Here's Why Instagram Says You Have Message Requests, but Nothing’s There

So, you logged into Instagram to check your feed and catch up on updates, and you notice you’ve got one (or 10) pending message requests. At this point, you might either be thinking that an ex found you and is trying to connect. Or, you're trying to figure out who in cyberspace is trying to spark a conversation with you.

But then you go to check, and nothing is there. No profiles. No messages. Just blank space. If you’re encountering this, here’s the most likely reason why it’s happening.

Dozens of Instagram users shared in mid-March 2026 that their accounts showed they had pending message requests, but there were no messages under the Messages tab. Some complained they had one message request, while others said their account showed eight or even 10. While the number varied, they all had one common problem: There weren’t actually any new messages waiting to be read.

Typically, when Instagram says you have a message request, you’d head over to your messages to see who’s trying to contact you. But in mid-March 2026, there seemed to be a glitch in the system causing many users to see pending messages, but no actual messages under the Messages tab.

A Reddit thread was started to discuss this issue, and based on the number of comments and replies, it seems a lot of people were experiencing it. One commenter wrote, “Oh OK looks like everyone is having this problem tonight I felt like I was going crazy!! thought one of my exes was trying to break no contact my heart was racing.” Another chimed in, sharing that they had more than 10 message requests “but nothing appears,” crediting “a random bug” as the reason.

Several others complained of the same thing, writing that they thought they were going crazy because they saw a number next to message requests, but then no messages. Many even went onto their desktop or laptop to double-check, and still, nothing showed up.

So if this happens to you, there’s a good chance it’s just a glitch and you don’t actually have any pending message requests on Instagram. While one person attempted to fix the issue by offloading the app, they said that didn’t work. What did work, however, for one person was deleting the app and redownloading it, and after that, the “message requests” notification finally went away.

Now, sometimes you might have hidden message requests, which usually contain offensive or spammy content, and that could also be a reason why you’re seeing pending message requests.

To check, head over to the messages icon in the app and click “Requests” next to your main messages. From there, tap “Hidden Requests.” Here, you can either delete the messages you don’t want to open or accept them, and the conversation will be moved over to your general messages folder, according to Instagram.

Addressing messages under the “Hidden Requests” tab may help remove that pending request notification, and if it doesn’t, consider trying to delete the app and reinstall it as one Redditor suggested doing.