During my trips, I love capturing every moment on my Instagram Stories and saving them as Highlights. But, like many of you, I frequently get the urge to check who has viewed them. It can be frustrating that Instagram doesn’t show the viewer list for IG Highlights after 48 hours of publishing. If you’ve experienced this same issue, don’t worry!
In this article, I’ll share some workarounds on how to check who viewed your Instagram Highlights on your iPhone.
- What are Instagram Highlights?
- How to see who viewed Instagram Highlights on iPhone
- Check who viewed your Instagram Highlights after 48 hours
- How to add a new IG Highlight?
- Control who can see your Instagram highlights
- How to remove an Instagram story from Highlights?
What are Instagram Highlights?
Instagram Highlights allow you to pin select Stories chosen by you on your profile, so they remain visible even after the original Story disappears. These Highlights appear as small circular icons above the feed section on your profile. You can customize your Highlights by adding new Stories, changing the cover image, and rearranging the order to create a visually appealing profile.
How to see who viewed Instagram Highlights on iPhone
- Open the Instagram app.
- Tap your profile photo at the bottom.
- Select a highlight.
- Tap Activity.
- Check the total number of views and a list of your IG Story Highlight viewer.
Interestingly, if any profile has reacted to your Highlight, you will see a small heart icon on their profile photo.
Also, you can send messages to viewers by tapping the messenger icon next to their profiles. If you want to view their profile or hide your story, tap the three-dot icon next to their name and select Block or Hide Your Story.
Here the only problem is you can’t see the viewers’ count after 48 hours. It’s really frustrating for creators like me as we can’t check the exposure of the Story content. So, I have tried and tested a few methods and found a way to check who viewed my Instagram Highlights after 48 hours.
Check who viewed your Instagram Highlights after 48 hours
Instagram automatically removes the list of viewers when your Instagram highlight has exceeded the time limit of 48 hours from the moment it was uploaded.
However, there’s another way to get the analytics of your Instagram Highlights. You need to turn your profile into a professional account.
- Open Instagram → go to your profile.
- Tap the hamburger icon → Tap Settings and privacy.
- Scroll down to Account type and tools.
- Select Switch to professional account.
- Tap Continue.
- Choose your account category and tap Done.
- Select OK to approve the conversion.
- Wait until Instagram sets up your profile.
- Choose Creator and tap Next → OK.
- Follow the on-screen prompts.
- Now open any Highlight, and you will see Story Insights.
Though the insights don’t provide viewer lists and view counts, you can check the reach means the unique number of accounts who have seen the story at least once. Also, the insights show who has liked your story and engagements. If you boost the story, you can get more in-depth analytics.
Note: Besides this method, the Instagram management tools like Buffer, Sprout Social, etc., help to view your Instagram highlights views and activities.
How to add a new IG Highlight?
You can feature your Stories on your profile and make them a Highlight. So, it can be viewed after 24 hours. Whenever anyone visits your Instagram profile area, they may watch your prior stories. Also, for better understanding, you can add names to each Highlight, use aesthetic covers, and add multiple stories under one Highlight.
- Open your Instagram Story → Tap Highlight.
- Select New.
- Add the highlight’s name and tap Add.
Control who can see your Instagram highlights
Whether you have private, public, or professional, you can control the privacy of your IG Story Highlights. Note that only followers can see your highlights if you have a private account.
- After you’ve added a story, choose the hamburger menu in the top right → Tap Settings and privacy.
- Choose Hide story and live.
- Tap Hide story and live from.
- Select the people that you’d like to hide your story from, then tap Done.
To unhide your story from someone, tap their username to de-select them
How to remove an Instagram story from Highlights?
If you no longer want any highlights on your profile, you may delete that. The Story will be saved to your archive and not be deleted permanently.
- Open the highlight → Tap More (three-dot icon).
- Select Remove from highlight.
- Tap Remove to confirm.
FAQs
Yes. By default, Instagram saves your stories to archives after they disappeared. But stories added to the Highlights remain visible forever and show the views count for the next 48 hours of publishing. Also, if you have a professional account, you can check the impressions (number of times the story is played).
You can’t watch the Highlight stories secretly within the 48 hours timespan as Instagram records the viewers’ count. But after that, the poster will not know you’ve watched it. There’s also a hack to view Instagram Stories anonymously.
There is currently no feature that informs you if someone has taken a screenshot of your highlights. Also, you will not be alerted if someone watches your Instagram highlights.
Yes. If the account is public, you can see their highlights. Only for a private account do you need to first follow them. Once the following request is approved, you can watch the stories.
Happy Instagramming!
I hope now you know how to check who viewed your Instagram highlights. While Instagram does not provide an official feature to check who viewed your Highlights, these workarounds that can help you get this information. If you have any doubts, you may comment down below or ask us directly on Instagram @igeeksblog 😎
Explore more…
- Can you check who viewed your Instagram profile?
- How to hide your active status on Instagram
- Tips to use Instagram on iPhone Like a Pro!
Ava is an enthusiastic consumer tech writer coming from a technical background. She loves to explore and research new Apple products & accessories and help readers easily decode the tech. Along with studying, her weekend plan includes binge-watching anime.
Jibin Joseph is the Content Editor at iGeeksBlog and has excellent attention to detail. He is a voracious reader, with interests ranging from philosophy and history to geopolitics and tech. When not reading or correcting grammar, you’d find him engaging in discussions about football. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @4ibin.