How to Unblock Instagram at School

Scrolling Instagram can keep you up to date with everything going on in your friends’ and family’s lives – and possibly even current events – while you’re on the go. Unfortunately, schools often don’t prioritize students staying in the know and prevent them from accessing the platform. 

There’s no need to panic if you’ve tried to log on only to find that your feed won’t load. In this blog, we’ll show you multiple methods to unblock Instagram at school, from the ultra-easy PIA VPN to the trickier Tor browser.

How to Unblock Instagram with a VPN

Using a VPN is the most reliable way to unblock Instagram at school. By encrypting your data, a VPN prevents your school’s web filter from analyzing your internet traffic while you’re connected to your institution’s Wi-Fi network. This allows you to bypass network restrictions and access social media sites like Instagram.

Although VPNs use complex mathematical algorithms to make your data unreadable, using them on all your Instagram-ready devices is super easy – even if you don’t have any experience with this type of tech.

How to Unblock Instagram in School on an iPhone or iPad

1. Get PIA VPN.
2. Go to the App Store and find, download, and install PIA’s iOS app onto your device.
3. Enter your credentials to log in.
4. Tap the power symbol to connect automatically or tap VPN Server to select your preferred server.
5. Open the Instagram app to start scrolling.

How to Unblock Instagram at School on an Android Smartphone or Tablet

1. Sign up for PIA VPN.
2. Open the Play Store, search “PIA VPN”, and download our Android app.
3. Complete the installation and log in with your username and password.
4. Connect automatically by tapping the power symbol or navigate to the menu, tap Region selection, and select a server manually.
5. Launch Instagram and share your updates. 

How to Unblock Instagram at School on a Laptop

1. Subscribe to PIA VPN.
2. Open the App Store (macOS), Microsoft Store (Windows), or Play Store (Chromebook) and search for PIA VPN.
3. Download and install the app onto your device.
4. Open the app, log in, and connect to your preferred server.
5. Visit the Instagram website to see what people you follow are up to.

Why PIA Is the Best VPN to Unblock Instagram

Scrolling at school is always possible when you use PIA VPN to unblock Instagram. It uses robust VPN encryption protocols that prevent school network administrators – and anyone else who might be spying on your activity – from seeing which websites you’re accessing. It also obfuscates your data to make it look like regular web traffic, so you can avoid your VPN use being detected.

PIA VPN has a massive network of super-fast servers, so you can be sure that you can always connect to one nearby and load your feed at lightning speed.

You can install PIA’s native apps on your iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows devices. If you’re using a school device that doesn’t allow you to install new software, you can also add PIA’s browser extension to Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. 

Turn on PIA VPN’s automation function to automatically switch your VPN on as soon as you connect to your school network, so you can always access Instagram without any hassle.

Other Ways to Unblock Instagram

A VPN is the best way to unblock Instagram, but there are a few alternative methods that you can use to access the platform.

Use Mobile Data

Disconnecting from your school’s Wi-Fi network and using mobile data is an effective way to get Instagram unblocked. Site restrictions on your institution’s network don’t apply when you’re using your own data.

Although this option lets you access Instagram whenever and wherever you like, you’ll be limited by the strength of the signal at school and how much mobile data you have. You might find yourself in a signal dead zone or quickly exhaust your data allocation, both of which will make it slow or even impossible to load Instagram and other websites and apps.

Connect to a Proxy Server

You can also use a proxy server to unblock Instagram. When you type a URL into your browser, the proxy reroutes your request through its own server to make it look like your request is coming from a different place. This prevents your school’s filters from flagging your activity as disallowed.

There are a few downsides to using a proxy server to unblock Instagram. Proxies don’t encrypt your data, so you don’t get the same level of privacy as with a VPN. Instagram and network administrators also often block popular proxies, which means you might have to try a few before you find one that works.

Use Tor Browser

The Tor browser is a privacy-focused web browser that anonymizes your web traffic. It uses the Tor network to route your data through multiple servers to obscure your IP address, allowing you to unblock websites like Instagram. 

It’s generally a reliable way to get around Instagram blocks at school, but it’s really slow. When you try to visit Instagram via Tor, your traffic will be routed through at least six servers. This means images and reels may take a long time to load.

What Else Can I Do with a VPN?

A VPN will help you unblock Instagram and other websites, but it’s also useful in any situation where you’d like to hide your location or prevent people from seeing what you do online. Here are a few other uses for a VPN:

• Staying safe on public Wi-Fi: Stop cybercriminals and other bad actors from stealing your data when you use networks with weak security.
• Streaming while traveling abroad: Sign in to your usual streaming platforms and libraries as though you’re at home.
• Avoiding censorship: Access websites and social media platforms that might be restricted in a particular country.
• Circumventing content-based throttling: Obscure your online activity to prevent your ISP from slowing your connection speed when you access certain sites.
• Hiding your IP address: Conceal your real IP address to browse privately and torrent more securely.

Why Is Instagram Blocked at School?

It’s easy to lose track of time when you open the Instagram app and start scrolling through stories, reels, and other posts. Hours can fly by in what feels like minutes as you catch up with the latest news from your friends and accounts you follow.

When Instagram is unblocked, the site is a major competitor for students’ attention in the classroom, so schools block the app with the aim of helping you focus on what you’re actually there to do: learn.

There are, of course, other reasons for these restrictions. Although lots of great stuff is shared on the platform, Instagram has been used for cyberbullying and other forms of online harassment. 

The way that teenagers interact with the app can also have harmful mental health effects. The American Psychological Association has reported that users who “engage in digital status seeking and social comparison” are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, and body image concerns than those who don’t.

Bandwidth limitations are another concern. A few students using Instagram won’t put strain on the network but hundreds of learners accessing the platform simultaneously can slow the school’s connection and steal bandwidth needed for academic activities.

Then there’s the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in the US. This piece of legislation requires schools to block or filter access to online content that could be harmful to minors if the school wishes to take part in the E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries obtain affordable broadband.

On top of all of that, schools often block Instagram because of the security threat that it can pose. Malicious software (malware) and viruses can find their way onto devices when you click on links within the app. If this happened on the school network, it could compromise all devices connected to it.

How Schools Block Instagram

Here are some of the most popular methods schools use to block Instagram and other websites:

• Keyword filtering: Websites are blocked based on whether specified keywords are present in the URL.
• URL filtering: Entire websites or specific pages are blocked if the URL appears in a predefined list.
• Category blocking: Schools can block categories of websites (e.g. social media platforms) to stop users accessing this content.
• Blocklists: Websites appearing on a list of websites deemed inappropriate created by the school are blocked.
• Allowlists: All websites are blocked by default, except a list of approved sites that students can access.

All of these methods rely on the school network being able to see the requests that you send to its servers. This means that you can easily bypass restrictions by using PIA VPN to encrypt your connection.

PIA VPN’s encryption algorithm scrambles the data sent from your device to the server and makes it unreadable, so no one can see when you’re trying to access Instagram or block you from doing so.

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