How to tell if someone
follows you on Instagram.
Short answer
Open your own followers list and search their username. If they appear there, they follow you. Their profile also says "Follows you" under the name when they do.
Updated
How to check if someone follows you, in two seconds
Go to your profile, tap Followers, and type their username in the search box at the top. The list is searchable and it is yours, so the answer is definitive. If nothing comes up, they do not follow you.
How to see it on their profile: the “Follows you” badge
Open their profile. If they follow you, Instagram shows a small "Follows you" label under their name. It is the same fact from the other side, and it is the faster check when you are already looking at the profile.
How to know for sure: why the Follow button doesn’t tell you
The button reflects what you do to them, not what they do to you. "Following" means you follow them. A follow is one-directional, so the two facts are independent, and confusing them is the most common reason people think they were unfollowed when they were not.
When the answer is "no longer"
If they used to follow you and no longer do, nothing announces it. That is a different question with a different answer — see the guide on seeing who unfollowed you.
Related questions
- Does Instagram notify me when someone follows me?
- Yes, at the moment it happens, unless notifications are off. There is no notification when someone unfollows.
- Can I check this if their account is private?
- Yes. Whether they follow you is visible from your own follower list regardless of their privacy setting.
- Why does someone appear in my followers but not in my following?
- Because they follow you and you do not follow them back. That is normal and not an error.
Check the whole list at once
Searching one name works. If the question is really "who out of all these people follows me back", reading both lists at once answers it in one go.
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