How to see if someone unfollows you on Instagram

Let the sleuthing commence.
 By 
Andy Moser
 on 
How to see if someone unfollows you on Instagram
It's time to investigate. Credit: bob al-greene / mashable

Do you suspect somebody committed the cardinal sin of unfollowing you on Instagram?

There's an easy way to check. Let's put on our sleuth trench coats, get out our magnifying glasses, and investigate.

1. Go to the Instagram profile of the person you want to check the follow status.

2. Tap where it says "Following" in the top right corner.

There will be a number above it that shows how many accounts they follow.


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Find someone's "following" count in the top right of their Instagram profile. Credit: screenshot: instagram

3. On the next screen, tap where it says "Following" with that number next to it.

This will pull up the list of accounts they follow.

4. Type your display name or handle (username that starts with @) into the search bar.

If your account comes up in the search results, this person is still following you. Yay!

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I searched my name in this person's "following" list, and my account showed up. They follow me! Credit: screenshot: instagram

Hey, that's me!

However, if your account does not come up in the search results, that person is not following you. If they were following you before, well...at some point, they unfollowed you. Ouch. Here's an example to see what that'll look like:

Let's say for the sake of this article that Ariana Grande, at some point in time, followed me on Instagram. One day, I decide to go on social media and say that her new album is hot garbage (Gasp! I would never). Now I'm wondering if she unfollowed me because of what I said.

So I go to her profile and search my account in her "following" list like I showed you how to do above. And to my horror and dismay, my account does not come up in the search results.

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This is what it'll look like if you search your account in somebody's "following" list and they *don't* follow you Credit: screenshot: instagram

"No users found." That'd mean she would have unfollowed me (and I would've deserved it, too).

Anyway, that's how you can tell if somebody unfollowed you on instagram. And to be perfectly clear, in case my hypothetical example gave you the wrong impression, Ariana Grande has no bad albums in her discography and never will.

You didn't come here for pop music commentary but you're getting it. You're welcome!

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Andy Moser

Andy is a fellow on Mashable's Culture team. He graduated with a B.S. from the University of North Florida in 2018 and moved to New York to pursue journalism in culture and entertainment. He can (and will) talk for too long about Star Wars and movies in general. His fear of stinging insects and 80+ degree weather will keep him inside forever. He wishes he were shorter.

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