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When trying to keep up with all your friends, Instagram Stories are a great source of information about their lives. Stories can give yousnippets of your friend’s days, showing you know what they’ve been up to, and allowing you to quickly respond and start a conversation. However, sometimes you’d like to check on someone and keep that to yourself.
Normally, everyone viewing Instagram Stories shows up on a list of viewers – but can you avoid that? The short answer is yes. But before you start screenshotting away (and giving yourself away), keep reading on exactly how to do so.
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Can you anonymously view Instagram Stories?
What you need to know
Natively, Instagram does not allow you to view stories anonymously, even with some kind ofIncognito Mode. Given the platform values engagement, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. That’s why the app even features quick reactions to stories and shows you who views them in the first place. Normally, once you play a story, it is instantly registered as a view, and you appear in the list of people who view that piece of content. There is no way to hide your username and no way to wipe your name from the viewed list.
Sometimes, you’d really like to view someone’s content without them realizing it. Maybe you’re trying to get over your ex but want to see their latest story without giving them the satisfaction, or just need to do a little bit of snooping on your crush - we’ve all been there. Fortunately, there are some ways of going through Instagram Stories without showing up as a viewer. They are a bit inconvenient and do not let you see much, but if you absolutely need to check a story out, they will surely scratch that itch.
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Can you view Instagram stories without an Instagram account?
TL;DR: No.
First, you could quickly come to the conclusion that you might check that story out anonymously by just logging out of your account, or browsing Instagram in an anonymous window in your browser. Unfortunately for your sneaky needs, that’s not possible. Instagram only allows logged-in accounts to open Instagram Stories, which does make sense.
This is done to protect your privacy, so your content is only accessible to validated accounts.
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How to view Instagram Stories anonymously
As you can see, there is no native way to turn on some kind of incognito mode and check out people’s Insta Stories. However, if you need to see a post without the other side realizing you did, there are some tricks you can pull off to do so. Here are two of the best ways to do it, plus one that we wouldn’t recommend at all.
Option 1: View adjacent stories without registering them
Probably the easiest way to check out a story without registering as a viewer is to check them out from adjacent stories. The Stories bar at the top of the main page is your best friend here. When you open one of them, after you see every story posted by one person, it scrolls to another person’s stories. you may use that to check out the next post without registering as a viewer.
This method, however, only works on your mobile device, so you risk exposing your stalker status if you try this way on your PC.
It’s a neat trick that has some limitations. You will only be able to see the oldest story, as there is no way to swipe further, and you will not see any videos 0- just a still picture. However, if you just need a quick glance at what someone is posting, this is our method of choice.
Option 2: Create another Instagram account
Option 3 (but we don’t recommend): Using a third-party site
There is one more alternative, but it’s one thatwe do not recommend, so we’ll just quickly mention it.
There are some third-party apps that claim you can browse stories anonymously while using them. These should work, however they often require access to your account or might be dodgy in some other way. Just to be safe and to make sure your account and other details are secure, we strongly advise against using such sites.
Pocket-lint nor its staff recommend using these methods for anything other than playful curiosity. We believe it is important for online users to remain respectful and kind online.
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Q: Can you view Instagram Stories from a private account?
Private accounts are for those who want to keep their Instagram profiles under the radar. If you want tokeep things more personal, or just don’t like the attention of random people that start following other accounts, that’s a great way to go. On the other hand, if you want to check someone out on Insta and their profile is set to private, you might be in a bit of a pickle.
Private accounts lock their posts behind a mandatory validation from the profile owner, but their stories are also protected in the same way. There’s no way to check them out other than getting acceptance from the user first, so you cannot really do that anonymously. It would go against the idea of private profiles, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Q: Will someone know if you screenshot their Instagram story?
No. Instagram, unlike Snapchat or FaceTime video, does not (yet, at least) notify users when a screenshot has been taken.
