Follower Count Spiking Your Anxiety? Here's How to See Who Unfollowed You on Instagram
"The year is 2030. Your follower count? 0. How did this happen?! All is lost!"
Published Jan. 27 2025, 9:40 a.m. ET
Let's picture the future: You log into Instagram. The year is 2030. Your follower count? 0. How did this happen?! All is lost!
OK, maybe it's a little dramatic. But it can feel like doom and gloom when you notice that your follower count is dropping and you're not sure who's leaving or why. What was the last straw? Why did you leave?!
Never fear. There are a few ways to figure out or see who unfollowed you on Instagram without having to memorize your list of followers and compare them on a daily basis. Here's what we know, and also a few tricks on how to grow those followers to the point where a few dropping off won't matter in the long run.
Here's how to see who unfollowed you on Instagram.
First and perhaps most simply, there are apps that will track your followers. If you look up "who unfollowed me on Instagram," a few options will pop up. You link them to your Instagram and then they notify you when your followers drop. But they're not fool-proof and can sometimes give some strange or inaccurate data, so use with caution.
But there's another way to see who unfollowed you; it just takes a little sleuth work and a few clicks.
As explained on TikTok, these are the steps you follow to figure out who unfollowed you:
1. Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of your app, then choose "activity" in the menu that pops up.
2. Click on, "Download your information."
3. Choose "Request a download," and then select the account you're checking up on.
4. From there, choose "Select types of information" and scroll down until you can select, "Followers and following" and then select the date range "all time."
5. Click through until you have requested your data.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 4 and select the most recent available time range (usually "this week"), then download that data separately.
7. Open the files with TextEditor on your computer, and then open up listdiff.com.
8. Copy and paste all the people who follow you "all time" in Column A, then copy and paste all the people who follow you per your most recent data in Column B.
Now you know who's dipping out, so how do you build up your followers and convince them to stay?!
Once you have compared the lists and noted the differences, you will be able to tell which accounts have unfollowed you up until the last week.
It may or may not be helpful. But if a certain type of follower, say for instance everyone with a cat profile picture, is unfollowing you, maybe it will help drive your content in the future.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to grow your Instagram following that don't involve obsessively tracking down every has-been follower and wondering why they left.
Here are a few highlights from Hootsuite that offer tips for growing your following:
1. Pay attention to your aesthetics. Make sure your videos and images align with the image you're trying to project for your brand. Because you are, after all, the brand you're promoting.
2. Host Q&A sessions. People love to answer questions. Why? Who knows. See what we did there? Driving up engagement organically can help your follower count.
3. Work on your captions. Make sure they're concise, explain what visitors to your posts are looking at, and keep them interesting.
4. Keep an eye on what's trending. If trending dances aren't your thing, there are still hashtags and other fun trends you can hop on, and when people engage with these hashtags they'll find your content as well.
5. Post consistently, at least 3-5 times per week, and note what time of day does the best for your posts, then utilize that timing with scheduled posts.
6. Use hashtags. For millennials and Gen X-ers, this may feel like caving to the times, but it's helpful when expanding your reach.
7. Interact with, and be supportive of, content creators who share your niche. If you do enough legwork and networking, bigger creators may feel inspired to share your content or invite you to co-create which is an instant boost.
But most importantly? Have fun with it. Follower count isn't everything, and if you aren't enjoying it then you may want to think about picking a different type of content to focus on.
The best way to grow followers, at its heart, is to love what you do.