How to Hide Your Following List on Instagram (2025 Guide)

The Short Answer

You cannot completely hide your following list on Instagram. There's no dedicated "hide following list" button or setting.

However, you can control who sees it by making your account private. According to Instagram's official Help Center, once your account is private, only approved followers can see your posts, followers list, and following list.

How to Make Your Account Private

On mobile:

1. Open Instagram and tap your profile icon
2. Tap the three lines (top right)
3. Go to Settings and activity
4. Tap Account Privacy
5. Toggle Private Account ON

Important: Making your account private means:

• ✅ Non-followers can't see your following list
• ✅ People must request to follow you
• ❌ Your approved followers can still see your following list
• ❌ Your reach will decrease (no public discoverability)

If you're concerned about maintaining reach with a private account, focus on consistent, high-quality content. Our guide on how often to post on Instagram shows that 3-5 quality posts per week can help maintain engagement even with limited discoverability.

What "Private Account" Actually Means

This is where confusion happens. Private ≠ invisible.

Even with a private account, anyone you've approved as a follower can still view your entire following list. There's no way around this.

Managing Specific People

If you want to hide your following list from specific followers, you have three options:

1. Remove Followers (Quiet Option)

Best for: Getting someone off your follower list without drama.

1. Go to your profile → Followers
2. Find the person
3. Tap the three dots next to their name
4. Select Remove

They won't be notified, but they'll no longer see your following list (assuming your account is private).

2. Restrict (Limits Interaction)

Best for: Limiting someone without unfollowing them.

1. Go to their profile
2. Tap the three dots
3. Select Restrict

What this does:

• Their comments on your posts are only visible to them
• They can't see when you're online
• Their DMs go to message requests

What it doesn't do:

• It doesn't hide your following list if they're already a follower

3. Block (Nuclear Option)

Best for: Complete invisibility from someone.

1. Go to their profile
2. Tap the three dots
3. Select Block

Once blocked, they can't:

• See your profile
• See your following/followers lists
• Search for you
• Message you

They won't be notified, but they'll notice if they try to find your profile.

Can Business Accounts Go Private?

No. Instagram Business and Creator accounts cannot be set to private.

If you need privacy controls, you must switch back to a Personal account:

1. Go to Settings → Account type and tools
2. Select Switch to Personal Account
3. Then make it private following the steps above

Keep in mind you'll lose access to business features like Instagram Insights and ads. If you're switching to a personal account for privacy, you can still track your performance manually by monitoring engagement rates and follower growth. For strategies on maintaining growth without business tools, see our Instagram posting frequency guide.

Other Privacy Settings Worth Enabling

While you can't fully hide your following list, these settings add more privacy:

Activity Status:

• Settings → Messages and Story Replies → Activity Status → Toggle OFF
• Hides when you're online (you won't see others' status either)

Limit Comments:

• Settings → Privacy → Comments
• Choose who can comment on your posts

Control Tags/Mentions:

• Settings → Privacy → Tags and mentions
• Set to "People you follow" or "No one"

Hide Stories from Specific People:

• When posting a Story, tap the privacy settings
• Select "Hide story from" and choose people

For more tips on managing your Instagram strategy, check out our guide on how often to post on Instagram. If you're looking to diversify your content beyond privacy settings, learn how to create engaging Instagram Reels or post multiple photos in carousel posts to maximize your content strategy.

Common Questions

Can I hide my following list without going private? No. The only way to restrict who sees your following list is by making your account private. There's no workaround.

Will people know if I remove them as a follower? No. Instagram doesn't notify users when you remove them from your followers list. They'll only notice if they manually check your profile and see they're no longer following you.

What about third-party apps that claim to hide it? Don't use them. These apps violate Instagram's terms of service and can get your account banned. They also pose security risks by accessing your login credentials.

Does restricting someone hide my following list from them? No. Restrict only limits how they can interact with you (comments, messages, activity status). If they're an approved follower, they can still see your following list.

Can blocked users see my following list? No. Blocking someone removes all their access to your profile, including your following and followers lists.

The Bottom Line

Instagram doesn't let you selectively hide your following list. Your only real option is:

1. Make your account private (hides from non-followers)
2. Remove or block specific followers (hides from those individuals)

If your goal is to maintain a public account while hiding your following list, that's not possible. Instagram's entire model is built on connection transparency—they want following lists to be visible.

For most users, making your account private and carefully managing who you approve as followers is the best solution. It won't give you complete invisibility, but it drastically limits who can see your connections.

Once you've set up your privacy preferences, focus on creating quality content that keeps your approved followers engaged. Whether you're posting Instagram Reels, carousel posts with multiple photos, or planning your optimal posting frequency, maintaining consistent, valuable content is key to growing your private account.

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Managing your Instagram presence involves more than privacy settings. Check out our guides on creating engaging Reels and posting multiple photos to build a strong Instagram strategy. Want to maintain consistent posting? Genviral helps you schedule content to stay active without the daily grind.