Some Instagram users follow accounts to see what’s going on in their lives not because they actually care or they want to offer some help.
It can be your ex that you want to monitor their activities but you realize that you’re not able to view that on Instagram.
There are a lot of reasons why you can’t view the activities of the accounts you’re following on Instagram, it all comes down to the restrictions they have placed on your account or Instagram has to hide the feature of viewing activities of someone you’re following on the platform.
Whatever it is that’s causing not being able to view the activity of profiles you’re following, we’ll explain the major causes in this article and also share some of the activities you can view for user profiles you’re following on Instagram.
Why You Can’t See The Activity Of Someone You’re Following On Instagram
Instagram Update
Instagram has updated their algorithm back in October 2019, they rolled out the update to remove the following tab on the Instagram app.
But still, that doesn’t mean you can’t view the activity of someone on Instagram especially if they have a public account.
Instagram is all about connecting with people and the best way to connect is by sharing content between users.
There are still other situations where you can’t view the activity of someone on Instagram no matter how you’ve tried, even though the feature is available on Instagram but you can’t see it.
Like seeing the posts on profiles or comments they’ve made. Let’s share the reasons why you can’t view the activity of someone you’re following on Instagram.
They have Blocked your Profile
This is the first obvious reason especially if you’re used to seeing their interactions and activities but suddenly, you’re not able to.
It’s not possible to view the interactions and activities of any user that has blocked you on Instagram. Here is what happens when someone blocks you on Instagram;
- Likes and comments disappear on their posts; All the likes and comments they have added on your pictures and videos will disappear, and they’ll not be able to drop their comments or add likes in your future posts.
- They can view your likes and comments on public profiles; If you drop comments or add likes on other people’s posts that are public, the user you block can still view these actions. If you’re also following the same private account and you add comments and likes, they can still view that info as well.
- They can’t view your profile; when you block someone on Instagram they can’t find your profile, posts, and your stories. They will not be able to receive any of your content on their feed.
- They can’t tag you; they’ll not be able to mention your username or tag you by any means.
- They cannot send you a DM; After blocking someone on Instagram they will not be able to send direct messages. Old message threads will still remain but they can no longer engage in chat with you.
- They can view group chat; Instagram will show group messages even after blocking a user, but after blocking them you’ll receive a message giving the option to leave the group or not. If you decide to stay, they have access to your messages in the group.
By looking at these scenarios you can see that you cannot interact with someone when you block them and all their activities are hidden for you, and that’s the reason why when you notice someone’s activities disappearing, the first thing you need to suspect is that they have blocked.
You should also understand that Instagram won’t send any notification when someone has blocked, you’ll just have to figure things out by looking at their profile. If you can’t see anything, it’s a sign that they have blocked you.
They have a Private Account
The next possible reason why you might not be able to view the activities of someone is when they’re running a private account.
If it happens that you’re following them and you still can’t view their activities, it means that they’ve removed your account from the following list and hence the activities become invisible to you on Instagram.
When they remove you from their follower list, you won’t be receiving any notifications and that’s why you might not know if they have removed you. If that’s the case, nothing you can do unless they’ve added your account to their follow list.
They have Deactivated their Account
Some users want to take a break and might consider deactivating their accounts.
Once someone deactivates their account it’s a sign that they don’t want to interact with anybody and hence Instagram will not show their content until they’ve reactivated their account.
You can’t do anything about this as well, but wait until they’ve activated their account so that you can continue receiving their content in your feed.
Account Suspended or Terminated
This is similar to the previous case mentioned above, if the account is terminated it means their account has been deleted on Instagram and everything on their profile will be deleted, it will not be visible to their followers anymore.
If it’s account suspension the account might be recovered, and that’s only when you can continue viewing their activities and interactions on Instagram.
These are the major reasons why you’re not able to view someone’s activities and interactions on Instagram, it can be on their profile or you’re not able to receive their content in your Instagram feed.
With that said, let’s now take a look at the activities you can view for any profile you’re following on Instagram.
How to View The Activities Of A User On Instagram
View their Recent Posts
There are different ways you can see the posts of a user on Instagram.
The first is that it will be visible in your feed especially if you’re interacting with them, if you previously liked and comment on their posts, you’ll definitely be receiving every new post they’ve added to your feed.
The next way to view the recent post is by visiting the profile page, you can go there by clicking on their username.
You can search the username and then tap on it to open the profile page, their most recent posts will be displayed at the top and you can view any post you want.
The only scenario where you can’t view their recent post is when their account is private and you’re not following them.
It might be that you’ve sent the following request but wasn’t approved by them. Another situation where you can’t view their recent posts on their profile or feed is that they have blocked your account without knowing it.
Even though you’re following them, they can block your account, and once they decide to unblock the account, you’ll have to follow them again in order to view their content.
Provided the user account has not blocked your profile and you’re following them, you’ll be able to view their posts from the profile page, the recent posts will be listed from new to the older ones.
See the Recent Profiles Followed by a User
This is also another activity that can be seen on Instagram, you can view recently followed accounts of Instagram users or I can say you’re able to view all their followers.
This also applies if they haven’t blocked your account and are running a public account, if it’s a private account you have to be their follower first.
You can view the recently followed accounts of a user by visiting their profile page where you can see the “Following” option link, it’s located just above the “Follow/Unfollow” button.
Once you tap on “Following”, a list will be displayed that has all the recent accounts they’re following.
View Recent Interactions
We’ve already mentioned that an update was released in 2019 that hides the activity feature on Instagram. Before this tab was removed you can view all their interactions in one place, and now the only thing you can view is the posts they’ve recently liked.
In order to view the posts they’ve liked, you should tap on the “Chat bubble” with the heart icon that can be seen by the right of the ‘Take a photo button’ which is at the bottom.
You’ll now see a screen that has all the notifications of activities for users you’re following, you can’t view the activities of a single account, you’ll view the whole interactions from all accounts.
If you want to track the activities of any user profile, you’ll have to go through the list manually and find the activities of the user you’re looking for.
View the Posts that have been Tagged in
You can also view the posts a user has been tagged on Instagram, if they have been tagged in a photo or video content, you can view that info from their profile page.
But users have the option to hide the posts they’ve been tagged in, if that’s the case, you can’t view the posts they’re tagged in.
In order to view the profiles that have tagged a user, you should visit their profile and locate the “human icon” at the top, and tap on it.
You’ll see a list of posts but you’ll notice that these photos and videos aren’t posted by the user, they’re from other profiles.
These are the photos the user has been tagged and you can see the list of tagged users by long-tapping on the photos using the app.
Tracking User Activities on Instagram
Instead of visiting their profile and then checking for the information available for public view, you can track their activities in a way that you will always get a notification once they’ve performed an action on Instagram.
All their interactions can be shown to you via notifications, this can be done by turning on the post notification feature.
This feature is however limited to sending notifications only when they upload a new post or story, you won’t receive notifications when they like or comment on another post.
There are tools out there that will help you monitor the activities of other accounts on Instagram, they’re mostly paid tools or services, but the investment isn’t much.
They’ll send you notifications for every interaction done by the user account you want to monitor including their posts, Stories, likes, and comments.
If you want to enable the post and story notification on Instagram for any user, you need to visit their profile page, tap on the “Three-dot” lines at the top right corner, you can see the option “Turn on post notifications” and “Turn on Story notifications” from the menu.
Once tapped, you can then turn on notifications for both posts and stories, after turning on the feature, you’ll receive notifications of new posts and stories on Instagram.
You must follow an account before you’re able to turn on the post notification feature on their profile page.
View Activity Status
Instagram allows users to view the last activity status, any user can decide to disable the feature so that their status is hidden. You can see when they’re online or the last time they log in to their Instagram account.
If they’re online you’ll be able to view the “green dot icon” beside their username and photo avatar, it shows they’re currently online and if you want to begin a chat you can do so.
Another way to check for activity status is by opening chat messages you have created, there has to be a message thread where they’ve sent you the last message.
Below their username and picture, you can see the last seen message which will be something like “Last seen; 20 minutes ago,” and so on.
These are some of the activities you can view on Instagram, but as mentioned you can use Instagram tools to monitor the activities of any profile, provided they have a public account and they haven’t blocked your account as well.
Let us know in the comments if you have more ideas to share when it comes to seeing the activity of someone you’re following on Instagram.
I have friends and family members that we follow each other on Instagram they can see my profile but for some reason I cannot see theirs when they have a private account my account is also private but yet they can see mine