From sipping morning coffee to running errands for the day, today, nobody lives without posting their daily life chores on Instagram.
Where you go, what you wear, and see; are the primary fodder for Instagram stories. It summarizes your 24 hours day in the form of a short reel. The fun fact about Instagram stories is that they are highly addictive. At least, that’s what we believe. Once you start posting stuff, it becomes a habit, and you start staying more active on Instagram.
However, if you belong to the other group that watches others’ stories, you should really know about hacks to check out others’ stories anonymously. There are also tools on the internet that enable you to watch IG stories without appearing in the viewers’ list. Via them, you can also download stories on your personal device.
To know more about this secret tool and other hacks to watch IG stories without showing up in the viewers’ list, scroll down. Below we have also answered common queries like, how to view IG stories without them knowing, how to use IG stories, how to know how many times someone watches your stories, and more.
What are IG Stories?
Introduced in August 2016, Instagram stories is a popular story feature through which users can share their pictures and videos on their profile in a slideshow format. They last for 24 hours and disappear after that. However, if users want to keep them, they can save them in their highlights.
Recently posted stories appear in the form of a gradient border around the user’s profile picture. Upon tapping, it will continue showing stories from where you had stopped.
Instagram stories are published separately from the photos and videos gallery on Instagram. And although you might know how to post stories up there, there are some other tools you can use to make them more engaging. For instance, you can choose a layout to make an instant collage of pictures or create a short boomerang video. These are just a few examples of how you can make your stories more creative on Instagram.
Can you watch IG Stories Anonymously?
Fortunately, there are a plethora of tools and hacks that allow users to watch stories IG anonymously. If you don’t want to go extreme and use third-party tools, your best bet would be to check out other methods.
Why do you need those hacks? Well, if you ask us, it’s awkward when you don’t follow someone and watch their stories. So, either you just follow that person or learn the art of watching their stories anonymously.
How to watch IG Stories Anonymously?
You can easily watch IG stories without your name popping up on the viewers’ list. However, it requires some work. Also, if you are worried about getting caught by Instagram’s algorithm, stay at ease cause the following methods are completely safe and have never been recognized as a view on Instagram.
1. Airplane Mode
This first hack to watch IG stories anonymously is putting your cell phone on airplane mode. When you view someone’s Instagram story with your phone’s airplane mode turned on, your name won’t show up on the viewer’s list. However, you need to be careful about a few things.
- Open your Instagram app and go to that person’s profile.
- Load the profile so that their stories get updated.
- Now go to your phone’s settings and turn on the airplane mode.
- Go back to Instagram and watch the stories.
By doing so, the other person won’t know that you have watched their stories.
Note: Make sure you load the stories before turning on the airplane mode otherwise, you won’t be able to watch the latest ones. Also, close the Instagram app before turning on airplane mode.
2. Use Another Account
Let’s be honest, everyone has at least one spare account that they have made for other purposes. Now it’s time to re-activate and make use of it.
Use that account to reach other person’s profiles to check out their stories. Half of your work is done there if it’s a public account. However, if it’s a private account, then, unfortunately, you need to send them a follow request and if you are in luck, you will get accepted and be to watch all the stories.
On the other hand, if you really don’t have a burner account, you can create one by following the steps below:
- Go to the browser and search ‘Instagram Sign Up’
- Click the first link that you see in the search results.
- Now fill up the sign-up page to create a new Instagram account.
- Once done, log into it and search the person’s name whose stories you want to watch.
Creating a new Instagram account with a fake name is a safe bet as you don’t have any ties to other accounts from that account.
Note: Use a different email address for making a fake account. Also, make it look like a real account by posting relevant stuff on it.
3. Blocking them
Another way to watch IG stories anonymously is by blocking that person. Well, it sounds weird, but you can actually watch all their stories without revealing your identity. How does it work?
- Go to that user’s profile and watch their stories.
- Now tap the three dots on the top right corner of their profile and tap the ‘Block’ option.
- Keep them blocked for 24 hours and then add them back.
While this may not sound the best idea, you get to watch anyone’s stories without them knowing.
4. Deactivating your account
If you don’t find the above option appropriate, you can try this one. However, for this, you need to disappear from Instagram for a day. Here’s how it works.
- Go to the profile and watch the stories.
- Now come back to your profile and deactivate your account from the settings.
- Keep it this way for at least 24 hours.
- Now just log in back by entering your credentials.
This is how you can view any account’s IG stories anonymously.
Note: Make the most of this hack by deactivating your account for a day after watching all your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend’s stories on the same day. Once you login back, nobody would know that you had watched their stories.
5. Watch at the last minute
Another useful way to check out ig stories anonymous is by watching them at the last minute. Click on the stories when they are about to expire, and the person won’t know that you have watched them. Typically, people don’t check their stories when they are about to expire – getting you another hack to watch their stories secretly.
Just track when the story was uploaded and when it will expire. Then watch it in the last few minutes.
Note: Carefully calculate the time otherwise, you will get caught. Also, if that person uploads a new story after 5 to 6 hours of posting the previous one, you can get caught as the expiration time for the new one would be different.
6. Ask someone to send a screenshot or send you in your DM
If someone you follow also follows the other person whose story you want to watch on Instagram, you can ask them to either send it to you in your DM or take a screenshot of the story. Both ways, you won’t appear in that person’s viewers list even after watching their stories. However, this method is a little riskier as you may be giving an impression of a weirdo. So, ask someone you are close with otherwise, people would judge you.
7. Watch their Highlights
Checking highlights after the expiration of a story is another method to escape the viewers’ list. To do that, you have to wait for the story to get expired and then add to the highlights. However, there is one risk factor attached to it, you need to bank on the chance that the other person would add their current story to the highlights. If they don’t, you missed an opportunity to watch it when it was live.
You will find the highlights stories when you go to that person’s profile on Instagram. As of current Instagram policies, highlights don’t show the latest viewers’ name. So, stay at ease, your name won’t pop up there.
8. check if somebody has reposted their story
Repost is a famous feature on Instagram via which people can share the stories in which they are tagged on their profiles. How can it be useful to you? You can check out their friends’ accounts if they have reposted something.
It’s a safe method, but again you will be relying on a chance. It is worth trying if none of the above options works.
Why Can’t I Share Stories on IG?
Most people complain that they are unable to share stories on Instagram, and thereby they often ask, ‘why cant I share stories on IG?’ The most common reason is that you are not tagged in the story you want to share.
On Instagram, you can only share your story if you are tagged in it by the person who posted the story. When you get tagged, the Instagram app sends you a notification saying that ‘xyz’ has mentioned you in their stories. When you click on that, you will land the story you are tagged in, and an option will appear suggesting you repost it on your profile.
Wrap up
Posting Instagram stories is not a big work but watching other person’s stories anonymously is. We have tried our best to suggest the easiest and most effective hacks to watch IG stories anonymously. However, if you still find them ineffective in your case, you can try out third-party tools like Smihub, Picuki, Dumpor, Gramhir, and many others. If you try them out, let us know whether they were helpful or not, we would love to hear your feedback!
