Can Someone View Your Instagram Story Without You Knowing?

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Instagram Stories and User Engagement

With nearly 500 million daily users of Instagram stories, it's safe to say that stories have become a significant part of our lives. Sometimes, when the people you’re following post an incredibly engaging story, it's only natural to rewatch it multiple times. However, this may prompt you to wonder: Can someone see how many times you viewed their Instagram story?

No, They Can't See It

The good news is that there is no feature in Instagram that enables people to check how many times a user has seen their story. They can only see who viewed their story and the total number of views on it. So even if you were to view their story several times, Instagram would still count it as a single view.

How It Works and What You Can See

Instagram records the distinct viewers of a story, not the number of views. This means you no longer need to fret about watching someone's story repeatedly because they would never be able to tell. You can be assured that regardless of the number of times you view a person’s story, Instagram will display your name alongside other viewers and only inform the user of the total views garnered by their story.

How to See Who Viewed Your Instagram Story

If you’re trying to decode how to see who viewed your Instagram story the most, you’re on a wild goose chase. This means that although you can see the viewers who watched your story, there's no way of knowing which user watched it more than others. The viewer list that Instagram exhibits is not sorted in chronological order or based on who viewed your story again and again. Instead, the viewers at the top of the list are the ones who interacted with your story.

For example, if a person reacted to your story or held the screen to pause it in order to get a clearer look at the image, that user would land at the top of your viewer list. Hence, those who were previously wondering, 'If you rewatch an Instagram story does your name go to the top', can be assured that that’s not how the Instagram algorithm works.

How to Check the Viewer List of Your Instagram Story

Here are the steps to check the viewer list:

Open the Instagram App on your device. Now tap the icon with your profile picture in the top left corner. Tap the 'Seen By' option at the bottom left. A pop-up will appear with the number and a list of people who viewed your story.

Can You See Story Viewers Even After Your Story Has Expired?

Even if you forgot to monitor your Instagram story viewers within the first 24 hours after posting it, you can always get back to it later. However, since stories are only available for 24 hours, you can check views after that duration from the following method:

If you open your Archive folder, you can see your story views for up to 48 hours after posting the story. Follow these steps to find that out:

Open the Instagram App on your phone. Now hit your profile picture at the bottom right corner of the screen. Select the three-line menu icon sitting at the top right corner. Press 'Archive' from the menu. Browse through your story collection and select the story whose views you wish to check.

Methods to Watch Someone’s Story Without Being Noticed

If you don’t want a user to even assume that you could have seen their story multiple times, there are several methods you can use to ensure they don’t see you in their Instagram story viewers.

Let me free you from the mystery of ‘Can someone see if you viewed their Instagram story multiple times’, follow the steps given below to conceal your name from the viewer list regardless of how many times you’ve viewed someone’s story:

Switch to Airplane Mode

The first way to watch a story without its creator finding out is by switching your device to Airplane Mode. This way, your device will not be able to connect to the internet, making it impossible to record your view of someone’s story. However, to ensure this method works optimally, you need to load all your stories before setting your phone on Airplane Mode. You can now repeatedly watch the loaded stories on your feed without appearing on their viewer list.

Once you’re done, remember to close the app before removing your phone from Airplane Mode.

Half Swiping

Once you’re at the story that comes before the Instagram story of the person whose story you wish to view anonymously, you can half-swipe to achieve this feat. You can do this by swiping to the next story without removing your finger from the screen. This indicates to the algorithm that you’re still watching the previous story while in reality, you’re on the next one. However, since you haven’t lifted your finger, Instagram can’t detect your view of that individual’s story.

Remember that this method only works when the story features an image and not a video. This is because if it’s a picture, you can view it for as long as you want without letting go of the screen. In case it’s a video, you can only watch the thumbnail since the rest of the video would be paused if you press the screen. This means that to watch the entire video you’ll need to let go of your fingers.

Therefore, you may need to opt for the other two methods since this one only works well for stories that contain pictures.