How To See A Private Instagram [Complete Guide] 2023

Do you know How To See A Private Instagram account? As social media becomes more and more important in our daily lives, platform creators have realized the essential nature of security to maintain the users’ trust that the system will not sell their information or share their information publicly when they don’t want to.

One of the most popular platforms, Instagram, developed a complete set of policy considerations in its software to keep information away from unwanted visitors.

Whether you’re trying to hide your photo collection from exes, future employers, or any other exciting look you want to hide, it’s wise to keep your social media accounts set to private, including your Instagram. With a private profile, your Instagram page will not be visible to the public and only those who you have approved to follow you will be able to see your posts and stories.

You will need to approve followers one by one, which will help you manage who can see your content and who can’t see it. Although Instagram is quite a social platform that encourages public sharing, it is not as public as a network like Twitter, which primarily runs Public posts and engagements. Unless you’re a celebrity, or maybe you’re a promising YouTuber, there’s no reason not to block your Instagram account if you have security or privacy concerns.

But what if you want to see a private Instagram account? If you want to see the posts of someone who has set their Instagram account to private, how do you go about doing this? Is it even possible?

Or do you want to make sure that no one is viewing your account without your knowledge? None of these questions has easy answers, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be solved without a bit of effort. Let’s take a look at how to make your Instagram profile private and how to view personal Instagram accounts secretly, as well as make sure no one sees your account information.

How to make your Instagram account private

We’ve all been told repeatedly: make sure your social accounts are locked and private or at least try to keep them safe from any information and images that you don’t want the public to see. From getting a job to making sure your current employer doesn’t see something, it’s essential to make sure your account is private or secure.

But if you’re new to Instagram, or it’s been a while since you created your account, you may be unsure about how to change your account privacy settings to protect your information. Let’s take a look at how to make your Instagram account private. We’ll use the iOS version of the app in our screenshots below, but the Android version is very similar to the Apple version of the app.

Start by opening the app from your home screen (iOS) or your app drawer (Android). The app will open on the Instagram homepage, showing a collection of posts and shares from friends who come after you. At the bottom of the app, you’ll find five icons for adding photos, viewing posts, and more.

Tap the profile icon at the bottom of the tab. On iOS, it displays your profile picture taken from Instagram. On Android, it’s a primary profile icon showing a person. It will also load your profile with some additional options.

From this screen, you will see some icons at the top of the screen. On iOS, look for the gear icon in the upper right corner. It will load automatically in your settings. With three-dot menu buttons in the upper right corner of the screen, Android’s design is a bit different. Unlike other Android apps, it will also load directly into Instagram’s options menu instead of a small list of settings.

Once you’ve entered the Instagram settings menu, you’ll see a long list of options. You can add your Facebook friends and contacts, invite Facebook friends who are not yet on Instagram, and check your account settings. Here you will find two-factor authentication, the ability to hide your Instagram story, and the option to block users.

But the most important option here is “Private Account,” which you will find under Account Setup Options on this page before the traditional setup menu starts. Instagram has warned under this change that only with your approval can people view your photos and videos, noting that your current followers will not be affected by this change. If you are trying to get rid of a specific user who is already following you, you need to stop them.

When you are ready to make your Instagram account private, enable this option. After this, Instagram will alert you about new people who request to follow you. Keep in mind that your existing followers will not be affected by this change and those who already follow your account will continue to do so – and thus be able to see all your posts and Stories.

Confirm your choice, and Viola – now your account is private. If you want to make your account public one or more times at any time, follow the steps above and disable the switch for personal accounts. You will receive another confirmation message, and that’s it. You can do it as many times as you want without any harm. Remember that any posts you share will be made public as soon as this account is private.

Can I view a private Instagram account?

Technically no. The purpose of a private Instagram account is so that no other people than those who follow that account can see the posts from that account. However,  there are several workarounds and ways to view a private Instagram account.

• Legitimate method: Ask the person with the private account to accept your friendship request.
• Username / Real Name Search – This is if you want to get information about them without requesting access to your Instagram account.
• Use third-party apps – we do not recommend this method. None of them work now, and they all appear to be linked to various schemes or scams.
• Pretend to be someone you are not – read on for tips on this procedure.

Below is a detailed description of how to use each method to your advantage.

Steps on How to see a private Instagram account

Legitimate method

If you want to see a private Instagram account, the easiest and most legitimate way is to request to follow this person. Usually, even a person with a private account will approve people they know, so if they know or don’t know someone, you have to ask that person to accept your request to follow them. If the request is approved, you’ll start following them and will be able to see all their posts. When the other person accepts it, you can view that person’s profile.

This is the easiest way to access and view someone’s private Instagram account, no matter who they are. This is also the way that Instagram private profiles are intended to work. Unfortunately, however, it’s up to you, as an Instagram user, to have a pre-existing relationship with the person you’re trying to add to Instagram. Some are pickier than others when they decide who to accept and who to not accept.

So if you’re trying to add someone you don’t even know, like a celebrity or a friend of a friend, the easiest way to reach them is via a private message on Instagram. Sending a direct message to the user or the DM will let you know who is requesting the user to follow. The best way to do this is to tell the requested user who you are, a bit of yourself, and why you want to follow them on Instagram.

Again, much of it is based on a pre-existing relationship with that person. If you don’t have a relationship with them, you will have to rely on your social skills to talk to the user you want to follow. Many Instagram users will welcome new friends since they can block or delete you if it becomes problematic. Just remember what you post and what this person posted. If you don’t know them and talk to them frequently even after your application has been approved, you run the risk of removing or blocking them.

Try to find your username and real name

Log in to Instagram and find the person you want to research online. Once you’ve found the account, there’s no doubt behind the wall of privacy. You will see your target username. Highlight this name and copy it to your device’s clipboard because we’re going to use that name in a moment.

Now, open Google Images or the search engine based on the image of your choice and paste the name of your target person in the search box. What we’re going to do here is simple: somewhere on the web, chances are the person you’re looking for left a trail on the Internet before enabling privacy protection on Instagram.

Photos posted on Instagram are often shared elsewhere, making it easier to find your target photos using the Instagram ID against them. If you had different photo accounts on Flickr or other similar photo-sharing sites, you could retrieve some of this information in your search. This is true if the person has multiple social media accounts where some of which are not private.

You can follow a similar strategy using unknown real names. If you’re looking for some extra photos of a particular person on Instagram, use their username to find pictures of them posted on other social media platforms. This is an easy way to ignore Instagram’s privacy protections, even if it’s just a temporary fix.

Use Instagram viewing sites

Google ways to view private Instagram profiles, and you’ll find endless results for solutions and guides, including this one! But it will also point you to several websites that are dubious that promote the ability to view private profiles in just a few simple steps. Some of them include sites like “WatchInsta,” “InstaSpy,” and “Private Instaviewer.”

They all seem to promise the same general idea: they allow you to access private Instagram accounts. However, this is not the case. Today, there are no apps that allow you to access private Instagram accounts without following them.

Some of them even promise to remain anonymous or have chat rooms where you can discuss the request with other users.

We do not recommend using these sites. The fact is, these services will often just take your money without giving you the promised results.

 Despite the promise of “free” results, they often call for a survey or sweep that requires a credit card or other form of payment. Moreover, they may even hack your account.

Please stay away from these sites; They are nothing but worries in your account.

If you’ve tried to add someone to Instagram with a friendly message and still can’t access their account, there’s always an option left, although it’s hard to recommend it to users. : Fake accounts. We will see.

Rules

It is important to note that fake accounts violate Instagram’s Terms of Service. There are no additional legitimate (i.e., correctly identified) accounts. In particular, Instagram considers identity theft (using someone else’s real name and imitating their service) a severe violation and will go after the imitators. Some people create fake accounts to look like someone to get a person with a private Instagram account to accept their follow request.

If you choose to create a fake Instagram account, here are some ways to gain more acceptance from a private Instagram account holder.

• Select a female profile photo for your fake account. It is presented as more friendly and secure. The choice to use female identities on Instagram makes the performance feel less predatory than the male account, although this can cause problems on its own.
• Add real photos to your fake Instagram account. You can also use your fake Instagram ID to create a private account.
• If the private Instagram account you want to follow doesn’t approve your request to follow them, then you can send a DM to that person. Make it clear that you would like to follow them on Instagram and for your reasons. Theoretically, you can do this in or out of character.

Less than legitimate ways

There are many different ways to access a private Instagram profile, using social engineering and fraud techniques.

We do not wholeheartedly recommend these methods. These are immoral in most cases and potentially illegal in others, but it depends more on the intention. There are some advantages, but if you claim someone else online, it is fraudulent.

The Slow way

The easiest way to access a private profile you have been personally denied is to create a new email address, a new Instagram profile with a fake name, and personalize that account. Send a follow request to that person. Instagram spammers regularly use this technique, circling realistic name generators for hours and naming everyone in their fictitious empires. Each device (smartphone or tablet) can have up to five separate accounts.

Once you have a new account (you’ll need your unique email address, but Google Mail makes it easy), send the request to the private account you want to track ۔ You can send a DM to them first.

The Trojan horse

Trojan Horse takes the same basic idea but goes to the trouble of creating a fake profile that the owner of a private Instagram account finds “okay” to have as a follower. For example, a famous gaming streamer had a personal Instagram account where he only shared elite secrets of a particular game.

If you or I try to access this group from our Instagram account (username “Grandma Bakes Cookies”), some doubts may arise from the owner of the private account. Instead, you want to create a fake account that, after all, looks very real. We will upload lots of skillful videos and Instagram posts for our gaming account, lamenting or praising certain events in the world of game design.

By investing a little more time and energy in forgery, creating a line of letters and pictures, complete with a comment section, we get a stronger impression of being a natural person who was not cheated.

The Doppelganger

A doppelganger means creating an account to look like someone they know. The owner of the private account now accepts and approves without thinking about what kind of Instagram account it is and whether or not it actually is their friend.

The answer is, accounts that he has already authorized but will reappear in the approval queue. People stop following and request to follow all the time. It may be a little annoying to see your friend John’s account and ask him to come back, but he will gladly accept it.

Direct Message

Straightforward, not even Instagram keeps things safe. But Instagram isn’t the only place where your account personality exists. This private Instagram account has a parallel life on Facebook. It can also be on Tik Tok, Pinterest, Etc, and the list go on. So here’s the plan: Discover other social media platforms where your target account has a presence.

Find their social media accounts on other platforms. Chances are, their account will not be private on all of their social media accounts.

Hardly anyone has strict privacy arrangements. Once you’ve found a social media account that they have not set to private. Look at their content and find out what they are doing. Who likes every post and comments on every thread? Get these names and usernames because the chances are that these people also follow them on Instagram.

Now create one or two profiles for these individuals. You won’t use the same username, but you can use accents, substituting 0 for 0, and more. You can also take some photos from other social media sites to use as your avatar. Instead of Bill Okishoot, you create Bill 0Kikot with the same avatar icon.

The owner of the private Instagram account will likely believe that it is the person they think it is, whilst in fact, it is not. Please note that this is a serious violation of the rules, and you may lose complete access to your Instagram account. Copying and duplicating someone’s account is prohibited.

In many cases where someone does not use their real name for their username, it becomes impossible for them to claim a copy, and they can copy with an exception. Once approved to follow a private Instagram account, you can avoid this problem by renaming your Instagram (and changing your avatar photos). Bill 0 Kishoot disappears, and Larry_Kinner takes his place, which no one will be able to notice.

Doppelganger, done correctly, will almost certainly take you to the private account you need to access.

The only legitimate way to view an Instagram account’s private profile is to follow the person from your actual account. Once a confidential Instagram user approves your request to follow them, you will be able to view, like, and comment on their Instagram posts. You can also send a private message to the account holder explaining why you would like to follow it. Or you can do both, making sure the user knows exactly who you are and why they want to see your profile.

Suppose you’re looking for unethical (and potentially illegal) ways to view someone’s private Instagram account. In that case, you can always try to create a fake profile and persuade the user to follow you. We strongly advise users not to do so as this is a severe breach of trust with another user, and fake accounts are often found while browsing content.

In general, the best course of action is to reach out to the user you want to follow. They may accept you if there is a connection or friendship. Instagram is a very positive community of photographers and users sharing their social experiences online.

Private is not always private – with a few clicks, Instagram posts are visible to everyone

Not all photos and videos are meant to be permanently posted to Instagram – after all, who wants to see the pictures from the last night of drinking on the web forever? So it makes sense to only share them in an Insta story or not to post the photos publicly, but only to make them visible to friends and followers. But this is exactly where the problem lies.

Because according to “BuzzFeed”, followers of an account that has been set to private can simply use a web browser to search the source text for the URLs – i.e. the addresses – of certain photos and video clips. If the corresponding source codes are then copied out, they can be sent to anyone you want without hindrance. Also to people who do not follow the private account, who do not even have an Instagram or Facebook account themselves.

This is possible because photos, stories, and videos are nothing more than files on the social network server. It makes no difference whether you have only made the content visible to subscribers and friends. Once the link to these files is known and in circulation, you no longer have control over who sees, stores, and redistributes the private content. These clicks only last a few seconds, but your follower must at least be familiar with the browser’s developer tools that they use to open Instagram and other social media platforms.

Uncomfortable – but not a new security problem

Strictly speaking, however, this is not a real security gap. After all, only those people who you have already granted access to your private content can get the link. Your friends and followers are therefore able to record your screen with a tool without “hacking” and thus save and distribute your private uploads. This was also explained by the company Facebook, to which Instagram also belongs when asked by “BuzzFeed”: “The procedure described is the same as taking a screenshot of a friend’s photo on Facebook and Instagram and sharing it with other people. Third parties do not gain access to an individual’s personal account.”

How can users deal with the problem?

The best protection against the distribution of private content is to think about who you are sharing which content with before publishing it. You should also regularly check whether the people who have access to private content really deserve this position. Because even if this is not an actual security gap and hackers would only smile wearily at this “trick”, you should be clear about what content you are sharing on the Internet – because social networks are not exactly known for handling user data sensitively.

Conclusion

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