How to Hide “Seen” from Someone’s Instagram Story

Keep your Instagram story views private with this easy-to-use guide

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: June 10, 2024 Fact Checked

The original poster of an Instagram story will see a list of everyone who viewed it. This wikiHow will teach you how to hide your "Seen by" activity on an Instagram story using the mobile app. If you've viewed a story that you don't want the original poster to know about, you can block that person for as long as the story is visible on their profile page (24 hours). If that person happens to be a friend that you're following, blocking them will also unfriend and unfollow them, so you'll need to redo that after blocking them for 24 hours.^{[1]
X
Research source}

How can you hide that you viewed an Instagram story?

Open Instagram and go to the story poster’s profile.
Tap the menu icon (3 dots).
Block the person for 24 hours to ensure their story disappears.
Unblock the person (and re-add them if needed) to be seen in their story views again.

Steps

Download Article

This app looks like a multi-colored orange, pink, and purple camera icon that you can find on one of your Home screens, in the app drawer, or by searching.
This story might also be in your Story Feed on your Home screen. Tap on the profile of that story to continue.

Advertisement
It's in the top right corner of their profile page.^{[2]
X
Research source}
4
Tap Block. Tap Block again to confirm your action.^{[3]
X
Research source}
- Keep this person blocked for 24 hours, or until the story disappears from their profile. If you unblock them too early, they will see that you viewed their story.
- To unblock this person, go to Settings > Privacy > Blocked Accounts, tap their profile and the three-dot menu, and finally tap Unblock.^{[4]
  X
  Research source} If you are friends or follow them, you'll need to re-friend or re-follow them.