Using a third-party tool or manually stalking are two different things. Check below what’s the key difference between the two, as well as learn how to steer clear of stalking attempts on your public and private accounts!
Instagram Viewer vs. Stalking – What’s the Difference?
| Stalking on Instagram | Stalking via Instagram Viewer tool |
| When someone tracks your every move on Instagram, it’s called being stalked. Unfortunately, apart from LinkedIn, no such social media platform tells you if you are being stalked. | When a person uses third-party apps to stalk Instagram profiles without creating an account, it’s called stalking via an Instagram tool. However, very few of them actually work and show you your desired results. |
There were nearly 3 Million brand-sponsored influencers on Instagram in 2021, as estimated by Statista. You can imagine now how drastically the figure must have jumped in 2023.
While from far sight, being an influencer looks like all gold and glitter but do we have any idea what we are losing in exchange? Our PRIVACY. We don’t intend to take potshots on influencers or public account holders, but this is the truth.
If you have managed to amass 50k followers on your profile, it’s because people are interested in watching your personal life. If you are curious to know the darker sides of stalking and the Instagram private viewer tool that gives access to your profile content, scroll down immediately!
Does Instagram Let you View who Stalked your Profile?
Instagram doesn’t let users know who stalked or visited their profile; the same goes for Facebook. Instagram is pretty strict when it comes to preserving user privacy.
If we talk about creators’ or business’ accounts, Instagram does tell them who viewed their profile in terms of figures to help them determine their reach.
That means there is no way to learn the profile name that visited your profile, not even through third-party Instagram profile viewer tools. But don’t worry, if you plan to stalk the girl that recently shifted to your neighborhood, go ahead. We have other ways to figure it out.
Tips to Tell if Someone is Stalking you on Instagram
You must be annoyed by now that nothing works to determine your stalker, but we do have something that can clearly tell if you are being stalked. Check below how to spot your stalker on Instagram:
Check Views on Instagram Stories
Checking Instagram stories is one useful way to tell if someone is following you on Instagram without you knowing. Instagram stories work similarly to Snapchat stories. Both disappear after 24 hours of uploading.
You can tell who has been following you by checking views on your story. Follow these steps to check views on your story:
- Open your Instagram account
- Upload a story and wait for a few minutes
- Tap your profile picture to check the story and tap ‘viewers’ at the bottom of your screen
- A list of all the viewers will appear before you
Note: This may not exactly indicate who your stalker is, but if you see someone consistently viewing your stories without missing any, and have been liking your every post, you can call them a harmless stalker or a fan maybe.
Check Your Followers List
Another way to identify if someone is tracking your activities on Instagram is by checking your follower list. If you find accounts with pseudo usernames or spot anything suspicious, you can know someone is stalking you. Here’s how to identify fake accounts:
- The account has very few followers and little or no activity.
- The account doesn’t have a profile photo or any information/bio allowing you to determine their identity.
Note: Stalkers have become quite efficient nowadays. There is a possibility that you won’t see any of these signs in a fake account. Therefore, we suggest you remove all accounts you don’t recognize and seem suspicious to you.
Methods to Avoid Stalking Attempts on Instagram
Below, we have provided some ways to spot your stalker on Instagram with the help of Instagram’s built-in features.
Change Instagram Privacy
If you are sure that someone is stalking you but don’t exactly know who, change your Instagram privacy settings to stop that person from following you.
- Open your Instagram account
- Head to your profile by tapping the profile icon
- Tap the three horizontal bars
- Select Settings then Privacy
- Navigate to the Account Privacy section and turn on the toggle for Private Account.
Doing so will make your account private and your content visible to people who follow you. If your stalker doesn’t follow you and stalks your profile every now and then, he/she will have to send you a follow request to see your content.
Note: Using the same method, you can switch back to a public account setting.
Block Some of the Instagram Profiles
If you have a suspicion that a bunch of people (from your work, high school or etc) might be stalking you, block them on Instagram right away.
- Open your Instagram account
- Head to the search bar
- Type down each person’s profile name you may want to block and enter
- Choose a profile from the drop-down list
- Tap three horizontal dots on the top right corner of your screen
- Select ‘Block’ and confirm the changes
This will immediately block that person, and they won’t be able to find your profile from that account.
Instagram Viewer Legality
Even though third-party Instagram viewers don’t live up to most users’ expectations, that’s not the case with all. Some may work and give you true results. Still, you must watch out to prevent yourself from becoming a target of cyber-attacks.
As for legality, it’s generally ethical to use Instagram video viewer and other profile viewer tools until they are being used for harmless stalking.
Note: Some countries may have banned the use of such tools. So you must check for yourself if the tool works in your region.
You may also read: Instagram Viewer Legality
FAQs:
Does Instagram viewer list mean anything?
If you see a particular user always on the top of your story viewer list and wonder why so, know that there is no such thing as they have been stalking you or something. Instagram randomly positions profiles in the list, which means nothing else.
Can you tell who stalks your Instagram?
Unfortunately, Instagram does not have that feature for users through which they can tell who has been stalking them.
Can someone see how many times viewed Instagram?
On Instagram reels, one view counts for one person. This means if the same person watches your reel 50 times, it will still count as one. So technically, you cannot see how many times a person has watched your reel.
Are Instagram viewers anonymous?
While video viewers are anonymous, you can see the viewers’ name on your Instagram stories.
What does it mean if someone is at the bottom of your Instagram story?
Instagram align viewers below a story based on their view times. For instance, if you see someone on the top, it’s because they watched your story first. Similarly, if someone is at the bottom of the list, they are the last ones to view your story.
Why is he ignoring me but looks at my Instagram Stories?
If someone is watching your stories but not interacting with you, that means they are not interested enough to talk to you. Honestly, Instagram stories are addictive. Once you start randomly viewing them, you can’t stop for straight half an hour.
Instagram viewer vs. follow – What’s the difference?
Using an Instagram viewer to view a profile or directly following a person to view their content are two different things.
| Instagram Viewer | Follow |
| Instagram viewers like Picuki and Dumpor are third-party platforms that give access to Instagram profiles without having you create an account on the app. | Follow here refers to the Instagram following feature through which you send a request to a person to get added to their profile. It’s more like you are taking their permission to view their content. |
Conclusion
Indeed, Instagram is one great tool for sharing your daily life updates. But the privacy concern will be there and is unavoidable.
There’s no harm in being stalked if you already have a public profile. However, if you suspect something life-threatening, resort to our suggested workarounds to keep yourself safe.
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