How To Hide Who You Follow on Instagram in 2024
Posts by Colin TanDecember 16, 2022
Instagram is no longer simply a social media platform. It has become a huge part of our lives and while that is great for some people, for others it becomes an invasion of privacy.
Nowadays, everyone is on Instagram; your neighbors, your teacher, your parents, your friends, and so on.
As a result, it becomes difficult to keep your interests and daily life private, especially from users with whom you don’t wish to interact on the platform.
Moreover, your following list is another privacy issue, since it’s open for everyone to see. It can become a cause for unnecessary drama and nobody wants that.
For instance, you might be following someone your friend doesn’t like and once they find out, it might lead to a fight that could easily have been avoided.
So, how to hide who you follow on Instagram?
Don’t worry, that’s exactly what we’re for! In this article, we’ll discuss the different ways you can make your following list private.
Why Hide Your Following List on Instagram?
Social media platforms have seeped into our lives and our daily lives are now unthinkable without platforms like Instagram.
And, while social media platforms do have their perks, there’s no denying that privacy is a big concern.
Your entire profile, along with your pictures, videos, interests, followers, and whom you follow are open for everyone to see on Instagram.
Although some users don’t mind that, most prefer keeping the details of their lives private.
The following list can especially be a point of contention for Instagram users.
For instance, you follow people which might lead to unnecessary arguments with your friends or partners.
As long as you’re not doing anything shady, who you choose to follow or not follow should ideally be private.
However, Instagram doesn’t work like that, which is why many users often wonder if there is a way to hide their following list on the platform.
Can You Hide Your Following List on Instagram?
The straightforward answer to that question would be no. You cannot hide your following list that easily on Instagram, since the app doesn’t allow you to manually do that.
But, like always, there are a few workarounds to this, especially if you are desperate to keep the details of your profile private.
So, without further ado, let’s see how to hide who you follow on Instagram.
How To Hide Who You Follow On Instagram?
In this section, we have discussed a few ways you can hide your following list on Instagram.
Turn Your Account Into Private Mode
While making the Instagram account private is not an option for many Instagram users, especially brands or influencers, you can consider it if you are a regular user sharing daily snippets of your life.
Once you make your account private, users who don’t follow you won’t be able to see the people you follow on Instagram.
However, everyone will still be able to see the number of users you follow.
Regardless, making your account private allows you to conceal your account details from people whom you haven’t allowed to follow you.
Follow the instructions below to see how you can do that.
Step 1: Open your Instagram app and go to your profile from the profile icon at the bottom of the screen.
Tap on the hamburger icon at the top (the three horizontal lines) and go to Settings.
Step 2: Next, under Settings, go to Privacy. Over there, you’ll see a section labeled “Private account”.
Step 3: Turn the toggle on and your account will be made private.
That’s it! Your account is now private and only your followers can see who you follow on the platform.
Block Specific Users
As already mentioned, making the Instagram account private isn’t an option for everyone.
But, several users might still need to hide their following list from that specific someone.
So, what do you do in such a case? An easy way to make your following list hidden from someone is by blocking them.
Remember that blocking someone means that your entire profile will become invisible to them.
Not only will they become unable to see your following list but they also won’t see your photos, videos, followers, or anything else on your profile.
Although you can definitely unblock someone, use this method as a last resort when you don’t have any other option left.
Step 1: Open your Instagram profile and go to the profile of the person you wish to block.
You can search their username or you can search on your profile if you follow them or they follow you.
Step 2: Once you are on their profile, tap on the three dots at the top of their profile. Choose Block from the menu.
That’s it! Once you tap on Block, they won’t be able to see your profile anymore. Similarly, you won’t be able to see their profile anymore either.
Remove Someone From Your Follower List
Blocking is a great option for getting rid of creeps or maybe family members with whom you don’t want to share your profile.
However, some people don’t want to block users right away and wish for alternatives.
If you want to hide your following list from that particular someone but you don’t want to block them, one thing you can do is remove them from your list of followers.
And, on top of that, if you make your account private or it is already private, they won’t be able to see the users you follow.
Follow the steps below to see how to do that.
Step 1: Open your Instagram app and go to your profile from the profile icon at the bottom of the screen.
Go to your list of followers and look up the username you wish to remove.
Step 2: Once you locate the username of the person, tap on the Remove tag beside their username.
That’s it! The user will now be removed from your profile and won’t be able to see your following list anymore.
But, make sure to make your account private because if it’s public, that user would still be able to see the users you choose to follow.
Use Instagram Monitoring Tools
Another option that you can use to hide your following list is to use Instagram monitoring tools.
These tools allow you to have additional privacy that Instagram doesn’t provide on its own.
Regardless of which kind of monitoring tool you choose, make sure to do your homework on it first.
Since these are third-party applications, it is always recommended that you do your research since you will have to share your private information with them.
You might be wondering how these apps “hide” your following list.
Well, technically they don’t exactly conceal the list of users you follow but, what these tools do is allow you to access profiles without following them.
This means that you can still check out someone’s posts and shares and everything else without having to follow them.
This way, that user won’t show up on your following list.
Essentially, this way, you can “hide” some of the users whose posts you are still seeing. This avoids all confusion and makes Instagram a more flexible platform for you.
However, these are third-party applications, which is why we recommend you proceed at your own risk.
What If I Have A Business Account?
One common predicament on Instagram is that you cannot make your account private on Instagram if you have a business account.
It would defeat the purpose as people won’t be able to find your profile easily and learn about your brand or persona as an influencer.
So, in case you have a business or a creator profile and have to keep your profile public, there’s no particular way to hide your following list.
Your account is open to the public and anyone who visits your profile can see whom you follow.
That being said, you might still want to get rid of a few particular users with whom you don’t want to share your following list.
If that is the case, you can always block them.
Remember that removing them from your list of followers won’t help since your page will still be public.
Hence, blocking is the only option that will make your account completely invisible to them.
Final Thoughts
What started simply as a photo-sharing app has evolved over the years to become one of the biggest social media platforms there ever was.
With new introductions on the platform like Reels, Stories, and more, Instagram has transformed the landscape of social networking.
However, privacy is still a concern for Instagram users.
Users cannot hide their followers or following list or make some of the posts hidden from particular people, as you can on Facebook.
Still, there are a few workarounds that you can apply to make Instagram as secure as possible.
In this article, we provided a few ways to hide your following list.