Can you see who's viewed your Instagram?

We all wonder who’s been looking at our Instagram content lately, but no one really knows how to find out.

Instagram doesn’t have a built-in way to see who’s been on your profile, because that would basically be the worst privacy issue possible. Think about it: If you knew people could see when you clicked on their profiles, wouldn’t you use Instagram way less? Because of this, there’s no in-app tracking system you can tap into.

So what’s a curious gal to do to see who's looked at your Instagram?

The truth about third-party apps for Instagram

Download third party apps, of course. But while there are plenty of apps that claim to tell you exactly who has been on your Instagram lately, the reality is they’re pretty much all fake. According to a Reader’s Digest interview with Alex Heid, chief research and development officer at SecurityScoreCard, any apps that claim to do this are most likely just pulling random usernames and generating a different list every time you call up the service, while actually tracking your data. Big yikes.

This isn’t to say all apps are liars. According to Business Insider, one favorite app for users to get a little more info about their followings (or unfollowings) is Followmeter, which is available for iPhone and Android. It won’t tell you the names of people who have visited your profile, but it does provide adjunct metrics, like who has unfollowed you recently or who you’re following that isn't following you back. This is data you can actually manually check, so it’s much more likely to be accurate.

Instagram accounts for businesses and creators

If you want to stick within the Instagram app, there are some steps you can take to get more info, too. Business and creator accounts provide users with additional insights, like an overview on the amount of accounts reached, content interactions, and how many people may have saved your individual posts.

Anyone can change their account to a business or creator account by clicking on the three bars in the upper right corner of their profile page, then tapping "Settings." (Note: You must use the Instagram app to enable.) Once there, tap "Account" and scroll down to the blue links that say "Switch to Business Account" or "Switch to Creator Account." You can choose whether you want to display a title like “Blogger” or “Just for Fun” on your profile to let visitors know you’re a business or creator account, or you can keep it hidden.

You may not be able to see exactly who's viewed you, but at least you can get a little more information that way.

Instagram stories

Of course, users have always been able to see who views their Instagram stories. During the 24 hours that your story is up, you can click on the bottom left corner icon on your story, which will display a list of people who have seen it. Finally! Some solid answers!

There have been rumors that this list is displayed in the order of who engages with your content the most, aka, the people who like/comment/click on your profile most often would be at the top. While we wish this were true, Julian Gutman, product lead for Instagram Home, confirmed in an interview with Later that it’s actually the opposite. The list prioritizes accounts you interact with most, so it’s really just exposing yourself.

How do you see who's viewed your Instagram? The answer is, you can't, really. But it’s probably a good thing we can’t obsess over who’s clicking on our Instagram accounts. Maybe this way we can eventually move on from silently hoping that our exes have seen our best selfies.

Related Video: How to permanently delete your social media