Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks; with over 1 billion monthly active users, many brands, businesses, creators, artists, public figures and more are trying to increase their follower count and engagement.
If you’re wondering who is checking out your Instagram profile regularly, this article is for you— there’s a fairly easy way to tell who is looking at your profile.
While there isn’t a direct feature that will tell you who has visited your Instagram profile, there are a variety of different elements that can help you to identify the users that are checking you out.
No matter if your reasons for seeing who views your Instagram are personal or professional, there’s a solution for you and we’re going to give you some options.
Business owners can benefit from knowing who is looking at their profile because it may help with content creation and marketing efforts. Or, perhaps you just want to know if your ex partner is snooping around.
If you want to see who looks at your Instagram account, keep reading.
Can You See Who Views Your Instagram?
If you are looking for a user-by-user rundown of who views your Instagram account, you’re in for some disappointing news. Instagram doesn’t allow users to know exactly which accounts have visited their profile feed.
That said, you can view different numbers and metrics related to the type of users that are checking out your profile.
Instagram insights are available for professional accounts to help brands and businesses identify and understand their target audience. You can see how much reach and impressions your Instagram account has gained, in addition to some detailed demographic information.
You can view when your target audience is online, where they are based, and what their age range is.
If you’re looking for the username of who viewed your Instagram profile, that feature is unfortunately unavailable to any user of Instagram.
Instagram conceals that information for the privacy of their users as well as to maintain a positive user experience, and while the platform does have the data, there’s no access point for anyone to see it.
Is there any way around that?
Third Party Apps to See Who Viewed Your Profile on Instagram
There are many different third party apps that help you with a range of areas of Instagram. From follower growth from apps like Growthoid to planning and scheduling with apps like Later and Sprout Social, there are tons of benefits in using third party apps for your Instagram account.
Does a third party app exist that can help you see who viewed your Instagram profile?
If you do a search on Google for an app like this, many options will appear. Do these apps actually work?
Unfortunately, the answer is no! There is no third party app that can help you to see who viewed your Instagram account. They may choose random Instagram usernames and show them to you as viewers, but this is randomly generated and inaccurate.
Not only that, if there aren’t tons of pop ups making it virtually impossible to use the third party site, you’ll likely have to pay to see any additional names after 3 or 4. Paying to get fake results that don’t display real Instagram user views? Not worth it.
These applications simply cannot provide accurate information because the Instagram API does not make this information available to third party apps. Any app claiming otherwise is lying.
What’s more, if you want to protect your Instagram account and your data, it’s better to avoid these apps that claim to help you see who looked at your Instagram.
You never know how they use your data and whether or not your information will remain secure. If you’ve already used one of these apps, cancel access immediately and be sure to uninstall anything you might have downloaded.
Instagram Stories Viewing
A more secure and reliable way to see who is checking out your Instagram is to use Instagram Stories. Instagram stories that are posted to your account are available to either the general public (public and professional accounts) or your followers exclusively (private accounts).
It can be a great way to track your Instagram viewers because you will know who is paying attention to what you post after you upload an Instagram story. Instagram stories track who views them, and this is available to the original poster.
When you post a story and open it, swipe up to see who has viewed it. You’ll see a symbol that looks like an eyeball, and that’s where the viewers will be listed.
This updates in real time, so you can see as the day goes on who has viewed your story. Once the story expires after 24 hours, you’ll no longer be able to see who has viewed your Instagram story.
While this won’t give you insight into who has viewed your Instagram profile, it will help you to understand which users have you on their radar and who is aware of and viewing the content you post.
Can I see Who Viewed My Instagram Posts?
Unfortunately, you aren’t able to see who has viewed your Instagram posts no matter how hard you try.
Imagine if you were able to determine who has seen your Instagram post and who is looking at your profile. This would deter people from even using the app, which means that the Instagram user base would diminish and there would be less traction on the platform.
In order to keep users excited about using Instagram, this feature is likely to remain obsolete for as long as the app is in existence.
For example, in the past users could see a “following” feed, which disclosed all of the actions that followed accounts took. You could see what pictures the accounts you follow liked, what comments they left, and accounts they began to follow.
Instagram phased out this feature, and it’s likely to never return. This allows people to use the platform more comfortably without their every move being scrutinized.
How to See Who Viewed Your Instagram Stories Video
It’s very easy, as mentioned above, to see who has viewed your Instagram story videos. Even though you can only see them for the period that they are active on your account, it’s still a viable way to see who is consistently viewing your story and even reach out to them to make a direct connection.
Remember to continually check within the 24-hour active period for the story, as the views are updated in real time.
If you add the story to your Instagram story highlight album, you’ll be able to see the total number of viewers the story had, but not the individual usernames.
If you want to see who viewed your in-feed Instagram videos or other types of Instagram video content, you won’t be able to see the actual users one by one, but you can see a total viewer count.
The only way to know for sure if a user looked at your Instagram content is by likes and/or comments.
If a user commented on your post or liked your photo/video, it’s a sure sign that they saw the content, either in your profile feed or in their own newsfeed.
Final Thoughts: Who Viewed Your Instagram Profile
Unfortunately, it’s likely that the answer to the question of who checked out your Instagram profile will forever remain a mystery, but that doesn’t mean other valuable information isn’t available.
Always keep track of your engagement and see who is interacting with your content to get a good idea of who has viewed your profile and posts.
In addition, have an Instagram story active at all times so you can see the usernames of those who have viewed it, which can give additional insight into who is looking at your content and potentially your profile.
If you want to get your content out to even more users and expand your reach and impressions, let Growthoid help! We can get you in contact with your target audience and boost your follower count + engagement rate through organic interactions.
