How to See Who Stalks Your Instagram: 6 Methods

We often tend to wonder who might be secretly stalking our Instagram. Especially if someone seems to show unusual fondness towards us at school, uni, or work, it makes you suspect them of stalking you. You may also be worried about being stalked by suspicious individuals, bothersome relatives, or potential haters. Parents and guardians with teens also fear online predators who could take advantage of their naive children. This thought seems to seep into my mind as well since it is very easy to keep stalking someone online silently.

Hence, I decided to put this thought to rest by finally figuring out how to see who stalks my Instagram. I put several methods to the test for over 40 hours and found out the best ways to identify my stalkers. You can go through my list of the top 6 methods that I shortlisted, although a few methods may not be direct indicators. Please be mindful while using these methods, and do not jump to conclusions or resort to revenge since there are peaceful ways to get rid of your Insta stalkers.

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Method 1: Find Out Who Stalks Your Instagram Using Third-party Tools

Here are some of the best third-party Instagram stalker tools that you can use- to find out who stalked you on Instagram. I tested them first-hand to provide transparency and have included how to steps.

Before I introduce you to these tools, please note that sharing your Instagram login credentials with third-party apps can compromise account security. Avoid using tools that are not well-rated or reputed. In addition, read their data privacy policies and terms and conditions thoroughly.

1) In Stalker

In Stalker for Android offers excellent social media insights. Using this app, I received a complete analysis of followers and the following list. It also shows every interaction, such as story views, profile views, and more. It is best for users who are worried about their privacy since In Stalker revealed who went through my profile, including followers who downloaded my videos and posts. It is beginner-friendly and doesn’t require any complex setup; hence, you can use it right away.

Here are the steps that I used to get IG stalker insights using In Stalker:

Step 1) Install the app and log in to your Instagram account. The app will ask you to enter a security code, which will be sent to you via WhatsApp or SMS.

Step 2) Once logged in, you will be able to see your top-secret stalkers instantly, as shown below. To unlock the rest, you can rate them, watch an ad, or get a paid membership.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.followersfollowing&hl=en_IN

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2) Analytics Reports+

Analytics Reports+ is another reliable tool that can help look out for stalkers. This iOS app is designed to offer account analytics and track who followed/unfollowed you and who isn’t following you back. It also shows which profile likes your posts often, how each post is performing, and much more. I was also surprised to see that some of the people who engaged the most with my posts had never even spoken to me, which points towards stalker behavior. The funniest part was seeing the profiles that unliked my post after accidentally double-tapping, which gives hints of possible stalking.

Here’s how I used Analytics Reports+ to find my stalkers:

Step 1) Download Analytics Reports+ on your iPhone and set it up.

Step 2) Next, sign in to Instagram via Analytics Reports+ and begin tracking.

Link: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/analytics-reports/id1210465913

Honorable Mentions

Here are other honorable mentions that can help you find out who stalks your Instagram:

• mSpy: It is an excellent phone monitoring app for parents and guardians. This spy app lets you snoop around into your kid’s device and enables you to view Instagram DMs, likes, followers’ profiles, and much more. It can be intrusive; hence, user privacy should be respected.
• Spokeo: It helped me find complete background information on a user DMing lewd messages. Therefore, you can use it to learn more about your potential stalker. At times, it may even be a person you already know behind a fake profile. However, at times, I noticed a few crucial data gaps in its report.
• IG Followers Reports: This iPhone and iPad-friendly app helped me find out who frequently interacts with my account but does not follow me. Thus, it led me to confirm my suspicions about a few people who keep popping up on my Story view list. However, sometimes it crashes continuously.
• Influxy: It may not directly show your secret admirers or nosey relatives but uncovers details such as who has changed their username. I could also see who unfollowed me and users who block and unblock me often. Thus depicting that they secretly keep watching my stories but try not to get caught.
• Who Viewed My Profile: As the name implies, it shows you who views your profile frequently. This is a straightforward app, but its major drawback is constant lengthy ads. Hence, I decided not to include it on my top list.

Method 2: Check Instagram Story Views

Instagram initially shows your stories to the users with whom you are close friends or interact the most. The viewers are listed chronologically based on when they viewed it, in the beginning. The ranking algorithm then tends to change this order when your story reaches a certain number of audience. Usually, the people who frequently visit your stories will be on top, while the least active are at the bottom.

However, the issue with this method is that Instagram frequently updates its algorithm and functionalities. Therefore, at times, I found my best friend’s profile at the bottom, even if they interacted with me daily throughout the day. The best way to tackle this is by keeping a note of users who you never interact with but tend to appear every time you post a story and have a suspiciously small amount of followers. For your safety, remove these profiles once you create the list; if you don’t want to, you can simply hide your story from specific people.

Here’s how you can hide your story from a particular user:

Step 1) First, go to the hamburger icon on your profile’s top right-hand corner for Settings and Activity.

Step 2) Next, navigate to Hide Story and Live under the Who can see your content section and tap on it.

Step 3) This will lead to the Hide story and live page; tap on this option.

Step 4) You can now search and tick mark next to the profiles that you want to hide your story and live from and hit Done.

Method 3: View Instagram Profile Interactions

Instagram profile interactions can also offer a lot of clues when it comes to stalker inspection. The heart icon or the notification tab can show you all the recent likes, comments, follows, story replies, who used your Add Yours sticker story template, etc.

However, stalkers are usually smart enough to avoid interacting directly with your posts to avoid raising doubts. When accidental likes happen, you may get notified, but once they are unliked, the notification will disappear from the heart icon. The only solution to catch them is to screenshot the notification before swiping it away when you see a surprise like from an account that never interacts.

Method 4: Check Your Followers and Unusual Interactions

Unusual interactions such as random new accounts viewing your story, commenting on old posts, liking the tagged picture that you have forgotten about, etc., are some of the signs. People have different characteristics, and some of the aggressive stalkers do not mind putting themselves on the spot. Hence, I’ve come across users who have been loud and clear by liking all my old posts at once in a minute, commenting on three to four posts in one go, and tapping on hearts on my stories out of nowhere.

Such profiles do not care if you flag them as a stalker, while some are more discreet and end up showing their color by mistake. In such cases, take note of how persistent they are and how often they view your stories or send a DM request. It is usually easier to catch them if you have a public account, as they may not follow you but end up watching your stories often and liking your posts from time to time, meaning your uploads appear on their feed since they visit your profile frequently.

Here’s an example of a stalker account that has been randomly watching my stories for over a year and also disappears in between.

Additionally, be cautious about accounts in your follower list that have zero posts or very few followers, as they may have created this account only to stalk users.

Method 5: Use Instagram Insights or Meta Business Suite

If you need a more detailed insight into followers and visitors, I suggest installing Meta Business Suite. Although mainly used by influencers, digital creators, and business profile owners, regular public accounts can also use it. This app analyzes account reach and shows all interactions. The details include the number of times your reel/post was shared with others by users and how many accounts saved your content (could include potential stalkers). IG offers this feature only for business profiles, unlike Meta Business Suite. However, you’ll have to switch from private to public to access its features.

It can be a tad bit complicated for non-tech-savvy users as the metrics may seem overwhelming. However, it is pretty easy to navigate and gets more manageable after using it a couple of times. If you are still confused, switch your account to a business profile for some time and get simple insights directly on Instagram.

Here’s how you can switch to a business account:

Step 1) First, open your profile and tap on Edit profile.

Step 2) Here, tap on the Switch to Professional Account option and then hit Next.

Step 3) Select the category of your profile from the list of options, such as Entrepreneur, Digital Creator, Clothing Store, etc. Then, confirm by tapping on the Switch to professional account button.

Method 6: Check Follow Requests

If you have a private account or recently made it private and removed some followers, you may notice that a few of these profiles resend a follow request. Now, let’s be mindful– not everyone on this list is your stalker since some might genuinely like your content. However, some followers keep coming back consistently even after you remove them multiple times from the request itself. A regular follower who gets removed at least twice will not return; however, a stalker might.

In my case, I have also removed requests from people who weren’t my ex-followers due to their weird profile appearance. However, a few of them keep returning without fail. There might also be users who change their DP and username to get accepted. All of these indicate that they want to stalk you or have stalked you previously when your account was public.

The only issue with this method is that when you come back to public mode, all the pending requests are accepted automatically. Anyway, if you like to have a public profile, be more careful about what you post and expose to your followers.

How to Block or Restrict a Profile on Instagram?

Instagram offers blocking and restricting, which are two separate features. If you think blocking seems too harsh for certain accounts that you still wish to keep as your follower, you can choose to restrict them to limit their interaction with your profile.

Here’s how you can block or restrict an account:

Here, I shall demonstrate how to block a user on IG step-by-step:

Step 1) Go to your profile, tap on followers, and search for the account by typing it on the search bar. You can also go directly to the search bar using the 🔍icon on the home page given at the bottom and type the username if they are not your follower.

Step 2) Now click on the username that appears and go to their profile. Navigate to the three dots on the top right-hand side, then click on the Block option. To restrict, simply tap on Restrict instead.

Note: You may also limit their access to your story updates by tapping on the Hide your story option given in the same section below Restrict and Block.

How to Report an Account for Harassment on Instagram?

Reporting an Instagram account is a good option for dealing with stalkers. Let me take you through a step-by-step guide on how you can report an account for harassment, bullying, etc.

Step 1) Visit the profile you want to report, tap on the three dots on the top corner of the screen, and select the Report button.

Step 2)This section has three types of options depending on your relationship with the user.

An account that you follow and follows you back:

What do you want to report?

• A specific post
• Recent messages that they sent you
• Something about this account

An account that you don’t follow, but they follow you, or both of you do not follow each other:

What do you want to report?

• They are pretending to be someone else
• They may be under the age of 13
• Something else

Sometimes, for the accounts that have never interacted directly

What do you want to report?

• A specific post
• Something about this account

Step 3) You can select the option Something else or Something about this account to report stalking.

Step 4) Once you click on it, you can select Bullying or harassment or another option as per your requirement.

Step 5) Now select the Me option or Someone I know/Someone else if you are doing it on your friend’s behalf and report them.

However, Instagram will not accept every reported request. Hence, you can get your friends to report the same account over and over if they have really been troubling you or simply block them. Blocking helps because Instagram can block all their future accounts automatically, protecting you from their new profiles as well.

Tips to Avoid Being Stalked on Instagram

Here are tips you can use to avoid being stalked on Instagram:

• Set your account as private so that only selected profiles get access.
• Do not share personal information online, especially if you have a public account.
• Accept the request of only trusted individuals that you know from real life or if they seem genuine.
• Tag locations wisely, as it may disclose your address or whereabouts to the stalker.
• Make sure you have enabled two-factor authentication and use a strong password.
• Report and block all the suspicious accounts that keep creeping in.
• Do not use random third-party apps or connect them with Instagram.
• Avoid replying to DMs from strangers.
• You may also use a VPN if you do not want to be monitored or leak your IP. I recommend ExpressVPN as it is one of the most reputed service providers.
• Lastly, stay informed about Instagram’s security guidelines and user policies and keep the app updated.

Coping with the Emotional Distress of Online Stalking

Online stalking can cause a lot of emotional distress and lead to anxiety or fear. Here, I have listed some common tips to help you cope with such emotions:

• Keep a record of all the incidents by taking screenshots and reduce your overall online activity.
• Prioritize self-care such as sleep, workout, and nutrition, which will automatically boost your mood.
• Find a good therapist for guidance and speak openly with them about your state of mind and issues.
• Join a support network; many communities help stalking victims.
• If it is a severe case, get the legal authorities involved for safety. Cybercrime and local law enforcement take action in such matters.

Conclusion

After spending multiple days researching the tools and methods above, I have come to the conclusion that using In Stalker and Analytics Reports+ would be my top suggestion. The other tricks are also helpful if you are smart enough to sort out the stalker. For severe stalking cases, I recommend contacting legal authorities for reliable assistance. However, you must also stay on the lookout and use social media with caution. Additionally, ensure that you act swiftly while blocking and reporting the stalkers.