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How to Watch Someone’s Instagram Story Without Them Knowing 2023

There are so many reasons why we may want to watch someone’s Instagram story but not have our little face popping up on their Seen list. We are not here to judge you, we are here to give you a couple of tools to let you know that you can actually watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing that you’ve seen it.

Keep in mind these tips only work with a public account. So if you have posted something and it is public, keep in mind that everyone can see that at some point. So we are only using these tips on accounts that have given permission for people to see their posts.

In this article, we will explain the different ways you can watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing. Also, we will cover different methods of how to unsee the story you accidentally viewed. Let’s get started.

Let’s start with the most simple way to watch someone’s Instagram story anonymously. The first option only works if it’s a photo or one Instagram story.

Option #1 Preview

  1. Press the story beforehand
  2. Press and hold your finger on the screen of the story
  3. Gently tip across between two stories (you will a cube that you need to turn)

Do not worry if you have an ad on the next story.  It does still work with an ad story. If you have an ad story next, tilt it almost all the way over (looks like a big cube).

So, as long as you do not tip over, you will not be seen having seen this story. People will not know you saw their Instagram story if you are not going all the way over. So this method has some cons – you cannot watch all the way through, you can just watch/  preview the first slide. Also, you will not be able to view videos.  Another problem is that it can be easy to accidentally swipe all the way — and get caught:)

To make sure it worked

Let it go and close your stories. See if that person’s story still has a ring around it meaning you have not seen that story.

 

Option #2 Skip through the stories quickly

The second way you can watch somebody’s story without them knowing is to skip through their stories quickly.  You can view their stories fully but you have to be quick in order to make it so that they can’t see that you have seen it.

 

Option#3 Use external websites or apps

There are a lot of third-party apps and websites that allow you to watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing. For most of them, you do not even need to log in.  Many of these sites aren’t particularly secure and some don’t even work. So it will be up to you if you want to use them.

If you are looking to use one, we would recommend StorySaver.net. This website enables its users to view Instagram stories anonymously. You can download any of your favorite stories straight from your device.  Note that, with Story Saver, you will no longer be bothered about losing some of your favorite content from your favorite influencers and bloggers after the complete twenty-four hours. Also, Story Saver is an app that is very easy to navigate.

How to use StorySaver.net

  • Go to StorySaver.net
  • Enter the username of the account you want to download the stories from
  • Press download
  • Confirm you are not a robot
  • Save the video or the photo

The story will be downloaded straight to your camera reel. This app works perfectly both for photo and video stories.

Another free web app to browse Instagram anonymously is StoriesIG. It allows its users to enjoy Instagram downloader tools to save the best stories and highlights to their phones or computers for free in high quality.  Enjoy the photos videos without guilt!

Option #4 Airplane Mode

You can watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing while Airplane mode is on. This works for all social media platforms. If you view a post or story with no Internet connection, you are not online so the network is not able to catch your activities. So being on airplane mode will achieve the same results because when you’re on airplane mode your Internet is automatically turned off.

In order to make this work, you need to make sure you’ve loaded all of the stories up before you put your device in Airplane mode.

  1. Pull up someone’s Instagram page
  2. Turn on Airplane mode
  3. Tap on the story and enjoy an anonymous view
  4. Close the Instagram app (do not miss this step before the next one!)
  5. Turn your phone off airplane mode

Note that if the account has a long  Instagram story or many slides, they likely won’t all preload, so you’ll only be able to see the first few.

Option #5 Use Secret Instagram Account (Finsta Account)

Finsta is a combination of two words: Fake and Instagram. It’s a private account. It is almost impossible to find unless you know what the username is. So, it’s secret and exclusive.

You can easily create a Finsta account with a different username and fake pictures to watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing. Note, the person’s account needs to be public (open for anyone). But if their account is private, then you’ll have to follow them and be accepted in order to view their Instagram stories anonymously.

How to create a second account?

  1. Log in to  an account in your Instagram app
  2. Go to your profile
  3. Tap on your username in the top left, and select “Add Account”
  4. At the bottom of Settings, tap “Add Account” 

 

To set your account private:

  • Go to Settings
  • Tap on Privacy
  • Turn on Private Account

Option #6 Check Their Story Highlights Later

How to Unsee Instagram Story?

Accidentally viewed someone’s story and do not want the owner to know? Good news! You can hide your view. You can do it either by blocking that person or deactivating your account.

How to block a user

  1. Open the Instagram app and go to the profile of the user whose story you viewed.
  2. Now, tap on the 3 dots at the top right and select Block.
  3. Confirm your decision by selecting Ok.

 

Blocking the owner of the story will remove your view of their story

4. Wait for 24 hours…or forever

Once you unblock that user your view will appear again in the story viewers list. To avoid this, keep the person blocked until the story you viewed expires. The maximum time you need to wait is 24 hours.

How to unblock someone?

  1. To unblock someone, go to your profile and tap on the Hamburger menu icon at the top right, and select Settings.
  2. Next, tap on Privacy and select Blocked Accounts
  3. Now, select that specific user and select Unblock. Confirm the same on the next pop-up box.
  4. Follow the user again if you still want to follow them.

Keep in mind that blocking someone will make them unfollow you (if they were following you earlier.) So you may lose a follower if they don’t follow you afterward.

How to disable your account

You can temporarily disable your account to hide your name from the list of people who viewed the story. When you deactivate your account your profile, photos, comments, and likes will be hidden until you reactivate it by logging back in. You can only disable your Instagram account from a computer or mobile browser. You will not be able to deactivate your profile in the Instagram app.

Note, your account needs to be disabled for at least 24 hours or for the period someone’s story is posted. If you try to log back in before their story has been deleted, then your profile will still be visible on the list of people who have viewed it. Once the story has been deleted, you can log into your Instagram account.

 

  1. Log in to instagram.com from a computer or mobile browser
  2. Click your profile picture in the top right and click Profile
  3.  Tap Edit Profile
  4.  Scroll down and click Temporarily disable my account in the bottom right
  5. Select a reason for disabling your account from the menu and re-enter your password
  6. Click Temporarily Disable Account.