See everyone you've restricted on Instagram, 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 Restrict actually does

Restrict arrived in 2019 as the quiet alternative to blocking. A restricted account still follows you and still sees your posts and stories, and nothing tells them anything has changed. What changes is on your side: their comments on your posts are visible only to them unless you approve each one, their direct messages land in your message requests instead of your inbox, and they can't see when you were last active or whether you've read what they sent. It is built for the person you don't want to escalate with.

Because the follow stays intact, restricted accounts remain in your followers list and, if you follow them, in your following list. The restriction itself is recorded separately, which is why the export keeps it in its own file.

Where Instagram shows the list, and what it leaves out

Instagram keeps the list at Settings → Restricted accounts (inside the privacy or interactions section, depending on the app version). It shows each account with an Unrestrict button. Like the blocked screen, it has no dates, no search on most versions and no export. If you want to know when you restricted someone, or how many accounts you've restricted over the years, the screen can't tell you.

The export can. restricted_profiles.json, one of the smaller files in the Followers and following category, lists each restricted account with the username, a profile link and the date the restriction was added. The tour of the export's files explains 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 your restricted count next to the non-follower, fan and mutual counts. Since restricted accounts stay in the main lists, each of them also appears wherever it belongs: a restricted account that follows you and that you follow is still a mutual, and one you follow that doesn't follow back is still listed as not following back.

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

Free: the restricted 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 restricted.csv, together with blocked accounts, close friends, pending requests, recent unfollows, accounts hidden from your story and a month-by-month follower growth table, all emailed as CSVs and shown on your results page.

You can also read restricted_profiles.json directly; the guide to opening the export shows how to get at the files on a phone or a computer.

Restrict, block, mute, hide: which one you used

Four tools, four different effects, and only three of them leave a file in the export.

• Restrict: they keep following; their new comments are hidden from others until you approve them; their messages go to requests; no notification. File: restricted_profiles.json, this page.
• Block: the follow is severed both ways and they can't find your profile. File: blocked_profiles.json, read by the blocked accounts page.
• Mute: their posts or stories stop appearing in your feed; nothing changes for them. No file.
• Hide your story: they keep following you but never see your stories or live videos. File: hide_story_from.json, read by the hidden-from-story page.

Things to know

Restrictions don't expire. An account you restricted in 2020 is still restricted today unless you lifted it, which is exactly the kind of thing a dated list surfaces. Restrict affects what they do from then on; comments they left before are unchanged unless you delete them. Restricting and unrestricting are done in the app, from their profile or from one of their comments; this page only reads the list.

Accounts deleted since you restricted them may show as placeholders or be dropped, because the export has no username left to show. And the list is a snapshot of the moment Instagram built the file: a new answer needs a new export.

Frequently asked questions