Key takeaways
Short answer: Instagram no longer shows a feed of who someone recently followed — it removed the “Following” activity tab in October 2019. But for public accounts you can still uncover recent follows by tracking their following list over time and watching for new names.
Until 2019, Instagram had a “Following” tab inside the notifications screen that showed what people you follow were up to — including who they had just followed and what they liked. Instagram removed it because most users did not know the activity was public, and it created privacy and “surveillance” concerns.
Since then, there is no button anywhere in the app that says “recent follows.” The information is not gone, though — it is just not served up for you.
For any public account, the following list is visible to everyone. Open a profile, tap “Following,” and you see every account they follow. Two caveats:
This works, but comparing hundreds or thousands of accounts by hand is slow and error-prone, especially for active users who follow new people often.
Instead of manual snapshots, a tracker does the diffing for you.
Catchr automates all of this: it snapshots the lists you care about, checks them on a schedule, and sends you a notification the moment something changes — no password required for public accounts.
While you’re at it, you can also see who unfollowed an account or find who doesn’t follow you back using the same snapshot-and-compare approach.
Looking at a public account’s following list is completely normal — that data is public, and viewing it is anonymous. The account owner is not notified. The only thing to avoid is any third-party service that asks you to log in with the target person’s credentials; that violates Instagram’s terms and puts accounts at risk.
Not through a native feed — Instagram removed the following-activity tab in October 2019. For public accounts you can infer recent follows by comparing their following list over time, which tracking apps automate.
No. Viewing a public account’s following or followers list is anonymous and does not notify the account owner.
Only if the account has approved you as a follower. Private accounts hide their following list from everyone else.
Reputable trackers only read publicly available data for public accounts and never ask for the target’s password. Avoid any app that requests login credentials for someone else’s account.
Fake and bot accounts tend to share a specific combination: little or no post history, a following count far higher than followers, a generic or stolen profile photo, and comments that feel copy-pasted rather than specific.
Sudden follower drops are almost always caused by Meta purging fake or inactive accounts, a batch of real people unfollowing at once, or accounts getting deactivated or removed — not a mysterious shadowban reducing your follower count.
Business and creator accounts get built-in growth charts through Instagram Insights, while personal accounts need manual counts or a third-party tracker since Instagram doesn't show historical follower data to regular profiles.
