How to Hide Your Following List on Instagram Without Private Account

Summary:

Want to know how to hide your following list on Instagram without making your account private? You’re not alone. Many users crave more privacy but don’t want to limit their reach by switching to a private profile. This guide explores clever settings, restrictions, and workarounds to help you stay visible while protecting your connections. We’ll also explore Instagram’s privacy limitations and what you can realistically do to control who sees your activity.

Why People Want to Hide Their Following List

Social media today is all about control. You want to share what you choose—and hide what you don’t. On Instagram, one of the most common privacy concerns is your following list. Whether you’re a creator, influencer, or just a private individual, you might not want everyone knowing who you follow. Maybe it’s for professional reasons. Maybe it’s personal. Whatever your reason, it’s valid.

Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t currently allow users to hide their following list without switching to a private account. But that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. There are strategic ways to limit who can see your following list while keeping your profile public.

Understanding Instagram’s Privacy Model

Before diving into solutions, it’s helpful to understand how Instagram works:

• Public accounts: Anyone can see your posts, stories, and following/follower lists.
• Private accounts: Only approved followers can see any content, including your following list.
• No built-in toggle: Instagram doesn’t offer a specific option to hide your following list from everyone unless you go private.

This means you need to get creative if you want to stay public and maintain control over your social graph.

Method 1: Restrict Specific Users

One of the most effective ways to limit visibility of your following list is to restrict users who you don’t want snooping.

How to Restrict Someone:

1. Go to their profile
2. Tap the three-dot menu (⋮)
3. Select Restrict
4. Instagram will now limit their ability to see your interactions and activity

While this doesn’t technically hide your following list, it limits their engagement and what they can see. Restricted users won’t know they’ve been restricted.

Tip: This method is great if there are only a few people you’re trying to hide from.

Method 2: Block and Unblock Tactic

If there’s someone you absolutely don’t want viewing your following list, the block-unblock method is very effective.

How It Works:

1. Block the person: They can no longer view your profile, including your following list.
2. Unblock them (optional): If you unblock, they’ll no longer follow you, and you’ll have to approve them again if your account is private.

With a public account, blocking is temporary, but they won’t be able to see your profile unless they visit from another account.

Best For: People trying to hide from one or two snoopers, stalkers, or exes.

Method 3: Remove Followers (Yes, Even on Public)

Did you know that you can remove followers from a public account? This gives you more control over who sees your content, including your following list.

How to Remove Followers:

1. Go to your followers list
2. Tap “Remove” next to the follower’s name

This way, they’ll no longer see your following list unless they search manually or use another account.

Note: They won’t be notified.

Method 4: Use Close Friends for Posts and Stories

While this doesn’t affect your following list directly, using Close Friends gives you selective control over who sees what. This way, even if someone sees your following list, they won’t have context about your interactions.

Why This Helps:

• Avoid exposing who you frequently interact with
• Maintain a public profile for discoverability
• Add a sense of mystery to your content habits

While this won’t hide your following list, it reduces the implications of it by keeping interactions private.

Method 5: Create a Second Instagram Account

This is the ultimate workaround. Many users maintain a dual-account setup:

• Main account: Public, curated, professional
• Private account: Used for real connections, less public-facing

You can follow whoever you want on the second account without worrying about your audience snooping around. It’s common practice among influencers, marketers, and content creators.

Pros:

• Clean separation between personal and public
• Control over who sees your real following

Cons:

• Requires managing two accounts
• Might be inconvenient if you want to post regularly from both

Method 6: Keep Follower-Following Ratio Balanced

Want to avoid scrutiny over your following list altogether? One subtle tactic is to keep your follower-following ratio relatively balanced. People are less likely to dig through your following list if there’s nothing unusual about it.

This is more of a psychological workaround than a technical one, but it’s proven to work.

Method 7: Hide Activity Status

Another way to limit visibility into your Instagram behavior is by turning off your Activity Status.

Here’s how:

1. Go to your profile
2. Tap Menu > Settings > Privacy
3. Tap “Activity Status”
4. Toggle off Show Activity Status

This reduces the visibility of your interactions, including DMs and when you were last online. It doesn’t hide your following list, but it makes your account feel more private.

Method 8: Use Third-Party Browsers Strategically

This one’s a bit sneaky. Instagram’s mobile and desktop apps often make it easy to view someone’s following list. But some third-party web browsers or apps may present limited views of profiles, especially if the account has minimal engagement or visibility settings in place.

Warning: Be cautious with third-party apps. Never give them your login credentials unless they are trusted.

What You Can’t Do on a Public Instagram

It’s just as important to know what you can’t do if you want to manage expectations:

• You cannot completely hide your following list without making your account private
• You can’t hide specific followers or following from individual users selectively (unless you block/restrict)
• You can’t hide likes or comments from the people you follow unless you remove/block them

Instagram’s design is intentionally transparent in this area, likely to encourage openness and engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make my following list visible only to me?
No. Instagram does not offer a setting to make your following list visible only to yourself unless you set your account to private.

If I switch to private and back to public, will my followers change?
No, but your following list will become visible again to anyone who visits your profile when you’re public.

Can I use Instagram Business or Creator account to hide followers?
No. These account types do not offer any additional privacy settings for your following list.

Can third-party tools help me hide my following list?
Not reliably—and many violate Instagram’s terms. Be careful with what permissions you grant.

Best Practices for Instagram Privacy

Here’s a quick checklist for staying private without going private:

• ✅ Restrict suspicious or nosy users
• ✅ Remove followers who don’t engage
• ✅ Block snoopers when needed
• ✅ Use Close Friends and Stories wisely
• ✅ Turn off activity status
• ✅ Consider a second, private account
• ✅ Keep interactions discreet

Final Thoughts

Learning how to hide your following list on Instagram without private account settings isn’t as straightforward as flipping a switch. Instagram’s current setup doesn’t allow full privacy in this area unless you go private—but that doesn’t mean you’re stuck. With smart restrictions, the block/unblock tactic, follower management, and a solid content strategy, you can keep prying eyes away while staying public.

The platform may evolve, and future updates could offer more nuanced privacy settings. But until then, these methods will give you more control over your Instagram experience—without sacrificing visibility or engagement.

If you want true privacy, consider whether a private second account or switching your main one to private is ultimately the best fit for your goals.