How To Hide Instagram Followers in 2025: The Ultimate Guide

How I Managed to Hide My Instagram Follower and Following Lists — Some Real Talk

Honestly, I got pretty fed up seeing how easily anyone can peek at your follower and following lists. It feels kinda invasive, right? Especially since Instagram doesn’t make this obvious unless you dig. So, after a bunch of messing around, I found out that flipping your account to a private profile is by far the most reliable way to hide that info from random eyes—assuming it fits your type of account. But beware: it’s not just a one-click fix, and there are some caveats.

Switching Your Instagram Profile to Private: The Main Move

This was surprisingly simple in theory, but the tricky part was actually finding the option—sometimes the UI updates mess with your flow. Anyway, the gist is: when your account is private, only people you approve as followers can see your followers, your following list, and your content. It’s the main way I know to keep most of this stuff under wraps. Fair warning, though—this mainly works for personal accounts. If you’re on a business or creator account, some settings are “grayed out” or behave differently, stuff like hiding follower counts or lists might not work.

Before doing anything, I made sure my device was ready: no VPNs, strong internet connection—must be something with my setup, but it really affects whether you can change settings smoothly. Then, I opened Instagram, went to my profile, and tapped those three lines (the hamburger menu) at the top right. From there, I navigated to Settings. The layout can change with updates, so if it looks different, just try updating the app or search around.

Next, I went into Privacy and found Account Privacy. That’s where the magic happens. There’s a toggle for Private Account. Just switch it on. Sometimes you’ll need to confirm, especially on iOS, but it’s generally a switch. Once that’s done, only your approved followers can see your follower/following lists, profile picture, and posts. That’s pretty much it—simple but effective.

Why Does This Actually Help?

Making your account private inherently restricts who can see your lists, so if someone isn’t following you, they won’t get that info. It’s perfect if privacy is your main goal without locking down your whole profile or deleting content. But—here’s a thing I ran into—if you switch from public to private, existing followers stay following unless you remove them manually. You can do that by visiting their profile, tapping those three dots, and selecting Remove Follower. Also, keep in mind that this trick doesn’t block your profile from being found via search engines or someone searching your username—they can still find you there, just won’t see the lists unless they follow you.

If you have a professional (business) account, some privacy options are limited or behave differently. Sometimes you’ll see only options to hide story viewers or restrict DMs, but not the lists. So, double-check your account type in Settings > Account > Account Type. Switching between personal and business might be a workaround if you need more control.

Important Caveats and Other Tips

A head-scratcher was that if someone was already following me before I flipped the switch, they could still see my lists unless I removed them. It’s a manual process—visit their profile, tap those three dots, and choose Remove Follower. Also, remember that privacy settings only affect what followers and visitors see; it doesn’t hide your profile from search engines or people who stumble upon your URL.

In my case, some info was pretty important—like avoiding certain followers or not showing everything to coworkers or relatives—so this method was worth the small hassle. Keep in mind, I’ve also seen folks recommend third-party apps claiming to hide followers or
follower counts, but they’re risky and can violate Instagram’s terms, possibly leading to an account ban. I’d steer clear of those.

Final Thoughts

So, if hiding your follower and following list is your goal, switching your account to private is hands down the best bet I’ve found. It’s not perfect or foolproof—you have to manage followers manually and accept some limits—but it’s safe, built-in, and reliable. After messing with this for a while, I can say it’s mostly straightforward once you know where to look. Just double-check your account type and privacy settings, remove followers you don’t trust, and you’re mostly good to go.

Hope this helps — it took me way too long to figure out some of these settings, seriously. Anyway, this is probably the easiest main fix for the kind of privacy worries I’ve had. Just keep in mind, nothing’s perfect on social media, but at least this way, your lists are under your control. Good luck, and don’t forget to recheck your settings now and then!