Instagram unfollowers tracker: see who unfollowed a public account, each name checked first.
StoriesFly's unfollowers tracker shows who unfollowed a public Instagram account: it reads the full follower list when you add the account and once a week after that, and a name missing from a new reading is reported as an unfollow only after a search of the list itself cannot find it (up to two searches per name, up to 40 names per reading). A reading can come back some names short when nobody has left, so a gap in a reading is never reported on its own. Between readings, a sweep every 180 minutes on Pro and 240 on Basic re-reads the follower count; the names behind a change arrive with the next weekly reading. Private accounts cannot be tracked.
The account you want watched@handle
public accounts onlyeach name checked by searchpaid plans
Why a searchA reading can miss names that are still there. The list arrives in pages of 25, and a page can repeat a name it already sent, which leaves somebody else out; on some accounts a single reading comes back more than a tenth short. Asking the list for the missing handle settles it the same day. Instagram's in-list search finds a handle typed in full only up to 20 characters, so a longer one is looked up by its first 18.
Report every gap in a reading, or search for the name first
Reporting straight from the comparison is simpler, and it turns reading errors into unfollows. The search costs extra requests for each name it asks about and returns an answer about that one name, on the same day as the reading.
Every gap in the reading becomes an unfollow, including names that were only skipped because a page repeated itself.
A missing name is asked for inside the list. Found, it stays and nothing is said. Not found, it is reported.
How often names are read, and how a missing name is checked
A name that was not searched for, because more than 40 were missing, stays on the stored list and is checked at the next reading; it is never reported unchecked. When more than 40% of the stored list is missing at once, and at least 15 names, the reading itself is the suspect and nothing from it is reported. A week in which at least 5 names arrive and 5 leave, together more than a tenth of the list, is treated as a correction of the stored copy rather than as news, unless both the new reading and the stored copy are complete weekly readings; then the names are reported. A handle of three characters is too short to shorten, so it gets one search. And if the names a reading adds and drops disagree with the change in the follower count by more than 2% of the stored list (at least 2 names), nothing from that reading is reported: it replaces the stored list or is set aside.
- Full reading of the follower list
- 7 d
- Follower count re-read, Pro / Basic
- 180 / 240 min
- Searches per missing name, at most
- 2
- Handle length searched in full
- ≤ 20
- Missing names searched per reading, at most
- 40
- Share of the list missing at once that voids a reading
- 40%
How a name goes from missing to reported
Four stages. Most missing names stop at the third.
- 01The list is on fileWhen you add the account, its follower list is read in full and stored with the date. That first reading reports nothing; it is what later readings are compared with.
- 02A week later, the list is read againThe new reading is compared with the stored one. A name on the stored list and not in the new reading is missing, which is not yet the same as gone: a reading can skip a name.
- 03The list is asked about the nameEach missing name, up to 40 per reading, is searched for inside the follower list, up to twice: the handle, then a shorter piece of it. If a search finds it, the name goes back on the list and nothing is reported.
- 04No search found itOnly then does the name reach your timeline as an unfollow, dated by that week's reading.
The cost of reading names once a week
You give up speed. Instagram sends no notice when somebody unfollows, so a tracker has to go and read the list, and this one reads the whole list once a week. An unfollow from Monday shows up as a name with the next reading, up to a week later. The count is re-read at every sweep, 180 minutes apart on Pro and 240 on Basic, so a drop can show as a number before the names arrive.
What you get back is a list you can act on. Every name on it was missing from a reading and then not found by a search of the list itself, in the same week. A tracker that reports every gap in a reading shows more names, and some of those people never left.
The rule in one sentence
A name missing from a reading is not an unfollow. A name the list itself cannot find is.
Why a missing name is searched for first
What the report cannot tell you
Five things this tracker does not claim, and the reason for each.
- 01Who unfollowed before you startedThe first reading is the earliest record there is. Instagram serves the follower list as it stands today, with no dates and no history, so unfollows from before that reading were never recorded anywhere we can read.
- 02Whether it was an unfollow, a block or a deleted accountAll three take the name off the follower list, and a search cannot tell them apart. A renamed account looks like an unfollow plus a new follower, because the lists hold handles, not account numbers.
- 03Followers of a verified accountInstagram shows at most 50 followers of a verified account to anyone outside it, so the follower list of a verified account with more than 50 followers is not read and only its count is followed. Its following list is read normally.
- 04Names on a list larger than your plan coversBy default a follower list is read by name only if it fits the plan: up to 1,500 names on Basic, and up to 3,500 per account on Pro, with 7,000 shared across its five accounts. Capacity added to the plan raises these limits; past them, a list is followed by its count alone.
- 05Anything on a private accountA private account shows its follower list to approved followers only, and the tracker holds no such position. If a watched account goes private, the history already collected stays and its follower count is still re-read, but no names are read, and the list is not asked for again until 30 days after the reading that found it private.
Before you start watching
How long until I see my first unfollower?
About a week. The reading made when you add the account only records who follows it; unfollows come from the next full reading, a week later, and each name missing from it is searched for in the list before it is shown. The follower count updates at every sweep in the meantime.
Why not report a name as soon as it is missing?
Because a reading can miss a name that is still there. The list arrives in pages of 25, and a page that repeats a name leaves somebody else out; on some accounts one reading comes back more than a tenth short. A search of the list answers the question for that one name.
Will the person know I am tracking them?
No. Nothing in a sweep, a reading or a search carries your name or touches the account, and Instagram sends no notice for being looked at.
Can I track an account that is not mine?
Yes, if it is public. The tracker reads the follower list any Instagram user can open on the profile, so watching someone else's public account works the same as watching your own. A private account cannot be tracked, whoever it belongs to.
What happens if someone unfollows and then follows back?
If they are back before the next reading, nothing is reported, because the reading finds them on the list. If the reading lands while they are gone, you get the unfollow, and a new-follower row at the first reading after they return.
Does a large account change the result?
Yes. By default a follower list is read by name only if it fits the plan: up to 1,500 names on Basic and up to 3,500 per account on Pro, unless capacity has been added to the plan. A larger list, or the follower list of a verified account, is followed by its count, and no names are reported for it.
What happens if I stop paying?
Your sweeps and readings stop, and what was already reported stays. Changes made while nothing was reading the list can only be dated by the first reading after you return.
The first reading cannot be taken retroactively.
Unfollows from before the first reading were never recorded anywhere we can read.