Instagram has a few privacy features that let users hide their stories from others. It works particularly well since Instagram doesn’t notify the affected user in any way, nor does it make it any easier for them to find out. But if you’re particularly concerned and want to investigate if someone has hidden their story from you, there are enough ways for you to put the pieces together.
How do users hide Instagram stories (and what happens when they do)
There are three different ways in which users hide their stories from others. Here’s everything you need to know about it in brief:
- Hide Stories From – This Story setting lets users hide their stories from others, so the affected users cannot see stories and highlights completely. Moreover, a user with a public account can also hide stories from non-followers.
- Close Friends – When a user shares a story with those in their ‘Close Friends’ list, their story circle turns green for their close friends. For everyone else, however, there is no such change or indication of a story update.
- Blocking – Blocking is usually the last resort since it stops all user interaction and is relatively easier to identify.
For our present guide, we shall only be referring to the first two ways in which someone can hide stories from you and what you can do to find it out.
How to know when someone hides their story from you on Instagram
There are a variety of ways that can help you deduce if someone has hidden their story from you on Instagram. Exactly which one of these proves useful will depend on a variety of factors, such as whether or not you follow the user, the account type of the user hiding the stories (private or public), and a few story settings that they may have applied. To eliminate guesswork and get the best approximation of the truth, make sure to check out all the following methods.
Method 1: Check the user’s story highlights
The simplest and surest way to know if someone’s hiding their Instagram stories from you is to check their story highlights.
SHORT GUIDE
Open the user’s Instagram profile and check their story highlights. If you were previously able to view their highlights, but can’t anymore, it’s possible that they have either deleted all their stories overnight (the likelihood of which is small), or that they are hiding their stories from you.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Open the user’s Instagram profile and check their story highlights.
- If they were previously available and have now disappeared, you’ve been added to their ‘Hide Story From’ list.
Related: How to View Instagram Stories Anonymously or Privately
Method 2: Confirm the user’s stories or highlights using another Instagram account
Since one can’t completely rule out the possibility that the user may have just decided to remove all their highlights, we have to use another method to confirm it. Do note, however, that this will work only if the user has a Public account
SHORT GUIDE
Create a temporary Instagram account or use someone else’s Instagram profile. Open the profile of the person whom you think has hidden stories from you and check if there are any stories or highlights there. If yes, then you can be sure that they’re hiding stories from you.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Create a temporary Instagram account or use someone else’s Instagram (like a friend or family member) to check the profile of the concerned user.
- If you’re able to see the highlights on their profile, this means that they haven’t deleted anything and are just hiding their stories from you.
- Note that this confirmation method (in conjunction with the first method) works only if the user has a public profile. If they have a private account, you may have to confirm by checking Method 4.
Related: What Happens When You Archive Or Delete Reels And How To Do That
Method 3: Check their profile without logging in (if the user has a public account)
If the user has a public account, there is a separate method to check if they’re hiding their stories from you.
SHORT GUIDE
Open the Instagram profile of the user on a browser without logging in. If you are able to see their highlights here but not when you’re logged in, unfortunately they’re hiding stories from you. Additionally, if they currently have a story posted, you will see a red ring around their profile. This is proof in itself that they’re hiding stories from you.
GIF GUIDE
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Open a browser, type
instagram.com/and enter the person’s username (make sure you’re not logged in).
- If you see the highlights here but not while you’re logged in, you can be sure that they’re hiding their stories from you.
- If the user currently has a story posted, you will see a red circle around their profile icon, which means they have hidden their story from you.
Method 4: Ask one of their followers (if the user has a private account)
Checking whether or not someone has hidden stories from you is relatively easier if they have a public account. But if their account is private, your options are limited.
SHORT GUIDE
The best way to get around the limitations of a user’s private account is to get in touch with one of their followers and ask if the user’s stories and highlights are visible. If the mutual friend isn’t in the same boat as you, they might be able to tell you if the user has a story posted, or whether or not their highlights are still visible.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Get in touch with one of the user’s followers.
- Ask them if they can see the concerned user’s stories or highlights.
- If the user’s stories and highlights are visible to this follower, but not to you, it’s clear that they’re hiding it from you.
Method 5: Get in touch with the user’s ‘Close Friends’
Rather than hiding stories from particular users, many people choose to simply share their stories with a particular group of ‘Close friends’. This is a little more difficult to find out, and requires a workaround similar to the previous one.
SHORT GUIDE
Since only Close Friends can know if the user has shared a story with them, you will ultimately have to get in touch with one of these close friends.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
- Check and see the user’s following list and see who interacts with them often.
- Narrow the choices down by looking at who comments on the user’s posts most frequently, likes their posts, and tags them often.
- Send these followers a message and ask them if they see a green circle around the user’s profile icon. If yes, the user may have excluded you from the close friends list. If not, it could mean a few things, and doesn’t conclusively have to be that they’ve excluded you.
Note: When messaging the user’s followers, try to be as polite as you can, particularly if you don’t know them. Most users won’t have an issue when asked for a simple yes or no answer, especially when inquired politely. If you’re lucky, they may even alert you whenever the user next posts a story.
FAQ
Let’s take a look at a few commonly asked questions about finding out if someone hides their story from you.
Though a few third-party apps, such as BlindStory, once allowed you to view anyone’s Instagram stories, their advantages have been stripped since, and you don’t gain any real information from them.
If you can open a story but see that it is unavailable, it means that the user has deleted the story.
Being a privacy feature, Instagram doesn’t let users easily find out if they’ve been left out of someone’s stories. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. With a bit of ingenuity, some help, and under the right circumstances, you can decidedly know if someone’s hiding their stories from you. We hope this guide helped you out with the same. Until next time!
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