See everyone you've hidden your Instagram story from, with dates

How it works

1. 1

   Request the export

   In Instagram, open Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export. Choose only Followers and following, then All time, JSON and Download to device. That one category includes the smaller files this page reads.

2. 2

   Download the ZIP

   Instagram usually has it ready in 10–20 minutes and tells you by email and in the app. Download it from the same screen; the link only works for a few days, so don't leave it.

3. 3

   Upload it here

   Drop the ZIP on this page. Everything runs in your browser tab and the file is never uploaded. Your counts appear immediately, free.

4. 4

   Unlock the lists

   The full non-followers list is a one-time $2.99. The account audit add-on, $3 on top, delivers this list with dates as a CSV together with the other audit lists.

What hiding your story does

Hide story from is the narrowest of Instagram's privacy tools. The account you hide from keeps following you, keeps seeing your posts and reels, and can still message you. They simply never see your stories or live videos, and nothing tells them so; your story just doesn't appear in their tray. It's the tool for the boss, the ex, the relative, the customer: people you don't want to block or even restrict.

Because the follow is untouched, these accounts stay in your followers list and, if you follow them, in your following list. The hide setting is recorded in its own file in the export.

Where Instagram shows the list, and what it leaves out

You manage it under Settings → Hide story and live → Hide story from, a checklist of your followers where the ticked names are hidden. It works well for ticking and unticking one person. It doesn't show when you hid someone, it mixes the hidden names into your whole followers list so you can only find them by scrolling for ticks, and there is no count and no export.

The export file hide_story_from.json lists only the hidden accounts, each with the username, a profile link and the date you hid your story from them. The tour of the export's files shows where it sits in the ZIP.

Getting the list from your export

Create the export from Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Export your information → Create export, choose only Followers and following, then All time, JSON and Download to device. Instagram usually has it ready in 10–20 minutes. Upload the ZIP here; the comparison runs in your browser and the file is never sent anywhere.

The page shows how many accounts you've hidden your story from, next to the non-follower, fan and mutual counts from the same export. Hidden accounts still count in those three wherever they belong, because the follow itself is unchanged.

What's free, what's in the audit add-on

Free: the hidden-from-story count, the three relationship counts, and CSV downloads of your full followers and following lists. Paid: the full non-followers list is a one-time $2.99, and the account audit is a $3 add-on chosen at checkout. The audit delivers this list with dates as hide_story_from.csv, together with blocked and restricted accounts, close friends, pending requests, recent unfollows and a month-by-month follower growth table, all emailed as CSVs and shown on your results page.

You can also open hide_story_from.json yourself; the guide to opening the export covers phones and computers.

Hide story, Close Friends, Restrict: three lists that look alike

These three are easy to confuse because all of them leave the follow intact.

• Hide story from is a block list for stories: everyone sees your story except these accounts. File: hide_story_from.json, this page.
• Close Friends is the opposite, an allow list: only these accounts see a story you share with close friends. File: close_friends.json, read by the Close Friends page.
• Restrict doesn't touch stories at all. It hides their new comments from other people and moves their messages to requests. File: restricted_profiles.json, read by the restricted accounts page.
• Block ends the relationship entirely. File: blocked_profiles.json, read by the blocked accounts page.

Things to know

Hiding is per account and stays until you untick it. If someone you've hidden from unfollows you, the setting persists invisibly and applies again if they follow you back, which is one reason a dated list is worth having: it shows you the settings you made years ago and forgot. Unhiding is done in the app; this page only reads the list.

Accounts deleted since you hid your story from them may appear as placeholders or be dropped, because there is no username left to show. The list is a snapshot of the moment Instagram built the file; a new answer needs a new export.

Frequently asked questions