Can You See Who Someone Recently Followed on Instagram?
Not directly. Instagram used to have a Following tab that showed who the people you follow were following and what they liked, but it removed that tab in October 2019 (TechCrunch). Since then you only see activity on your own account.
You can still open someone’s Following list if their account is public or you follow them. What Instagram doesn’t do is sort that list by date for you, so the accounts at the top aren’t necessarily the newest follows.
Look at someone’s Following list
- Open the person’s profile.
- Tap Following under their bio.
- Scroll through the list, or use the search bar at the top to check for a specific account.
If the account is private and you don’t follow it, the list stays hidden until they accept your follow request.
Why the top of the list isn’t reliable
Instagram hasn’t said how it orders another person’s Following list, and it isn’t a simple timeline. Guides from services that track Instagram accounts describe the order as mixed: partly recent, partly shaped by who you know and interact with. So an account near the top may be a recent follow, or just someone you both know.
The search bar in the list is the more useful tool. If you want to know whether someone follows a particular account, search for it there instead of scrolling.
What you can see on your own account
- New followers: Instagram notifies you when someone follows you, so recent followers show up in your notifications.
- Your full lists: you can request a copy of your data in Accounts Center: Your information and permissions, then Download your information, then choose your account and Followers and following. The download link usually arrives within a few minutes to a day.
- Unfollows: Instagram doesn’t notify you when someone unfollows you. Our guide on seeing who doesn’t follow you back shows how to check.
What about tracking apps?
Some paid services say they log the follows of public accounts. Their own descriptions show the limits. Snoopreport, for example, works only on public accounts, and its FAQ says it captures about 5% to 75% of an account’s actions. Other apps ask you to log in with your Instagram username and password to see more.
The bigger risk is giving your password to a third-party app. Instagram has said that apps asking for your login make accounts less secure and break its rules (Instagram). If you already gave one your password, change it.
Hide your own Following list
Instagram has no switch that hides your Following list from your followers, but a private account hides it from everyone who doesn’t follow you. Our guide on how to hide who you follow on Instagram covers the options.
FAQ
Can I see who someone followed today?
No. Instagram doesn’t show when another person followed an account, and there is no activity feed for other people’s follows.
Is the Following list in chronological order?
Not reliably. Instagram doesn’t publish how it orders another person’s list, and people who have tested it describe a mix of recent and familiar accounts.
Can I see who a private account follows?
Only after they accept your follow request.
Does Instagram tell me when someone follows me?
Yes, you get a notification for new followers. There is no notification when someone unfollows you.