How to view a public instagram story anonymously

• Copy the link or name of the Instagram profile you want to view anonymously (For example, cristiano, @cristiano or https://www.instagram.com/cristiano/ )
• Paste InstaStories.watch above into the site's search box and click on Search or Enter.
• You will be taken to a page: https://instastories.watch/en/cristiano/ where you can see all public profile information: Instagram profile name and photo, number of followers and subscriptions, biography, watch stories anonymously in incognito mode, live streams and publications (photos and videos with descriptions).
• To download a story from someone else's Insta account or a publication (post), first open the publication or post (the whole window will open). At the top there is a "Download" button in the language of your choice. When you click the button, it will automatically download to your PC (videos and photos are saved to the Downloads folder) and phone - the downloaded content appears in the Downloads folder and the iPhone or Android Gallery.

Sometimes FOMO has us in its grip and we just have to see what someone is up to. Unfortunately, when you lurk on someone’s Instagram, you can definitely leave behind a trail. 

People often save their juiciest updates for their Instagram Stories. But the app lets them know exactly who was watching. So if you want to check in on an ex, frenemy or nemesis, Instagram will instantly send them a notification. If only there was a way to get around the social media surveillance state. 

A third-party website called Insta-Stories allows you to anonymously creep on anyone’s Instagram Story. You don’t need to log into Instagram or even have an account to use it. All you need to know is the person’s handle. 

According to the website, you are 100% anonymous, “Views are invisible to the owner of the profile, your personal data, date and time of your visits are not displayed or saved.”

You can view and download stories, highlights live streams, publications and profile photos as long as the person’s account isn’t set to private. 

How to view someone’s Instagram Stories anonymously:

1. Go to Insta-Stories.

2. Type in the user’s handle in the search bar. 

3. Click on the icon to view their Instagram Stories. Voila! You’re done. 

In The Know is now available on Apple News — follow us here!  

If you enjoyed this story, read more about critiques of the “midsize” fashion movement.

More from In The Know:

Woman ‘in complete shock’ after waking up with foreign accent

The ‘best iron I’ve ever owned’: Amazon shoppers love this 2-in-1 hair straightener and curler

These inexpensive, silky-soft pillowcases on Amazon are good for your hair and skin

The 3 most affordable meal delivery kits for cooking at home

Listen to the latest episode of our pop culture podcast, We Should Talk:

Cozy

Canadian Down & Feather Company

Sleepy and ethical.
The Canadian Down & Feather Company can check a few people off your holiday shopping list: cozy connoisseurs or family who just needs better sleep.

There are some drawbacks to burner accounts. First, Instagram rolled out a feature a while back that enables users to block not only you, but any other accounts you create that are tied to your primary one. Your burners could be blocked before you even create them.

Second, if the person you want to creep on has a private account, you’re going to have to request to follow them. They probably won’t grant your request if your account is called, like, bojangles348930, has no identifying profile picture, no posts, and an outsized following-to-followers ratio. (It’s clearly a burner.) What you can do, of course, is craft a hefty fake persona and spend a lot of time creating a false life for it by posting a lot, gaining followers, and generally being active. Still, even if you create an absolutely robust fake account for a phony person, why would the person you want to creep grant your alter ego access to their private account?

Burner accounts really only work if you want to see the Story of someone with a public account. Be warned, of course, if they get few views or are just (rightfully) paranoid, they may block you after seeing an account they don’t recognize on the list. Unless you…

View the story, then block the person

Use this method on people you don’t follow, whether you use your real account or a burner. If you view a Story, then immediately block the poster, they won’t see your name on the list unless they happen to be looking in that split second before you finalize the block. If their story is long, this could be a concern, as your name will be visible on the first slides for however long it takes you to view the final ones.

This is a tried-and-true method. After 24 hours are up, unblock them and view the new Story, then block again.

Try to only do this with a creeping account, however, because if you do it on your real one and the person in question gets suspicious, searches for your account, and finds that they’re blocked, you may have some explaining to do.

Go on airplane mode

A few of the first slides in any Story are preloaded by Instagram, which is why they pop up so fast while newer slides take a second to load. You can open a person’s profile, toggle on airplane mode, and view whichever slides have preloaded in safety. Your name won’t appear on the viewers’ list. Still, not all the slides in a long story will preload, so you’ll only see a few this way.

Use the pull-over method

This tip generally only works for iPhone users, so be warned about that upfront. Called, at times, Insta-peeking, this method involves navigating to your feed, where you see all the available Stories lined up at the top. Open a Story to the left or right of the one you want to see, but don’t want to be caught looking at. Then, hold your finger down on the Story to pause it and carefully—so carefully—slide your finger in the opposite direction of the Story you want to see.

Say you want to see your friend Jane’s Story, but don’t want her to know you looked. In the lineup at the top of your feed, Jane’s story appears to the left of Jill’s. Open Jill’s Story, pause it, and slide your finger to the right. You’ll see that Jill’s Story starts to disappear and part of Jane’s Story is now visible. You’ll only see the last slide of whatever Jane posted and you won’t see the full thing, but you will get a sense of what the slide says.

Bear in mind here that for this one to work, you need to be following the person you want to creep on so their Story appears alongside others at the top of your feed. Also note that any wrong move or slip of the finger will open up the Story in question. Practice this method a few times on Stories you don’t care about.

For a real one-two punch, you can use airplane mode to view a person’s first few slides, then transition to Insta-peeking to see the final one.

Use third-party apps

Developers have identified a need for Story creeping among the masses and have responded with a variety of third-party apps that purport to give you the ability to view a Story without being detected. They have shady security and some of them don’t work. If a site or app asks you to log in with your Instagram credentials, please don’t do it.

One that does have a decent reputation for working is InstaStories. You don’t have to log in and, as long as the person you’re trying to creep on has a public account, you can view the whole Story. We tried this one and can confirm it makes the Story visible without giving any indication to the poster that anyone suspicious has viewed it.