Can you see who views your Instagram Story?

Content Marketer and Writer
Updated 05 July, 2023
Julia Moore
Content Marketer and Writer
Users add posts and Stories to their Instagram profiles not always for fun. Sometimes they want to share interesting moments and discoveries with their subscribers, or know their opinion on a subject. Of course, users want to be aware whether their relatives and friends watch their content, and whether there is a stalker keeping incognito. You can see who views your Instagram Story using the list of viewers. There you’ll get answers to all the questions above.
Reading time — 4 minutes

How can you see who viewed your Instagram Stories?

You can see who viewed your Instagram Stories, who reacted, and many more. The network tells you about almost every interaction with your content. Probably, the only exception is that they can screenshot your IG Stories without you knowing.

When you open one of your Instagram Stories, you can see who viewed it. There is a list of viewers and the Insights tab. If 24 hours since it was published haven’t passed, you can look at this information from your profile page. 

To see the list of the viewers: 

  1. Open a Story.
  2. Tap the users icons.
  3. Switch to the tab with an eye icon.

There you see a list of people who viewed your Stories on Instagram. By tapping a profile photo, you can get to the viewer’s page.

If you can’t see the tab with the list of the viewers, it means no one has watched your Story yet. You can tag a user on your Instagram Story to get them watch it. 

Can you see who watched your IG Stories if you use a computer?

You can get the list of the people who look at your Instagram Story if you use a computer. But there is no Insights' tab, there are only usernames. 

Here is how you can see who viewed your Insta Stories:

  1. Open a Story
  2. Tap the users’ icons.

How can you see who watched your IG Stories after they disappear?

You can tell who viewed your Instagram Story even if it has disappeared from your profile page. The list of viewers is available in your account for 48 hours since the content was published.

Stories go to Instagram Archive automatically after 24 hours since they were posted. Go there when the photo or video has disappeared from your profile to see the list of viewers. Note that you won’t find Stories that you deleted manually there. 

Here is how you can see the list of viewers in Instagram Archive: 

  1. Open account settings
  2. Choose Archive
  3. Tap the menu.
  4. Choose Stories Archive
  5. Tap a Story
  6. Tap the list of viewers.
  7. Switch to the tab with an eye icon.

If there is no Story you need, check your Archive settings. 

IG Stories Archive settings

Instagram Stories go to the archive only if you haven’t changed the default settings. Check whether the feature works, and turn it on if it doesn’t. 

  1. Open your account settings
  2. Choose Settings
  3. Open Privacy
  4. Go to Story
  5. Tap the button near Save Stories to Archive if it’s gray. If it’s blue, the feature is turned on. 

Watching Instagram Stories anonymously

If your profile is public, people can view your Instagram Stories anonymously, you will never know who they are.

Instagram Stories stalkers do it using online Instagram savers or viewers. People don’t have to authorize their IG accounts on such websites. So you will never know who saw your Instagram Story. Their username won't appear on the viewers list.

If you don’t want Instagram stalkers to watch your profile anonymously, make it private. Unfortunately, it will also disallow users to see your posts, Reels, IGTV if they are not following you. 

The bottom line

Now you know how to see who viewed your Instagram Story even when it disappears from your profile page. Open the list of viewers of a Story in the app or on the website using a computer. Go to the Archive to see the views of a disappeared Story, it’s available only in the app. 

If you can't see who watched your Instagram Story, nobody has viewed it yet. If you can't find a Story in Archive, check the auto-save settings.