The Instagram Following activity tab is gone. Instagram pulled it in October 2019 after testing its removal with some users first, and it never came back (TechCrunch). It is not buried in a settings menu and it is not something you can turn back on. There is no setting that restores it, for you or for anyone else's account. The one related thing that still works today is new-follow tracking: an app like SnoopInsta can watch a public account, or a private account you already follow, and tell you when a later check finds a new follow. The SnoopInsta iOS app does this starting from the day you add the username; it doesn't recover follows from before that.
What was the Following activity tab?
The Following tab lived inside Instagram's Activity feed (the heart icon). It showed likes, comments, and follows made by accounts you follow, almost like a mini feed of their actions. If someone you followed liked a photo or followed a new account, it could show up there. Instagram tested removing it for some users in August 2019, then confirmed in October 2019 that the removal was permanent for everyone (TechCrunch).
What does Instagram still show you?
A few things are still visible directly in the app, just not in one combined feed:
- Your own "Following" list, which you can sort by "Date followed" for your own account (Profile → Following → the sort icon). This only works on your own list.
- Someone's current follower and following counts and lists, if their account is public or you already follow them and they haven't limited visibility.
- New followers to your own account, shown in your Activity feed.
None of these recreate the old tab's cross-account feed of likes and follows. For a deeper look at what the "Date followed" sort can and can't tell you about someone else's account, see how to see who someone followed on Instagram history.
What still doesn't work?
A list of things people often hope the old tab (or a workaround) would bring back, and the honest status of each:
- Seeing someone else's full follow history. Instagram does not expose this anymore. There's no legitimate way to pull a timestamped list of who an account followed in the past, before you started watching it. More detail is in how to see when someone followed someone on Instagram.
- Figuring out who followed whom first. If two accounts are mutuals, Instagram doesn't show which one followed the other first, and never did through this tab. See how to see who followed who first on Instagram.
- Comments and likes on someone else's posts. The old tab surfaced some of this for people you followed; it's gone now. For what's still possible, see how to see someone's comments on Instagram posts.
- Mentions and tags. Mentions in captions or stories, and tagged photos someone has hidden from their profile, aren't related to this tab and aren't visible through any workaround. See how to see mentions on Instagram and how to see photos someone is tagged in even if hidden.
- Followers of a private account you don't follow. Still invisible. The tab never showed this either.
Where does SnoopInsta fit?
SnoopInsta doesn't rebuild the old tab. It does one narrower thing: it watches a username and tells you when a later check finds a new follow. That's useful if what you actually wanted from the Following tab was "did they just follow someone new," not the full old activity feed.
- Add the username of a public account, or a private account you already follow.
- The app starts watching from that day forward. It does not have access to follows from before you added the profile.
- You get an email, or you tap "Check Now" in the iOS app, when a new follow shows up.
The person being watched is not notified that you added them. A purchase on the website doesn't unlock the iOS app; the app and the site are separate.
Is there any way to get the old tab back?
No. There is no setting, no app, and no browser trick that restores Instagram's original Following activity tab. Instagram removed the underlying feature from its servers in 2019, so no third-party tool can rebuild the same data (TechCrunch). Any app claiming to "restore" it is describing something else, usually new-follow alerts.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly did Instagram remove the Following tab?
Instagram tested the removal with a smaller group starting in August 2019 and confirmed the tab was gone for everyone by October 2019 (TechCrunch). It has not returned since.
Can I see who someone followed before I started tracking them?
No. SnoopInsta and Instagram itself only show activity going forward from when tracking or the account was created; neither can reconstruct past follows.
Does SnoopInsta notify the account I'm tracking?
No, the person being watched is not notified that you added their profile.
Will I get an alert the second someone follows a new account?
No. SnoopInsta tells you when a later check finds a new follow, not the instant it happens. Checks run on a schedule, or you can run one manually with "Check Now" in the iOS app.