Is My Boyfriend/Girlfriend Following Someone New on Instagram? (How to Check)

You noticed your partner's following count went up. Or maybe you just have a gut feeling. Either way, you want to know — who did they recently start following on Instagram?

Instagram doesn't make this easy. The following list exists, but it's not sorted chronologically anymore. You can't just tap "Following" and see the newest additions at the top. The order is algorithmic, which means the most recent follows are buried somewhere in the list with no way to filter them.

There is a way to see who someone recently followed — and this guide shows you exactly how.

Can You See Who Someone Recently Started Following on Instagram?

Yes — but not directly through the Instagram app.

Instagram removed chronological sorting from both follower and following lists a few years ago. The lists still exist and are publicly visible for public accounts, but the order no longer reflects when each follow happened.

To see the following list sorted by most recent first, you need a third-party tool that retrieves and re-sorts the data the way Instagram used to display it natively.

How to Check Who Your Partner Recently Followed

InstaRadar's Following Tracker lets you enter any public Instagram username and see their full following list sorted chronologically — most recent follows at the top.

No login required. The person you're checking has no way of knowing you looked.

Step 1: Go to InstaRadar in any browser.

Step 2: Enter your partner's Instagram username. Their profile needs to be public for this to work — private accounts are not accessible by any tool.

Step 3: View the following list sorted by most recent first. The accounts they followed most recently appear at the top.

The whole process takes about 30 seconds.

What If Their Profile Is Private?

If their Instagram account is set to private, their following list is not publicly accessible. No tool — including InstaRadar — can retrieve follower or following data from private accounts. That's a hard restriction set by Instagram, not something any service can work around.

In that case, the only way to see who they follow is to be an approved follower of their account yourself.

Get Notified When They Follow Someone New

Checking manually is fine once. But if you want to know going forward whenever your partner starts following a new account — without having to check every day — InstaRadar's pro plan includes automatic activity tracking.

Once you start tracking a profile, InstaRadar monitors their following activity and sends you a notification whenever they follow someone new. You'll also be notified if they unfollow someone — both directions are tracked.

One important detail: tracking only captures activity from the moment you start. There's no way to retrieve follows that happened before you began tracking — that data is not available through Instagram's API.

Is This Normal to Do?

That's a personal question, and not one this guide is here to answer. What's worth noting: the information InstaRadar shows is entirely public. If someone's Instagram profile is set to public, anyone can see who they follow. InstaRadar simply makes that information easier to read — sorted the way Instagram used to display it before removing the feature.

Checking publicly available information about a public profile is not the same as accessing private data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will my partner know I checked their following list?

No. InstaRadar retrieves public profile data without any Instagram login. Your partner has no way of knowing you looked — no notification is sent, and no account activity is logged on your end.

What if the account they followed is private?

You'll still see the username and profile picture of the account they followed. What you won't be able to see is the content of that private account.

Can I check this without an Instagram account of my own?

Yes. InstaRadar works entirely without an Instagram login — yours or anyone else's.

Does this work for following or followers?

Both. InstaRadar shows the following list (who they follow) and the follower list (who follows them), both sorted chronologically. For checking who someone recently started following, use the following list.

How far back does the following list go?

Free users can see the 50 most recent follows. With a pro plan, you get the complete following list with no limit — all follows sorted by most recent first.

The Bottom Line

Instagram no longer shows following lists in chronological order — but the data is still there. InstaRadar retrieves it and sorts it the way Instagram used to, so you can see exactly who someone recently started following.

For ongoing monitoring, the pro plan lets you set up automatic alerts so you're notified the moment a new follow happens — without having to check manually.

See who someone recently followed on InstaRadar →