How to view Instagram highlights,
with or without an account.
Short answer
Highlights are stories an account chose to keep. They sit in a row of circles under the bio and they don’t expire. Tap a circle to watch them in the app. The owner sees who watched a highlight only during the 48 hours after that story was first posted; after that, only a view count remains. For a public account you can also watch them in a web viewer, with no Instagram account.
Updated
What a highlight is
A normal story disappears after 24 hours. When the owner adds it to a highlight, it stays on the profile until they remove it, grouped under a cover and a title such as “Travel” or “Q&A”. A highlight is a folder of old stories, and some accounts keep years of them.
Where to find them
Open the profile. The highlights are the circles between the bio and the grid of posts. If there are none, the account hasn’t created any. On a private account you only see them if you are an approved follower.
Can people see if you view their Instagram highlights?
It depends on how old the story is. Instagram keeps the list of viewers for 48 hours counted from when the story was originally posted, not from when it was added to the highlight. If you watch a highlight from last year in the app, your view adds to the count and your name appears nowhere. If you watch one made from yesterday’s story, the owner can still see your name.
Viewing highlights anonymously
An Instagram highlight viewer on the web reads the public highlights of an account without using an Instagram account of yours, so there is no name to record, whatever the age of the story. On LikePatrol the covers appear under the current stories. Opening one loads its most recent stories in the viewer. It works for public accounts only.
Related questions
- Can you see who viewed your Instagram highlights?
- Only for 48 hours after the original story was posted. After that Instagram shows the number of views and no names.
- Do highlights disappear?
- No. They stay until the owner deletes them or removes the stories inside.
- Can I view highlights without an Instagram account?
- For a public profile, yes, through a web viewer. Instagram’s own website asks you to log in before it lets you watch them.
- Can I see the highlights of a private account?
- Only if you follow it and it approved you. Nothing else works.
View a public account’s highlights
Type the username. Its highlights appear under today’s stories: tap a cover and the stories inside open in the same viewer.
Free preview · No Instagram password · Nothing installed
