How to Find Out Who Unfollowed You on Instagram

Why Instagram doesn't show unfollows

Instagram's Help Center states plainly that people aren't notified when someone unfollows them. There's no unfollower tab, no activity alert and no hidden setting. Anything you find online promising an "official" unfollower list is either a manual method described below or a third-party app.

What Instagram does give you is enough raw information to work it out yourself, without handing your account to anyone.

Method 1: Check whether one specific person still follows you

This is the fastest way if you have a particular account in mind.

1. Go to your profile and tap Followers.
2. Use the search bar at the top and type their username.
3. If they don't appear, they no longer follow you (or they've blocked you, changed username or deactivated).

You can also go the other way: open their profile, tap Following, and search for your username. This only works if their account is public or you're an approved follower.

Method 2: Compare two exports of your followers (the complete method)

If you want to know everyone who left over a period, use Instagram's own Export your information tool. It gives you a file listing your followers, and it never involves giving your password to another service.

Request your first export

1. Go to your profile and tap Menu (three lines).
2. Tap Accounts Center, then Your information and permissions.
3. Tap Export your information, then Create export.
4. Select your Instagram profile and tap Next.
5. Choose Export to device.
6. Customize the export: select only the followers and following information rather than everything, pick a date range, and choose a format. HTML is easier to read; JSON is easier to compare in a spreadsheet.
7. Tap Start export.

Instagram says an export can take time to prepare, up to 30 days in some cases, and once it's ready you have four days to download it from Available downloads.

Compare later

Repeat the export a few weeks later. Paste the two follower lists into a spreadsheet side by side and look for usernames present in the first file but missing from the second. Those are your unfollowers, plus any accounts that were deactivated or removed in between.

This is slower than an app, but it's the only complete method that uses official data and keeps your login private.

Method 3: Watch your follower growth in Insights

If your account is public, Instagram insights show a Total followers view once you have at least 100 followers, including growth as followers gained or lost over a timeframe. It won't name anyone, but it tells you whether a drop is a handful of people or a bigger trend worth investigating, for example after a change in what you post. Our guide on how often to post covers the habits that most often affect retention.

Why third-party unfollower apps are risky

Most "who unfollowed me" apps work by logging in as you. Instagram's Help Center warns that if you give an app your login information, whether a username and password or an access token, it can gain complete access to your account. That means reading your private messages, seeing information about your friends, and potentially posting spam from your profile.

Instagram also says accounts that use non-Instagram apps to manipulate followers may find parts of their account limited, and repeated use can lead to the account being disabled. An app that only reads your follower list isn't the same as one that buys followers, but a password-based app is exactly the access pattern Instagram tells people not to allow.

Specific risks of password-based trackers:

• Account takeover. Your credentials are stored on someone else's servers.
• Automated actions you didn't approve, such as follows, likes or DMs, which can trigger action blocks.
• Security warnings and forced password resets when Instagram detects the unusual login.
• Data resale. Your follower list and your followers' usernames become the product.

We compare what's actually safe in our review of Instagram follower trackers. The short version: if a tool needs your Instagram password, skip it.

Not every drop is an unfollow

Instagram routinely removes disabled accounts and strips out likes, follows and comments generated by inauthentic accounts. When that happens, your follower count can fall noticeably in a short time even though no real person left. If your list is full of suspicious accounts, our guide to checking for fake followers shows how to spot and remove them, which also makes future unfollow checks easier to read.

For context on what a normal follower count looks like, see how many followers the average person has. If you grow through hashtags, the sets on #followers and #influencer flag engagement-bait tags to avoid, since follow-for-follow audiences rarely stick around.