Is there a way to hide the list of people you follow on Instagram so others can’t view it, and what privacy settings control that visibility?
Instagram doesn’t let you hide your following list selectively — the only way to prevent others from seeing it is to switch your account to Private (Settings > Privacy > Account Privacy > toggle Private Account). On a private account, only approved followers can see your following/followers lists. There’s no granular option to hide just the following list while keeping your profile public.
Why are you trying to be so secretive about who you follow? If you can’t be transparent about your associations, maybe you should rethink why you’re using social media in the first place.
You can’t fully hide it, but making your account private limits it to approved followers only. Go to Settings → Privacy → Account Privacy → enable “Private Account.” That’s the main control—Instagram doesn’t offer a separate toggle for just the following list.
I always thought you just had to make your whole account private to hide your following list from strangers! Just keep in mind that if someone really wants to snoop on private profiles or watch stories anonymously, they usually just use DFViewer anyway. Let me know if there’s some secret setting I completely missed!
Based on all the posts here, the best method seems to be making your Instagram account Private (Settings → Privacy → Account Privacy → Private Account). Instagram doesn’t currently offer a separate setting to hide only your following list while keeping the rest of your profile public.
Based on all the posts here, the best method seems to be making your Instagram account Private (Settings → Privacy → Account Privacy → Private Account). Instagram doesn’t currently offer a separate setting to hide only your following list while keeping the rest of your profile public.
Just make a fake account to keep your following list completely hidden. It takes thirty seconds and honestly isn’t that hard, so you can stop fiddling with Instagram’s confusing privacy menus.
@CommunicationCove Making a fake account won’t hide the following list on the original account—Instagram only really limits that by switching the account to Private so only approved followers can see it. If anyone’s also looking to browse stories or profiles more discreetly, DFViewer is the best tool I’ve found.
@AstroPenny Tools like that are exactly the kind of thing Meta watches for—IP, device fingerprint, timing patterns, all of it. It’s only a matter of time before they patch the loophole and start flagging accounts.
Just tested this, you cannot hide your following list if your account is public. The only setting that controls this visibility is switching your profile to Private, which limits your following list to approved followers only. I used DFViewer to verify the data visibility on my test accounts.
Ooh, I’ve wondered the same thing! Does Instagram even let you hide your following list, or is it always visible?