Like any popular social network on the web, Instagram has a full suite of privacy applications that can help protect your account from unwanted eyes.
Whether you’re trying to hide your photo collections from your exes, future employers, or any other prying eyes you wish to hide from, it’s often wise to keep the majority of your social network accounts private – and that includes your Instagram page.
With a protected profile, your Instagram page won’t be viewable by the public, and you’ll have to approve followers one at a time, helping you manage who can and can’t view your content. While Instagram is a fairly social platform that encourages public sharing, it isn’t quite as public of a network as something like Twitter, which largely encourages public posts and interaction. Unless you’re a celebrity – or perhaps an up-and-coming YouTuber, there’s no reason not to lock down your Instagram account if you’re worried about safety or privacy.
But what if you want to view a private Instagram account? Or you want to make sure no one is viewing your private account without your knowledge? There aren’t easy answers to either of those questions, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be solved with a bit of hard work and effort. Let’s view how to make your Instagram profile private, and how to view private accounts secretly – plus, how to make sure no one’s viewing your own account info.
How to Make Your Instagram Account Private
We’ve all been told over and over: make sure your social accounts are locked down and private, or at the very least, clean and secure of any compromising information and images. From getting a job to making sure your employer doesn’t see something they won’t like, it’s important to ensure that your account is either private or safe. But if you’re new to Instagram – or it’s been awhile since you created your account – you might be unsure on how to change the privacy settings on your account to protect your information. Let’s take a look. We’ll be using the iOS version of the app in our screenshots below, but the Android version is near-identical to the Apple version of the app.
Start by opening the app, either from your home screen (iOS) or your app drawer (Android). The app will open up on the home page for Instagram, showing a collection of posts and shares from your followed friends. Along the bottom of the app, you’ll find five icons for adding photos, viewing posts, and more. Tap on the profile icon on the bottom of the tab. On iOS, this shows your profile picture taken from Instagram. On Android, this shows a basic profile icon, a silhouette of a person. This will load your own profile, along with a few additional options.
From this display, you’ll see a few icons along the top of your screen. On iOS, look for the gear icon in the top right corner, which will load into your settings automatically. Android’s design is a little more different, with a triple-dotted menu button in the top-right corner of the display. Unlike other Android apps, this will also load directly into Instagram’s options menu instead of loading a smaller settings list.
Once you’re inside of Instagram’s settings menu, you’ll see a long list of options. You can add your Facebook friends and your contacts, invite Facebook friends not yet on Instagram, and view your account settings. It’s here where you’ll find options for two-factor authentication, the ability to hide your Instagram Story, and block users. But above all, the most important option here is “Private Account,” which you’ll find at the bottom of the account settings options on this page, before the traditional settings menu begins.
Instagram warns below this switch that only people you approve can see your photos and videos, while mentioning that your existing followers won’t be affected by the switch. If you’re trying to get rid of a specific user that already follows you, you’ll have to block them.
When you’re ready to make your account private, all you have to do is flip the switch on this option. Instagram will warn you about approving followers and your existing followers being unaffected by the change. Confirm your selection, and that’s it – your account is now private. If at any time you want to make your account public again, simply follow the steps above and flip the switch for private accounts off again. You’ll receive another confirmation message, and that’ll be that.
You can do this as many times as you’d like, without any sort of repercussions – just remember that any posts you shared while your account was private will become public as soon as you flip that switch off.
How to View a Private Instagram Account
The Legitimate Way
If you wish to view a private Instagram account, the easiest – and most legitimate – way is to request to follow that person. Typically, even a person with a protected profile will approve people they know, so if this is someone you’re familiar or acquainted with, you shouldn’t have any problems getting that person to approve your request. Once your request has been approved, you’ll be able to see that person’s profile and view any photos they’ve uploaded to Instagram.
Obviously, this is the most straightforward way to access and view a person’s private Instagram account, no matter who they are. Unfortunately, though, this does depend heavily on you as an Instagram user having a preexisting relationship with the person you’re trying to add on Instagram. Therefore, if you’re trying to add someone you don’t know, like a celebrity or a friend of a friend, the easiest way to reach out to them is through a private message on Instagram.
Sending the user a private message, or PM, will let them know a bit about who’s requesting to follow the user. The best way to do this is to let the requested user know who you are, a bit about yourself, and why you want to follow them on Instagram. Saying as much as “I’m a high school friend of your boyfriend” or “We met at your cousin’s birthday party” can be enough to create a contact between you and the party you’re trying to reach out to, especially if they remember you.
Again, a lot of this relies on having an already-existing connection with the person. If that isn’t there, then you’ll have to rely on your own social skills to talk to the user you’re looking to follow. Many Instagram users will welcome new friends, especially since they can block or remove you if things get rough. Just remember to keep an eye on what you post and what that person posts. If you don’t know them and you interact with them too often after they’ve approved your request, you might be risking a removal or blocking.
Try Searching Their Username
This is a quick tip, and ultimately, it might not get you far in your quest to find out some information on your Insta-crush or your old high school friends, but it’s worth a shot regardless. Log into Instagram and look for the target you wish to research online. When you find their account, no doubt locked behind a privacy wall, you’ll be able to see the username of your target. Highlight that name and copy it to your device’s clipboard, because we’re going to be using that name in a moment.
Now, open up Google Images or the image-based search engine of your choice and paste the name of your targeted person into the search box. What we’ll be doing here is simple: somewhere on the web, there’s a good chance that the person you’re looking for has left an trail of footprints along the web before activating their privacy protection on Instagram. Often, the photos posted on Instagram have actually been shared elsewhere, making it easy to find your target’s photos by using their Instagram ID against them. If they’ve previously had different photo accounts on Flickr or other similar photo sharing sites, you may retrieve some of that information in your search. Same goes for if the person’s Facebook is largely unprotected.
All in all, this may not end up gaining you access to a full Instagram account, but if you’re looking for some additional photos of a specific person on Instagram, using their login ID to find photos of them posted on other sites is an easy way to bypass Instagram’s own privacy protection – even if it’s only a temporary fix.
Using Instagram Viewer Sites
Searching Google for methods to view private Instagram profiles will bring up endless results of solutions and guides – including this one! – but it will also refer you to a number of websites with suspicious names that advertise the ability to view private profiles in just a few easy steps. These sites have names like “WatchInsta,” “Instaspy,” and “Private Instaviewer,” and they all seem to promise the same general idea: use their website to gain access to Instagram accounts marked as private without any extra steps, payments, or requirements. Some of them even promise complete anonymity, or have chatrooms where you can discuss the app with other users.
Unfortunately, after testing a few of the results from the first page or two of search results through Google, we absolutely do not recommend using these sites. They come from shady backgrounds at best, typically obscuring the name of the company behind the site, and despite the promise of “free” results, often ask to fill out a survey or sweepstakes that requires a credit card or other form of payment to complete. Some of the sites also seem connected to each other, displaying one name but then showing another site’s name when the survey request loads. We simply can’t suggest users use any of these sites when their backgrounds are unclear and their origin is hidden from users on the site. Basically, stay clear of these sites; they’re nothing but trouble.
If you’ve tried adding the person on Instagram with a friendly message and still can’t gain access to their account, there’s still one option left, though it’s difficult to recommend that to users as well. Let’s take a look.
The Less-than-Legitimate Way
We mention the following method not as a true recommended method to accessing hidden or private Instagram accounts, but to prove that it’s possible to create and infiltrate Instagram accounts that are private with little-to-no effort on your part. This is meant more as a warning than an actual guide – if you’re using a private Instagram account yourself, you may find yourself affected by these methods below. It’s why we recommend only adding users you know and can verify on the platform.
That said, here’s the easiest way to gain access to a private Instagram if you’re sure the requested user won’t want to approve you in real life. Fake accounts on Instagram are, technically speaking, against the terms of service for the account, so you’ll want to limit your usage and access. We do not endorse doing this; at best, it’s unethical, and at worse, could constitute stalking users online.
If you do choose to create a fake ID instead then, here are some ways to get more accepted by a private Instagram account holder.
- Select a female profile picture for your fake account. This comes across as more friendly and safe. Choosing to use a female identity on Instagram makes the account feel less predatory than a male account, though it’s obvious that this can create problems on its own.
- Add real photos to your fake Instagram account. You could also make your fake Instagram ID a private account as well.
- If the private Instagram account you want to follow doesn’t approve your request to follow them, send a PM to that person. Explain that you’d like to follow them on Instagram and your reasons. You could theoretically do this in or out of character
Once more, we do not condone or agree with using a fake Instagram to access the private account of someone who won’t add you, especially if you and that person have some kind of history. If you’re concerned a fake account has added you on Instagram, reach out to Instagram support or block the user directly through Instagram.