How Can You Follow Someone On Instagram Without Them Knowing

  • By Muhid Suleman

    Muhid Suleman

    Author Image

    Muhid Suleman, An expert writer from Pureprivacy's content team, Dedicate to make data privacy simple and accessible for you. Muhid, Our Content Wizard, weaves tales about online privacy using simple and user friendly procedures. He firmly believes that online privacy is your right and a big deal in the digital jungle.

    See author profile
  • 11 September 2024
  • 6 mins read

A wonderful approach to keeping in touch and viewing someone's content on Instagram is to follow them. 

But what if you would rather keep your following list private? 

There are plenty of clever ways to follow someone on Instagram without knowing them, even though there's no absolute way to be anonymous. 

You can follow someone on Instagram quietly and stay out of awkward situations using our step-by-step guide.

How Can You Follow Someone on Instagram Without Knowing Them?

You can use a different account or ask a friend to look through someone else's Instagram profile to follow someone without them knowing. 

However, the specifics of your case will determine exactly what plan of action you should follow. In the following part, we will examine how to secretly follow someone on Instagram.

How to Follow Someone on Instagram Without Knowing Them

These are the few methods you can use to follow someone on Instagram anonymously.

By Adjusting Your Instagram Settings

Adjusting your settings can be best-suited when it comes to following someone on Instagram without them knowing.

Turn off Activity Status

You can prevent other people from knowing when you were last using the app by turning off this activity status. It's an easy way to stay in stealth mode without losing performance.

Control the List You Are Following

Change your Settings to keep your following private. You can follow accounts without triggering any red flags by hiding your following list from visibility.

Step 1: Open your Instagram account.

Step 2: Go into your privacy settings by clicking on the hamburger icon.

insta account options

Step 3: Make your Instagram account private by turning on the Private Account button.

reveiw followers

Limit Access to Previous Posts

You can limit an account's ability to see your previous posts if you want to keep them from knowing you are following someone. In this way, they won't receive a notification when you click the follow button.

You don't need to do anything if the account you are following is open to the public. Just type their username into Instagram to check their photos. 

Your search history is automatically retained on Instagram each time you click the search icon. As soon as you see their name, you can click to view someone’s profile.

Search for someone

By Using Another Account

Use a different account that has no connection to your real identity. Since Instagram allows people to have multiple accounts, you could make an anonymous one and follow people without them knowing. 

You can send someone a friend request if their account is private. And if an Instagram account is public, enter their name in the search bar and start looking for them.

But for a safer and controlled way to handle your social media presence, consider using a privacy app on your phone. 

Get Privacy Settings across all Social Media platforms

With PurePrivacy’s first-ever social media privacy manager, you can auto-scan & fix privacy settings on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, LinkedIn, Google and YouTube. In just $5.83/month, connect your social accounts with our app & get automatic social privacy settings and recommendations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • Do they receive a notification if I unfollow someone and then follow them back?

    Plus

    Yes. Instagram notifies the relevant account holder that you are following their account.

  • How do you follow a private account on Instagram?

    Plus

    The simplest way to access a private Instagram profile is to send a follow request to the account holder. On the user's profile page, tap the blue “Follow” button just like you would do to follow any other account.

  • What happens when you restrict someone on Instagram?

    Plus

    You will no longer receive notifications about someone whom you have restricted, including whether they like, comment on, repost, or quote any of your work. Even if you don't follow a profile, you can still block access to it on Threads. You can continue to follow their profile even after you've limited them since we won't inform them.

  • Is there a way for you to manage who you follow on Instagram?

    Plus

    You can’t keep your followers from seeing your following list on Instagram. However, there are still a few options that could be useful to you. If you set your account to private, only those who are following you will be able to see it. And, you can easily block people you don’t wish to see your following list on Instagram.

  • Simplify your online presence today

    With PurePrivacy, make sure all your personal data remains safe without a hassle!

Managing Online Privacy is Key!

Although, it's difficult to follow someone on Instagram without their knowledge. Instagram keeps track of follower’s activity and alerts users when someone follows them. But you can manage this action with the above-mentioned techniques. 

And, it's important to remember that boosting privacy on Instagram is crucial. Changing your settings wisely can have a huge impact on how you communicate with other people on the platform.