FAQ: checking who doesn't follow you back on Instagram

No. Your file is processed on your device and never uploaded to our servers. FollowBackCheck.app reads your Instagram export inside your browser, so your messages, history and other contents stay on your device.

To be completely open: the page itself also loads ad, consent and analytics scripts (Google AdSense and a cookieless Umami counter). Those scripts never receive your file or anything read from it. See the privacy policy for details.

Opening and browsing your file is free, and stays free. A one-time €5.99 unlock (no subscription) adds exports and downloads and lifts the free size limits for large files on FollowBackCheck.app. It pays for development and hosting. Ads stay on for everyone, and free viewing never goes away.

Lost access on a new browser? Use Restore purchase with the email you paid with.

You never log in and never give us your Instagram password. You download your own data from Instagram (the official “Download your information” feature) and drop the file here. The check runs in your browser: your file is processed on your device and never uploaded to our servers.

Apps that ask for your Instagram login act as you on Instagram, which breaks its rules and can get your account flagged or locked. Reading your own download has no such risk.

Accounts that were deactivated or deleted stay in some lists but their profile no longer opens. In messages they appear as “Instagram User”. Accounts that changed their username show the old name in an older download.

The download is a snapshot of the moment Instagram prepared it, which can be hours or days before you open it. The app counts live and can include accounts Instagram leaves out of the download (some restricted, spam or suspended accounts). Small differences are normal. Big ones usually mean the date range was not set to “All time”.

Not from a single download, because Instagram only includes your current followers. Compare two downloads from different dates in the Compare tab and you get exactly who left in between. See who unfollowed me on Instagram.

The zip from Instagram’s “Download your information”, in JSON format, with “Followers and following” included. You can drop the whole zip or just followers_1.json (plus followers_2.json… if you have them) and following.json. The export guide walks you through it.

When you requested the download, the format was set to HTML. Request a new one and choose JSON. HTML downloads are meant for reading in a browser and their layout changes too often to process reliably.

Instagram doesn’t include a date for every entry, particularly very old follows and some extra lists. Those rows show a dash.

Yes. If your download includes Messages, open the Messages tab to see your conversations, newest first, with reactions, group chats and photos from the download. We also fix the garbled emoji and accented letters that appear when you open the files yourself. The free view shows up to 20,000 messages per conversation; the unlock removes that limit and lets you save chats as PDF or text.

Photos only show if they are inside the zip. If you requested the download without media, or the photo was a disappearing message or a post shared from someone else, you’ll see a placeholder instead.

Yes. Download the zip on your phone, open FollowBackCheck.app in your browser and choose the file from Downloads or the Files app. Very large downloads with lots of media are easier on a computer.

A one-time €5.99 payment (no subscription) unlocks CSV downloads of any list, saving conversations as PDF or plain text (with photos when they are in the zip), conversations longer than the free limit, and the names in the two-download compare. Viewing your lists stays free.

No. It’s an independent tool. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta. Instagram is a trademark of its owner.