Trying to keep your Instagram following list a little more private without making your whole account private? You’re not alone. If you’ve ever wondered how can you hide followers on Instagram, the truth is — there’s no direct setting for it on public profiles. But don’t worry! There are a few simple workarounds that can help you hide Instagram following list from people you’d rather not share it with — and no, you don’t need to switch to private.
Here are a few quick tricks to help limit who sees your connections:
- Switch to a professional or creator account for more control
- Restrict or block users to limit what they can view
- Adjust story and activity settings to manage visibility
- Use tools like Peekviewer to discreetly browse without being seen
These steps won’t completely hide your following list, but they can give you more control over who sees it. Let’s break down how each option works.
Why Users Want to Hide Instagram Following List
Looking for ways how can you hide followers on Instagram? Lots of people want to control who can see their following list for a few reasons:
- Avoid unwanted attention: Whether it’s an ex, a curious acquaintance, or a competitor, keeping your info private helps you avoid drama.
- Keep things low-key: Sometimes showing who you follow can spark gossip or jealousy, especially if you share friends or connections.
- Protect your strategy: Influencers and businesses often like to keep their followers and networking moves under wraps to stay ahead.
How to Make Your Following Private on Instagram
If you want to know how to make your following private on Instagram, the simplest way is to switch your account to private. This means only the people you approve can see your posts and who you follow, giving you much more control over your privacy.
How to Do It:
- Open the Instagram app.
- Go to your profile.
- Tap the three lines in the top-right corner.
- Go to Settings and privacy, then Account privacy.
- Turn on the Private account option.
- Only your approved followers can see your posts and who you follow. If you’re learning how can you hide followers on Instagram, this is one of the best options
- You get way more privacy and control over who views your content.
- It’s a good choice if you want to keep things more personal or avoid unwanted attention.
- Your posts won’t show up publicly in Explore or hashtag searches for people who don’t follow you.
- People can’t check out your profile unless you approve them first, which might slow down new followers.
- So, if you’re asking, can you hide who you follow on Instagram, going private helps—but keep in mind it can also make growing a brand, business, or audience a bit harder.
How to Hide Your Following List on Instagram Without Private Account
Thinking about how to hide accounts you follow on Instagram without switching to a private account? Even though Instagram doesn’t offer a direct setting, there are still some smart ways to keep your following list more private.
Keep an eye on who you follow and who follows you
Check your followers regularly and quietly remove anyone you don’t want around anymore. Using the “Remove Follower” option is a simple way to manage your list—great advice for how to hide some followers on Instagram.
Control tagged photos
Go to Settings > Privacy > Posts > Tagged Posts and turn on manual approval. This way, you can stop people from linking you to others through tagged photos.
Be careful with comments and likes
To know how to hide people you follow on Instagram, try to limit your interactions with those accounts. Liking and commenting less reduces the chances of others finding you through mutual activity.
Workarounds to Hide or Limit Access
Restrict Specific Users
Instagram’s Restrict feature is a gentle way to limit what certain people can see and do on your profile without outright blocking them—an effective tip for how to stop your followers from seeing who you follow.
When you restrict someone, they won’t know when you’re online or if you’ve read their messages. Their comments on your posts will only be visible to them unless you choose to approve them. Just keep in mind, this doesn’t completely hide your following list—they can still see who you follow. But it does help you keep things a bit more low-key.
Block Users You Don’t Trust
Blocking is a stronger move if you’re looking for more privacy. Once you block someone, they won’t be able to view your posts, your followers, or the accounts you follow. Your profile won’t appear in their search results, and any past messages or comments they left might also be removed. If you need a way how to hide my following list on Instagram from followers, blocking is one of the most effective ways.
Switch to a Professional or Creator Account
Thinking about switching your account type? It won’t actually hide the people you follow, but it does give you some useful features that can help when you want to hide accounts you follow on Instagram. With a professional or creator account, you’ll get access to insights and analytics about your audience, a separate inbox to organize messages, and more control over who can interact with you.
How to switch:
- Go to Settings > Account.
- Tap Switch to Professional Account.
- Choose either Business or Creator.
While your following list stays visible, these tools give you more control over your profile and privacy—helpful if you want to know how can you hide followers on Instagram.
Hide Activity & Stories
Instagram lets you control who sees your activity in a few simple ways—useful if you’re thinking about how to make your following private on Instagram:
Close Friends: Share Stories only with a select group of people.
Hide Story From: Block specific users from seeing your Stories.
Turn Off Activity Status: Stop others from seeing when you’re online (found under Settings > Privacy > Activity Status). also no list
Avoid Engagement with Sensitive Accounts
If you want to keep some accounts private from your followers and learn how to hide people you follow on Instagram, try to keep your interactions low-key. Try not to like or comment on their posts too much, avoid tagging them in Stories or posts, and generally stay off the radar by not engaging publicly with the accounts you want to keep private.
The Role of Third-Party Tools Like Peekviewer
Ever wondered how can you hide followers on Instagram, or want to see what follower info others might be keeping private. Tools like Peekviewer can give you a better idea. It’s a handy third-party viewer that lets you quietly check out public—and even private—profiles without logging in or anyone knowing.
One great bonus is the Instagram follower viewer, which lets you see another person’s followers or following list without logging in. Let’s take a look at what Peekviewer is, how to use it, and why it might be helpful.

What’s Peekviewer?
Peekviewer is an instagram profile viewer that lets you browse Instagram profiles anonymously. You can see stories, posts, and more from both public and private accounts—all without signing up or downloading anything.
How Do You Use It?
- Go to the Peekviewer website.
- Pick whether the account you want to check is public or private.
- Type in the Instagram username or paste the profile link.
- Enter your email and choose the subscription plan that fits you best.
Why Use Peekviewer?
- Totally anonymous: You can view private photos, Insta stories, and reels without the other person knowing.
- Access private profiles: Peekviewer lets you see content from private Instgaram accounts without any hassle.
- Super easy to use: No tech skills needed—just a clean, simple interface.
- Watch Stories and videos: See all the content someone shares in one place.
- View Stories without alerts: Watch Stories quietly without sending notifications.
- Save and download: Download private Instagram photos without following and keep them saved in top quality for up to 3 months.
- Keep track of likes and comments: See who’s interacting with posts, including older ones.
- Follow multiple accounts: You can monitor as many profiles as you want with subscriptions.

Other Cool Features from Peekviewer
- Instagram Likes Viewer: See who liked posts on public profiles — including “hot likes,” which show if someone recently liked older photos, giving you extra insight into their activity.
Conclusion
Peekviewer is a tool that lets you quietly view someone’s hidden Instagram lists — and just knowing it exists can help you take steps to protect your own privacy. So, how can you hide followers on Instagram? If your profile is public, you can’t completely hide your following list. But by blocking or restricting certain people, being careful about who you interact with, and tweaking your settings, you can make your list less visible.
If you’re curious about how to hide my following list on Instagram from followers, the easiest way is to switch your account to private. If you want to keep your profile public, these steps can still help you keep your connections more private.
FAQ
Yes! When you block someone, they can’t see your profile at all — which means no posts, no followers, and no following list. It’s like you disappeared from their Instagram.
Not really. Changing to a professional or creator account doesn’t hide who you follow. But it does give you better tools to manage your messages, see who’s engaging with you, and control your account more simply. If you’re thinking how to make your following private on Instagram, the only real way is to switch to a private account, which limits visibility to approved followers only.
Peekviewer is a tool that lets people view public Instagram profiles anonymously, without logging in. It can even show stories and followers without the owner knowing. If your account is public, it means anyone can use tools like this to see your info, so it’s good to be mindful about what you share and who can see it.