How to see who someone recently followed on Instagram

Why doesn’t Instagram show who someone recently followed?

Instagram used to have a Following tab in the activity feed that showed what the people you follow were liking and following. It was removed in 2019, and nothing has replaced it.

When you open someone else’s Following list now, it’s sorted by Instagram’s “Default” order. That order is personalised to you, the viewer: accounts you know or interact with float to the top, and it can change between visits. A follow from two years ago can sit above one from last night.

You can sort by Date followed: Latest, but only on your own profile. On anyone else’s profile the sort button isn’t there.

What changed on Instagram in September 2026?

Around 9 September 2026, Instagram changed how its app and website load other people’s follower and following lists. They now come back as a ranked selection that can reshuffle every time the list loads, and no Instagram announcement explained it.

Some tools that read lists the way Instagram’s website does now say no app can show follows in order anymore. Red Flag Follows reads Instagram following data from a source that still returns follows newest first. We last re-tested it on 6 October 2026: a test account followed two accounts in a known order, and they came back in that order.

How do you check someone’s Following list by hand?

This works if you’re looking for one specific account, or you’re happy to put in the time.

1. Open their profile in the Instagram app and tap Following.
2. To check one account, type its username into the search box at the top of the list. If it shows up, they follow it.
3. To spot new follows, screenshot the list today, then check again in a few days and compare. Anything new is a recent follow.

• You need an Instagram account, and they need to be public (or follow you back if they’re private).
• Comparing screenshots gets painful once someone follows more than a few hundred accounts.
• It only catches follows made after your first screenshot.

How do you see their newest follows first?

Type their username or paste their profile link into Red Flag Follows (redflagfollows.app)’s search box. It shows the public account’s most recent follows, newest first: up to 200 of them.

The list is sorted into women, men and others (brands, pages, fan accounts), so a new person stands out from the meme pages. The first checks are free and show the counts; subscribers see every name, photo and profile link.

You don’t need an Instagram account, we never ask for a password, and nothing shows up on their side.

Can you get told when they follow someone new?

If you want to know about the next follow rather than the last one, turn on new follow alerts. We check the account every 2 hours and email you as soon as it follows someone new, so you don’t have to keep checking.

Which tricks don’t work?

• Reading the top of their Following list as “most recent”. The order is personalised to you and isn’t chronological.
• Scrolling to the bottom. On small accounts the oldest follows sometimes sit at the end, but it breaks down past a few hundred and isn’t reliable.
• Apps that ask for your Instagram login. You never need to hand over a password to see public information, and it puts your account at risk.
• Anything promising to show a private account’s follows. If an account is private, its lists are only visible to approved followers.