Instagram stories is a great way to keep a track what’s happening in the life of people you follow. However, as soon as you view any story, it shows up in the Viewers section. This makes it easy for the uploader to know whether you’ve seen it or not. Well, due to any reason that you end up being blocked or restricted there are ways you can still view the stories.
Here’s how to anonymously view Instagram stories. Do keep in mind, you to watch only the public users’ stories. There’s no app (or workaround) that lets you see Instagram stories for a private account. That’s just not possible at the moment.
Let’s begin.
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Watch Someone’s Instagram Story Without Them Knowing
1. Story Stalker (Android App)
While most apps on the play store require you to sign-in using Instagram or Facebook, with Story Stalker, you can view the story just like you do on the browser. There are absolutely no ads in the app and the UI is super-basic.
There are two features in the app, one is the Stalk List and the other is the Follow list. You can simply add any number of people in the stalk list and tap on the name to view their stories just like you do on Instagram.
The second tab which is the Follow list feature, lets you see the stories of people on your list anonymously. The only catch is that you need to sign-in with your Instagram account in the app. This way it syncs all the people you follow on Insta, making it easy to view their story anonymously within the app.
Pros
- Stalk list to see stories of multiple users
- Minimal UI without ads
Cons
- Doesn’t show followers/following count
- Not available for iOS
Get Story Stalker
2. Storized – Story Viewer for IG
Storized provides an easy way to anonymously watch Instagram stories of any public account. Simply download and open the app. Next type the Instagram handle name and view all the stories currently active by that user. You might have to re-install the app if you don’t see any stories in the first go.
You can add multiple users to favorites, which makes it easy to quickly view stories you frequently see. The only drawback of this app is intrusive full-page ads when you try to view the story. If you’re fine with closing the ads, great, if not, you can upgrade to the pro version at $3.99/monthly.
Pros
- Bookmark users for instant view
- Supports HD profile picture and post viewer
Cons
- Shows full-screen ads
- No one time buy option
3. MyStalk (Web)
The previous app works well, however, if you don’t see any active stories even after reinstalling the app, My Stalk is a web app you can try. To view stories, open your mobile browser and head to Mystalk. You will see the search bar right at the top which you can use to feed in the username of the Instagram account you want to check. You’ll get better search results if you’re sure about the username, else you’ll have to search for the account you’re looking for from the search results.
You can use the website to view stories as well as posts. You also have the option to open individual posts by clicking on them, which works well, if you want to see a long description or view multiple comments.
As we’re all aware, a story expires in 24 hours, so downloading the story is the only option if you want to view it later. The website does not have a download button per se. But you can simply tap and hold on any story or post and select save-as, just like we do for any picture on the internet.
Limitations
The website is easy to use, and you do not need an account to view stories. However, I found three things that bothered me and might bother you as well. Firstly, the site is filled with ads. So if you’re on your phone you need to use browsers that have in-built ad-blocking features, such as Brave browser. Secondly, you cannot tap on a user’s follower or following tab which isn’t the case on Instagram. But again you can easily open their account and view using the Insta app, without letting them know.
While the previous two can be ignored, the third one, which is the Stalk option on the website didn’t work for me. It essentially gives the user ability to add profiles to stalk list, so you don’t have to manually search users every time. Although I signed up and added a few profiles, it still showed no user found. Despite all this, I’d still recommend it as it does what it says and that’s what we need!
Pros
- Works on iPhone
- View both stories & posts
- Support Hashtag searches
- Tap and hold to download content
Cons
- Not an app replacement
- Too many ads
- Needs an adblocker browser
Visit MyStalk
Closing Remarks
So there were some tested ways if you don’t want to embarrass yourself watching someone’s story you shouldn’t be watching. Another way to take a sneak peek at someone’s story was by opening Instagram so that all the stories load and switching on Airplane mode. Of course, you have to close the app and open it again, however it doesn’t seem to work all the time, but you can still give it a try.
Also Read How to Post on Instagram from PC
