Owned by Meta Platforms Inc (Facebook Inc.), Instagram is a photo and video sharing platform available for users across the world. Since its inception in 2010, Instagram has witnessed exponential growth, adding millions of users each year. As of 2020, it has more than a billion active monthly users, together who have shared more than 40 billion images and videos.
It allows users to post pictures and videos using various filters, hashtags, and geotags. You can visit people’s profiles, follow them, browse through their content, and like/comment/share it on Instagram as well as other social media platforms.
Instagram is known for its stringent privacy policies. Users can mark their profiles private if they don’t wish their posts to be shared with anyone but their followers. This brings us to an important question – Can we access the Instagram private profiles? And if yes, how so?
Let me be very clear right off the bat. There is no legal way to gain access to a private Instagram profile without the owners’ consent. Following accusations of data piracy and privacy breaches, Facebook has taken drastic measures to safeguard users’ data at all costs.
There are, however, some unethical methods for viewing a private Instagram profile. These will be covered in this tutorial. So keep an eye out. Moreover, if you’d like to know how to clear Instagram cache, we have it covered in this article.
How to See Private Instagram
Let’s discuss some methods you can use to view a private Instagram account:
1. Use Google Search
If you are looking for images linked to a private Instagram profile, try running a Google Seach using the Instagram name of the user.
Even though the account is private, you will be able to see the number of posts, followers, and followed people of the given Instagram user.
Also, check the Image tab of Google search results. There are chances that some images associated with the private profile may appear in the result since they were tagged on a public Instagram account.
| Tip: If you happen to have a friend who is following this particular profile you want to see posts from, you can use his/her account to see that profile. Of course with their consent. |
2. Send A Follow Request
The only legitimate way to access someone’s private profile is by sending them a follow request. Of course, you have to wait for them to approve the request.
If the account owner accepts your request, you will get notified. Now you can view their photos, videos, stories, etc. Access to the list of followers and followed people still depend on the user’s privacy settings. Unfortunately, there is no way to see that unless the user makes them public.
| Tip: Although it’s not the most appealing way, you can create a fake Instagram profile and try your luck with sending the follow request to the person. Yes, it’s kind of spamming but as long as the person approves your request, it’s 100% legal. |
3. Simply Wait
The last option is to just wait. You must’ve seen users change their privacy settings many times. So if you be patient and keep an eye on the account, you may be able to see the posts without following the account.
You just need to wait till the account owners make their posts public. This is the only way you can see the posts legitimately without sending a follow request.
4. Use A Third-Party Program
Whether or not it’s a virtuous way, I am not sure, but there are several apps and websites available on the internet, claiming to let you access private Instagram profiles.
We don’t encourage using such third-party software since most of them are filled with bots and malware and can expose your computer to some serious dangers.
Currently, there is no reputed company that makes such private profile viewing apps.
When you are trying to view the Instagram private account pics through such websites, you are required to enter the username of the profile you want to access. The moment you want to see the final result, you will be redirected to an unknown page asking you to:
- Complete a Human verification process.
- Complete a random task (Read/share/comment on an article)
- Create an account on some random website
- Participate in a spontaneous game
- Allow notification access
- Download and install an unknown program
- Share a link on your social media,
However, there is no guarantee that even after fulfilling all these requests, you will gain the access to the private account you’ve requested for.
Another thing to notice here, such Private account viewing programs are always on Instagram’s Radar and the developers keep updating their source codes to keep their users’ data protected.
Currently, there are many websites claiming to give you access to private Instagram profiles, but don’t be surprised if some of them will disappear or become non-functional in the coming few weeks or months.
Here are some popular apps to view private Instagram:
- InstaSpy
- InstaLooker
- InstaViewz
- InstaBusters
To Sum Up
As I previously stated, the only proper way to gain access to a private Instagram account is with the individual’s consent Simply send a follow request or use your friend’s account to see the content (if your friend is a follower).
Coming back to the private profile viewer websites, you can try them out, but make sure not to download anything dubious and leave the page immediately if you notice anything out of the ordinary. Most of these initiatives only want to gain access to your system or collect your data. Most importantly, never provide any financial information such as a credit card number, account number, etc. Some pages may prompt you to fill out a form with your personal information. This is an indication that you are in the wrong place.
Since Instagram is constantly improving its security features, most of these tools are obsolete anyway. Do you believe these website designers are better developers than those at Instagram? Think again!
