How to See Someone's Instagram Activity (2026)

There is no public activity feed for another account. You can see likes and comments on public posts, story views you post, and their public follows. Everything else is guessing or a rule break.

SUS Editorial TeamSep 24, 2026

There is no feed that shows what another account is doing on Instagram. The app used to have a Following tab that surfaced likes and comments from people you follow, and it is gone. What remains are isolated signals: a like you can see on a public post, a comment, a story view on your own story, and their public follow list.

"See someone's activity" is therefore not one feature. It is a collection of small, public observations, and the gap between what you can see and what you want to see is where the scam apps live.

The old Following tab is gone

Instagram's Following tab, which showed recent likes and comments from accounts you followed, was removed years ago. That was the closest thing to an activity feed, and it only ever covered people you follow, not anyone else. It is not coming back, and no setting restores it.

So the historical answer to "see someone's activity" is a dead feature. What survives today is narrower.

What you can actually see

Likes and comments on public posts are visible, one post at a time. If the account likes a public photo, you can see that like on the photo's list. If they comment, the comment is public. This is real, but it is scattered — there is no aggregate view.

Story views work the other way: you see who viewed your story, not who they view. A like or a view is a single data point, and it does not carry a date you can read afterward. The pattern is the same as the one behind recent followers: you get a present-tense observation, not a history.

The follow list is the strongest signal

The one activity you can track over time is who they follow. Save a copy of their public following list today, save it again later, and the difference is their new follows. That is the method in seeing who someone recently followed, and it is the closest thing to a real activity trail that Instagram actually exposes.

A follow is not proof of anything — not contact, not interest, not a relationship. But it is a dated event on your side of the ledger, which is more than a like gives you.

What "activity tracker" apps actually do

Most tracker apps do the two-copies loop on a public following list, then present the result as an activity feed. That part is real, within the same limits: public accounts only, nothing from before the first capture, no dates for other people.

Anything more — likes history, search history, profile views, private-account activity — is not available to any legitimate tool. The private account answer is the boundary: without approval, there is no list, and therefore nothing to track.

Your own activity is a different story

Your own account has a real log: your following list, sorted by date. It shows who you followed and when, which is the one activity timeline Instagram hands back to its owner. SUS reads that personal list and turns it into a dated timeline on iPhone. It will not reconstruct someone else's activity, because that data is not served to anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see what someone liked on Instagram?

On public posts, yes — one post at a time, if you look at the like list. There is no aggregate feed.

Is there an activity log for other accounts?

No. The old Following tab is gone, and it only covered people you follow.

Do activity tracker apps show everything?

No. They mostly track public follows over time. Likes history and profile views are not readable by any legitimate tool.

Can I see a private account's activity?

No. Without approval there is no list and no activity to read.

Does Instagram notify them if I check their activity?

Looking at public lists and posts is silent. Follows and story views are not.

What to take away

Someone's Instagram activity is not a feed you can open. It is a handful of public signals, and the follow list is the only one you can track over time. If you want a real activity timeline, the one you own is on your own account.