Both Instagram and Snapchat, and now Facebook, have story features, but have you ever wondered why Instagram is more popular among them? It’s because Instagram is constantly evolving and trying and testing new features to bring the best to its users.
There are so MANY features that Instagram story offers and are missing on other social media platforms. That being said, there is only one drawback of Instagram (for stalkers): you cannot stalk any user if they are private and do not accept your follow request.
For such things, it’s good to have an Instagram story viewer under the belt to do all that hanky panky without anyone knowing. Let’s learn what a story viewer is and how to benefit from it.
What is an Instagram Story Viewer?
Visual content is the most powerful form of content that is shared, managed, and posted in the Gram realm. For instance, you may find some content presented as a post with a detailed caption and others as a reel or story.
Each of them has certain sort of limitations attached to them. For instance, you cannot watch an Instagram story after 24 hours of posting unless the person saves them to their highlights.
Instagram story viewer free you from such limitations. Via it, you cannot just swift through the content on Instagram without being on the app but can also download any content you like onto your device.
3 Key Features of Instagram Story Viewer
- You can stalk your ex’s profile without them knowing
- You can view anyone’s story without popping up on their viewers list
- You can download reels and watch it for later.
While there are many other benefits of it, we believe these three are the winners.
How does Instagram Story work?
The Instagram story feature is a dedicated section for posting vertical, full-size pictures daily. Even though you can post regularly on the Instagram feed, people engage more in stories than in posts.
Each story disappears after 24 hours, allowing you to post fresh content every day to keep your audience updated. Apart from that, Instagram stories offer multiple types of stickers, polls, layouts, and filters to make your stories more aesthetically pleasing.
How to upload an Instagram Story?
Just follow these few steps to get your story uploaded on Instagram:
- Open your Instagram account
- Find and tap the plus icon on the top left corner of your screen on your profile picture
- Choose ‘Camera’ and click a picture. Alternatively, you can choose to post a picture from your camera roll.
- If you wish to make a video to upload, tap and hold the white button on the screen until your video records.
- Once done, tap ‘Post’
How to Check Views on Instagram Story?
Fortunately, you can watch who viewed your Instagram stories within 24 hours of uploading. To check the list, you simply have to tap the story you have just uploaded, and the viewer’s list will appear on your screen.
If you have a Creator’s or Business account, you can check insights and impressions on your story even after disappearing.
How to check Insights and Impressions on Instagram Story?
As said earlier, if you have an Instagram Creator or Business account, you can have access to insights and impressions on your story by following these steps:
- Open your Instagram account and tap your display picture at the right-side bottom of your screen
- Tap ‘Insights’
- From the given time frames choose the period of which you want to check insights for instance 7, 14 or 30 days or a custom time frame.
- Come to the ‘Content you shared’ section and tap ‘Stories’
- Select your metric and time period.
That’s how you can check how many impressions your story has gotten in a particular time period.
Instagram Story Viewer List – How does Instagram organize Views on a Story?
Instagram uses an algorithm to line up views on a story. Thus, it takes into account the way you engage with your followers to organize views on your story. For instance, the recent views line up above the old ones at the top.
So the Instagram story viewer order is completely based on who views it first. As new views come up, the older ones will go down.
What’s the new update about Instagram Story Viewer Order?
Previously, Instagram showed story views based on chronological order. However, in 2021, it changed and organized it based on engagement. Now those you see on the top of your viewer list are the ones you engaged with most.
For instance, if you are an influencer, the top views would be from the profiles you engaged the most with. These are the accounts that give you the most views, likes, and comments.
Note: This algorithm works only when you have more than 50 views on a story.
Is there any Instagram Story Viewer hack to watch Anonymously?
To put it simply, you cannot watch public and private profiles’ Instagram stories anonymously on Instagram. The moment you tap their story and watch it, your name will appear on the viewer’s list.
That said, a few workaround methods exist to watch a story on Instagram anonymously. Several Instagram private viewer tools are available on the internet that hide your identity and let you stalk profiles on the platform.
If you are interested to learn about different Instagram profile viewer tools, then scroll down and check our best suggestions.
10 Top Instagram Story Viewers for 2023

In today’s world, stalking has become more convenient than it’s ever been. You can check what others are hiding from you without even paying a buck. Below are some top suggestions for safely viewing other Instagram profiles’ stories anonymously without following them.
1. Inflact
Inflact is an online tool mainly designed for social media marketing research and growth. However, it is also used to view Instagram stories anonymously. The tool provides you with valuable data to build your social media strategies to boost engagement.
Top Features:
- Download posts, stories, and reels on any device
- Schedule automatic uploads
- Generate hashtags to target your desired demographic
- Auto like, follow and unfollow
- Chatbot to interact with other users, and clients
- Growth analytics and market research tools for maximum reach
Note: Inflict does not offer any free trial. However, its basic version is free.
2. 4K Stogram
4K Stogram is known for its photo viewing and downloading feature. You can access any profile by a hashtag and download its content. The best feature of this tool is that it automatically downloads profiles to your hard drive and creates a backup on your PC.
Surprisingly, the tool works on both public and private Instagram profiles.
Top Features
- It tracks location through GPS
- It creates a backup of Instagram profiles
- You can download and view others’ Instagram profiles anonymously
- It preserves information on feeds, hashtags, and comments
- Its basic version is free
- It is compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux-Ubuntu
Note: it’s free version comes with ads.
3. StoriesDown
StoriesDown is another effective web-based Instagram photo viewer that shows public profiles anonymously. All you have to do is provide the desired account username and wait for the results.
What we like the most about this tool is that it maintains the original quality of the post after downloading.
Top Features
- It shows you public account content anonymously
- Doesn’t ask for account creation or personal registration
- Let’s you download content in high-quality
- Compatible with all types of operating systems
- It’s a free tool
Note: there are a few drawbacks of this tool. First, it takes time to load pictures and stories. Second, it cannot access private Instagram accounts.
4. Glassgram
Glassgram is best known for its Instagram account viewing and tracking features. It tracks profiles in real-time and gives access to private profiles to view their content anonymously.
Additionally, the tool can view followers and direct messages of a given profile. However, it needs to be installed on your device. Sign up for an account to access your desired content.
Top Features
- It screenshots updates when a user is inactive on the platform
- It gives access to a user’s direct message to view conversation
- It tracks the location of the target device
- It shows hidden mode stories
- It gives real-time updates every five minutes
- Its basic plan is free of cost
- It is compatible with Android, iOS, MacOS, and Windows
Note: It’s pricing plan starts with $14.99 per month. The free package offer is for a limited time period.
5. mSpy
Just like its name suggests, mSpy is a tracking and monitoring tool for Instagram. But what makes it unique is its parental control feature that monitors kids’ activity on their devices.
Apart from that, mSpy has a built-in tracker that provides access to GPS locations, IG Stories, direct messages, shared links, and more. Via these features, parents can monitor their kids’ activities on social media platforms.
Top Features
- It tracks incoming and outgoing calls on a device
- It tracks GPS locations of the target device
- It has screen recording capabilities
- It recovers already deleted messages
- It provides access to browser history, including the deleted history
- It monitors target device from your dashboard
Note: The tool offers 14-day money-back guarantee and charges $11.66 per month. However, some users find its interface a bit complicated.
6. Anon IG Viewer
Anon IG Viewer is a web-based tool with an intuitive interface to show private Instagram profiles anonymously. You just have to open the tool on your web browser, type in the name of a profile in the search bar, and press enter. The tool will instantly show you the updates of your desired profile posted within 24 hours.
Top Features
- It works on both public and private profiles
- It quickly downloads Instagram posts and reels
- No Instagram account or software download is required for this tool
- It is completely anonymous and free
- It is compatible with all operating systems
Note: The tool does not show you deleted posts. For that, you may check mSpy.
7. InstaDP
InstaDP is another great tool known to show Instagram stories before disappearing. Without asking you to log into your account, it shows you the target profile’s reels, posts, and stories. You just have to copy and paste the username into the search icon and press enter.
Top Features
- It downloads Instagram posts to your device anonymously
- It opens Instagram profile picture in full size
- No account creation is required
- It is compatible with Android and Windows
- Its a free tool
Note: The tool does not unlock private accounts. Some users have complained about being annoyed because of unwanted ads.
8. Qoob Stories
Qoob Stories is an Instagram video viewer best known for its bulk downloading feature from public and private Instagram accounts. The tool lets users download posts, reels, and stories directly from the feed to their devices.
The website also allows users to automate downloading by linking the target Instagram account to the tool.
Top Features
- It shows public and private Instagram accounts
- It provides efficient features like advanced sorting and downloading choices
- It downloads content in high quality with Instagram account metadata
- It enables users to download a post’s caption
- It offers access to the saved posts while offline
- It charges $7 per month with yearly discounts
- It is compatible with Windows, macOS and Ubuntu
Note: Its basic plan is free, but you need to get the paid one to access advanced features.
9. Instalkr
If you had asked us to name one tool that we definitely recommend for Instagram stories, we’d say Instalkr. The tool effortlessly slides into public accounts and unlocks its stories, posts, likes, and comments before you.
Even better, it shows you deleted posts of Instagram profiles and lets you download them on your device.
Top Features
- It tracks followers and automatically unfollows inactive accounts
- It shows how many views, likes, and comments a particular post has gotten.
- It gives you a notification when a follower unfollows you
- It allows you to stalk others’ profiles without using your account
- It is a free tool
- It is compatible with only Android devices.
Note: It does not frequently refresh profile statistics updates.
10. Instastories
Instastories in an all-rounder tool that enables you to stalk your favorite profiles without using your personal account. The tool can view, download, and track Instagram profiles, posts, stories, and highlights in high-quality.
Top Features
- No account registration is required to use the tool
- It downloads content in MP4 format
- It tracks subscribers and live broadcasts
- It is a free tool
- It is compatible with Android, Windows, and iOS.
Note: It does not show private accounts, and some users find it difficult to navigate the text box.
FAQs
Are Instagram story viewers free?
Not all, but most Instagram viewers are free, for instance, Instastories, InstaDP, AnonIG Viewer, etc. However, for advanced features like account tracking, access to deleted posts, and account insights, you must get a paid one.
What does the order of Instagram story viewers mean?
Instagram story viewers’ order is based on the level of interaction with each viewer. For instance, you will find your most interacted profiles on the top.
Can I view an Instagram story of a private account?
The best way to view private Instagram stories is by using a private Instagram viewer, preferably a paid one, as it shows you guaranteed results. You can try Glassgram to view private Instagram stories anonymously.
What is the best anonymous Instagram story viewer?
While all of our suggested ones amazingly work well, mSpy, Qoob Stories, and Glassgram are some of our trusted ones.
Can you see who viewed Instagram highlights?
Tap a highlight you want to check views on. Tap ‘Activity’ in the bottom left corner of your screen. A list of viewers will appear before you.
Conclusion
So that was all from us on Instagram story viewer. Now it’s your job to pick the best one that suits your needs and use them in the best possible way to get your work done. Personally, we find mSpy reliable as it charges you to protect your identity and provides you with accurate information.
As far as Instagram viewer legality is concerned, all of our suggested ones are legal in the US. If you live outside the states, you must check your state’s policies regarding its usage.
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