Especially if we’re talking about the latter, where for iOS devices, there isn’t a dedicated ‘Clear App Cache’ button like there is for Android devices.
Hence you will need to resort to reinstalling the app.
If you’re on an iPhone or iPad
- To delete an app on an iPhone and iPad, simply long-press on the Instagram app until you see a list of options appear (as shown below).
- Then tap on the Delete App.
- Lastly, head back into your App Store, search for “Instagram” and reinstall the app.
If you’re on Android devices
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Tap Menu (three-line icon) and then select My apps & games.
- Tap on Instagram from the list of apps/games.
- Lastly, hit Uninstall. You can reinstall the Instagram app by heading back into the Google Play Store, search for “Instagram” and reinstall the app.
Once you’ve reinstalled the Instagram app, sign back into your account and see if the comments you posted previously are still duplicated. You can also test by publishing a new comment to either one of your posts or your friend’s posts to see if the issue persists.
7. Manually Delete the Duplicated Comment(s) and Contact Instagram Support.
If none of the above solutions works, then your best bet, for now, would be to manually delete the duplicated comments yourself and hope that Instagram releases a patch in the form of an app update for the issue in the coming weeks.
To delete your duplicated comment, simply swipe left on the duplicated comment (iOS) or tap and hold the comment (Android) you’d like to delete.
Then tap on the red trash can icon to delete the comment. You should get the message that the duplicated comment is deleted.
In the meantime, you can also help raise the issue to Instagram by reporting the issue so that it gets the attention.
To locate the report button, go to your Instagram profile, and tap on the Menu icon (the three-line icon). Then tap Settings (the cog icon).
Next, from here, tap on Help and then tap on Report a Problem.
As Instagram suggests in their Help article, you will want to be specific with the issue by providing as much detail as possible such as what device and OS you’re on and how your comment repeatedly gets duplicated.
With the more of us reporting the issue, the sooner we’re able to get Instagram to work on the issue and get a patch released.
We hope that this guide has helped fix Instagram posting duplicate comments issue. If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment below, and we will love to help you out. ❤
P.S. If you have found a better solution to fix the duplicate comment issue with Instagram, then please comment down below, and we will credit you when we update this article.
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
