How to Hide Your Following List on Instagram

Have you ever wondered how Instagram influencers and celebrities manage to keep their following lists private? Unlike other social platforms, Instagram doesn‘t have a simple "hide your follows" privacy setting. So how do they do it?

The secret lies in switching your account to private mode. This prevents non-followers from seeing not only your posts, but also your followers and following lists.

As a tech geek and social media power user myself, I totally get wanting to hide who you‘re following. Your follows can reveal personal interests, guilty pleasures, and other details you may not want to broadcast publicly.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll show you how to hide your Instagram following list with simple step-by-step instructions. You‘ll also learn:

The benefits of hiding your follows
How to hide your followers as well
Additional ways to dial in your Instagram privacy
Useful tools for monitoring profile visits
And much more!

Let‘s dive in and take control of your Instagram privacy.

Why Hide Your Following List on Instagram?

Here are the main reasons why you may want to hide your following list:

Avoid Unwanted Followers

When your following list is public, anyone can browse it to see who you interact with. This gives random strangers an opening to target you with follows, messages, and comments in hopes of getting your attention. No bueno.

Protect Personal Interests

You may follow accounts related to political views, social causes, niche hobbies, guilty pleasures, or other topics you don‘t necessarily want associated with your name. Hiding your follows protects those interests.

Maintain a Professional Image

If you use Instagram for business or professional networking, following controversial accounts could be a bad look. Hiding your follows lets you curate your image.

Ex Partners

We‘ve all been there. The last thing you want is an ex keeping tabs on who you currently follow or interact with on social media. Going private prevents this.

Avoid Stalkers and Harassers

For women and public figures in particular, hiding your following list helps protect against abusive users who may monitor your activity and interactions.

Celebrities and Influencers

Famous people tend to keep their accounts private to maintain both privacy and an air of exclusivity. Now you can do the same!

The core motivation for hiding your follows is taking back control over your privacy. You get to choose who sees your activity.

Just How Public is Your Following List?

When your account is set to public, your entire following list is visible to:

Anyone and everyone on Instagram
Users who find your profile from search engines or social media links
Apps and services that access public Instagram data

The only limitation is that external services can‘t actually follow or interact with your account without permission. But they have full visibility into who you follow.

For example, this site lets anyone search public Instagram user data:

https://github.com/ahmdalii/instagram-user-data

I tried looking up a popular influencer and could instantly see their follows, followers, likes, and interests. No account needed. That‘s the scary power of public data.

The point being – when your account is public, your following list is far more exposed than most people realize.

How to Switch Your Instagram Account to Private

The process of making your Instagram private is quick and easy:

Open the Instagram app and navigate to your profile page
Tap the menu (three line) icon in the top right corner
Go to Settings > Privacy in the menu
Under "Account Privacy", toggle "Private Account" on
Confirm that you want to switch to a private account

And that‘s literally all it takes! Just a few taps to activate private mode.

Once your account is private, non-followers will see only your profile photo, username, and bio. Your posts, followers, following lists, and stories will all be hidden from public view.

I recommend double checking by logging out or switching to a secondary account. Try viewing your profile – you should now see only limited information. Victory! 🙌

Who Can See Your Following List on Private?

On a private account, here‘s who can view your hidden following list:

Your approved followers
Anyone you directly share post links or profile info with
Your Instagram followers who also follow you on Facebook (if accounts are linked)

So in summary:

Followers: Yes
Non-Followers: No
Facebook Friends: Yes (if linked)

It‘s the best way to reveal your activity only to people you know and trust.

How Many Instagram Users Have a Private Account?

Based on Instagram‘s own data, around 10-15% of accounts are set to private. However, that rate is much higher among celebrities:

67% of athletes have a private Instagram account
Around 50% of musicians and actors are private
Public figures tend to be 2.5x more likely to be private overall

So if your goal is to emulate how influencers curate their online presence, going private is a smart move.

Pro Tip: Hide Your Followers Too

In addition to hiding who you follow, you may want to hide your own followers as well.

The good news is that the process is exactly the same:

Go to your profile and tap the menu
Navigate to Settings > Privacy
Enable "Private Account"
Confirm you want to switch to private

Once you‘ve enabled private mode, your follower list will also be concealed from users who aren‘t following you.

This prevents strangers from targeting you based on how many or what type of users follow you. For example, someone may send a follow request simply because a celebrity also follows you.

The more you lock down, the more control you have. 💪

Can You Selectively Choose Who Sees Your Following List?

One question that comes up a lot is:

Can I hide my following list from specific people rather than everyone?

Unfortunately, Instagram‘s privacy settings are all-or-nothing. You can‘t pick and choose who to hide your list from.

Unlike TikTok and Facebook, Instagram doesn‘t allow you to set your following list visibility to "Friends Only" or customize it per individual.

So if you want to conceal your activity from certain people, you‘ll need to:

Go to their profile page
Tap the three dots in the top right corner
Select "Block User"

This will completely block them from finding your profile or posts. Use it wisely to prune toxic users from your digital life.

How to Hide Your Overall Activity on Instagram

Hiding your following list is a great start, but you can take your Instagram privacy even further:

Use Close Friends Lists for Stories

Instagram‘s Close Friends feature allows you to share Stories with only selected people. To try it out:

Create a story as usual
Tap "Close Friends" while posting
Choose specific followers to include

This lets you secretly share casual, personal, or silly content with your inner circle.

Clean Up Your Followers

Do a follower audit and remove accounts that seem spammy, inactive, or that you simply don‘t know. Having followers you recognize makes it safer to post Stories.

Manage Your Activity Status

Hide your online status and read receipts in settings. This prevents followers from tracking when you‘re active on Instagram.

Use Finstas and Fake Accounts

Create a separate "Finsta" (fake Instagram) account to share more privately with close friends. You can also make fake "decoy" accounts to throw stalkers off your trail.

Monitor Your Profile Traffic

Use analytics services like Iconosquare to monitor profile views, top visitors, and traffic sources. This helps optimize your privacy and safety.

How to See Who‘s Viewing Your Instagram Profile

Unfortunately Instagram doesn‘t have built-in analytics to show who‘s lurking your profile.

However, third-party apps can reveal useful visitor data:

Iconosquare (Free)

Iconosquare is a top Instagram analytics platform. The free plan shows your last 50 profile visitors. Premium unlocks more data.

SocialTracker ($9.99/month)

SocialTracker reveals your 75 most recent profile visitors. It also tracks your top followers, posts, and growth.

Inflact ($7.99/month)

Inflact shows your entire Instagram engagement history, including stories, saves, followers, unfollowers, and profile views.

While pricier, these tools give you valuable insight into who interacts with your profile. You can also see if blocked users try accessing your account.

Common Questions about Hiding Your Following List

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions:

Does deactivating my Instagram hide my follows?

No, deactivating your account only temporarily disables it. All of your info and follows remain public. You need to fully delete your account to remove it.

Can I hide my list from specific followers?

Unfortunately you can only hide your entire following list, not customize it per person. To block a specific follower, manually block them.

Will my followers get notified if I go private?

Nope! The change is completely silent. Instagram does not notify anyone when you switch to a private account.

There is no direct way to do this. Followers can still screenshot or record your content. Being highly selective about approvals is the only fullproof option.

If I switch back to public later, what happens?

Making your account public again instantly reveals your followers, following, and posts to everyone. Your previous data remains intact.

Expert Tips for Locking Down Your Instagram

Based on my extensive experience as an Instagram power user, here are my top pro tips:

Clean up Old Posts and Activity

Do an account audit deleting cringey old posts, captions, likes, and comments. This limits what‘s visible if you ever switch back to public.

Disconnect Facebook

Don‘t link Facebook to protect your identity and allow full separation between accounts.

Use a Username Only Known Friends Recognize

Having an anonymous username makes it harder for strangers to find your private profile.

Review Follow Requests Regularly

Check your requested follows often to make sure only people you know get approved. This maintains your privacy.

Disable auto-posting your Instagram activity to Facebook timelines. Facebook tends to default to more public settings.

Recap: How to Hide Your Following List on Instagram

Let‘s do a quick recap of the steps:

Go to your Instagram profile
Open the menu (three lines)
Tap on Settings > Privacy
Toggle on "Private Account"
Confirm switching to private

And that‘s all it takes to hide your followers, following list, and even stories from public view!

You can also use blocking, analytics tools, and activity settings to further dial in your Instagram privacy.

Now get out there, set your account to private, and start enjoying Instagram on your own terms! No followers, activities, or guilty pleasures exposed. 😎

What strategies do you use to lock down privacy on Instagram or other social platforms? I‘d love to hear your thoughts!