How to Watch Instagram Stories Anonymously (Free)

‘How to watch Instagram stories anonymously’ has become a common question recently. It’s understandable for many valid reasons. If you’re a brand, influencer, or Instagram user looking to grow and monetize your account, Instagram stories are powerful tools for your social media marketing and overall content marketing goals. Businesses use them to keep customers engaged and informed about their products and services. And adopting the strategy will do your business lots of good.

However, to successfully implement Instagram stories as part of your social media marketing plans, you must do a competitor analysis to know how your competitors use them and how you can improve your Instagram story strategy. This might require you to watch your competitors’ Instagram stories anonymously to avoid being traced.

This article discusses free ways to watch Instagram stories anonymously on your computer, Android device, or iPhone. They’re easy and rarely require human verification.

Analyzing your competitors' Instagram story strategy is one of the best ways to learn, improve, and gain an edge. These anonymous Instagram story view tips will help you.
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Free Ways to Watch Instagram Stories Anonymously on PC, Android, and iPhone

Create a New Instagram Account

This is easily one of the surest ways to watch Instagram stories anonymously, as your real identity will be concealed. It requires you to create a new Instagram account where your name, photos, and other vital information that could reveal your identity are hidden.

If you already have an Instagram account, you only need to add a new one and switch between them as often as you’d like to view someone’s Instagram stories anonymously. However, if you don’t have an Instagram account, you must create one, as this method of viewing Instagram stories anonymously won’t work without an account.

To learn more about creating an Instagram account, switching between accounts, increasing your Instagram stories view, and using Instagram for business, buy my Udemy course on Instagram for business owners.

With a new unidentifiable account, your competitors won't know you're the one analyzing their page. Learn how to do this and other anonymous story view tips.
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Switch to Airplane Mode

You can also watch Instagram stories anonymously without creating a different account. You can do this by turning on airplane mode on your phone before watching the Instagram story. This is one of the easiest ways to view Instagram stories with your identity hidden.

Here are steps to follow if you want to watch Instagram stories anonymously by switching to airplane mode:

Open your Instagram application.
Log into your account.
Open the Instagram user’s profile whose story you want to watch anonymously.
Wait for their stories to appear at the top of your screen.
Turn on airplane mode on your Android device or iPhone to disconnect the internet.
Then proceed to watch the stories.
Once you’re done, close the app before turning off your airplane mode.

This method is effective when the user doesn’t have too many stories uploaded. This is because once you open someone’s profile, Instagram automatically preloads the user’s stories to enable you to view them even without an internet connection. Therefore, you can only view the stories successfully preloaded, as some would require you to turn back on your internet connection.

Viewing Instagram Stories with Free Instagram Private Story Viewer Apps.

Just like you can view private Instagram accounts and Facebook stories, you can also view Instagram stories without being seen when you use online private story viewer apps. There are many options, but you have to be careful of the apps you’re using so you don’t use any that don’t work effectively.

I’ll explain.

How to View Instagram Stories Anonymously Using Free Instagram Private Story Viewer

Another way you can watch Instagram stories anonymously is by using private story viewer websites or applications. These third-party websites or applications allow you to discreetly watch people’s stories, videos, and images on Instagram without switching accounts or even logging into the platform.

To view any user’s Instagram stories anonymously using third-party tools, you must provide their username or the link to their profile. This allows third-party apps to access their profiles and make their stories available for viewing or downloading.

Many third-party online tools allow you to watch Instagram stories anonymously. Popular among them are:

mSpy InstaStories Viewer

mSpy InstaStories Viewer is a web-based platform that allows you to watch and download stories of Instagram users anonymously without registration or logging into your account. You can watch and download stories from public Instagram accounts even after the 24-hour time limit has expired.

The app allows you to secretly track stories and highlights, live broadcasts (online broadcasts, streams, recordings of broadcasts), posts (photos, videos, text publications), likes, comments, and subscribers of other Instagram users without even signing up on their platform.

It also allows you to download these stories, making it easy to use them for market research and competitor analysis later on. Another fascinating feature of InstaStories is that it allows you to view stories in any language.

How to Use InstaStories to View Instagram Stories Anonymously.

To use InstaStories, you must:

Copy the name or link of the Instagram profile you want to view anonymously.
Paste into the search box on the InstaStories homepage.
Click on the search icon at the far right of the search box.
You’ll now be taken to the Instagram profile, where you can view and download the person’s stories anonymously.

IgAnony

IgAnony is easily one of the best Instagram story viewers out there. In addition to offering you the basic features of an Instagram story viewer – the ability to watch, save, and download stories anonymously – the web-based app offers one of the best interfaces you can ask for.

The usage guide for IgAnony is the same as InstaStories. You only need the username or URL of the Instagram profile you want to watch anonymously to get started.

How to Use IgAnony to View Instagram Stories Anonymously.

To use IgAnony, you must:

Copy the name or link of the Instagram profile you want to view anonymously.
Paste into the search box on the IgAnony homepage.
Click on the search icon at the far right of the search box.
You’ll now be taken to the Instagram profile, where you can view and download the person’s stories anonymously.

StoriesIG

StoriesIG is another third-party online tool that allows you to watch and save Instagram stories without revealing your identity. The platform allows you to watch and download photos, videos, IGTV videos, reels, carousels, photo albums, etc.

How to watch Instagram stories with StoriesIG

To watch and download Instagram stories on StoriesIG:

Open Instagram from your browser or launch the app.
Copy the URL or username of the profile you want to watch.
Paste the link on the search box on the StoriesIG homepage for the profile to come up.
Watch or save the stories for later.

InstaNavigation

InstaNavigation is another third-party online tool you can use to view Instagram stories anonymously. Like other Instagram story viewers, InstaNavigation doesn’t require you to log into your account to view people’s stories. The platform also allows you to download stories and view them later.

How to watch Instagram stories with InstaNavigation

To use InstaNavigation to watch stories anonymously, here are the simple steps to follow:

Open Instagram from your browser or launch the app.
Copy the URL or username of the profile you want to watch its stories.
Paste the link on the search box on the InstaNavigation homepage for the profile to come up.
Watch or save the stories for later.

Ghostify

If you prefer using your computer to browse Instagram, Ghostify might be your favorite Instagram story viewer. It works differently from others, allowing you to log into your Instagram account and view profiles and their stories without leaving a trace. This is possible as Ghostify has a Chrome extension that, once turned on, makes you anonymous while browsing through Instagram.

Ghostify also has mobile applications that let you watch Instagram stories anonymously on your mobile device.

How to watch Instagram stories with Ghostify

To use Ghostify on your computer, here are the steps to follow:

Download and install the Ghostify extension on your Chrome browser.
Log into your Instagram account on the official Instagram website.
Start browsing Instagram anonymously.
The owner will not know the stories you view while your Ghostify extension is turned on.

These anonymous story view apps are critical to helping you learn more about your competitors without them knowing.
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Watching Instagram Stories Without Being Seen – FAQs

How can I view Instagram stories anonymously without an account?

To view Instagram stories anonymously without an account, use third-party websites or apps like InstaStories, IgAnony, etc. These Instagram viewers allow you to view any Instagram user’s stories, images, videos, and photo carousels by simply copying and pasting their username or URL into a search box.

How do you view anonymous stories on the Instagram app?

To view stories anonymously on the Instagram app:

Open the app and let the stories preload.
Turn on airplane mode on your device.
View the stories as you’d normally do.
Close the app and turn off the airplane mode.

Can someone see if I viewed their Instagram story if we are not friends?

Yes, someone can see that you viewed their Instagram story even if you’re not following each other.

However, this is only possible if their Instagram account is set to public. If the user’s account is private, you’ll be unable to view their stories unless you follow them.

Can people see how many times you viewed their Instagram story?

No, Instagram never displays how many times you’ve viewed a story. If you view someone’s Instagram story, the algorithm shows them the time you viewed it and the list of other viewers. It doesn’t show if you re-watch the story later.

Can you view a story without the person knowing?

Yes. Here are three key ways to view a story without the owner knowing:

Create another Instagram account with your identity concealed.
Turn on airplane mode on your device before watching the story.
Use third-party websites or apps to view the stories without having an account.

How can you see someone’s story if they hide their story?

If someone hides their Instagram story from you, you can only see it by viewing it with another account. This is because Instagram allows people to choose who to display their stories to and who to exclude from seeing them. Therefore, if a story is hidden, you can only view it with an account that’s not barred from viewing it.

Will Instagram notify the person if I screenshot or save their post or story?

No. Instagram doesn’t notify users when you save or screenshot their stories, posts, or reels. However, they’ll be notified when you screenshot a message in vanish mode.

Is it possible to view everyone’s story without an account?

You can view people’s stories without an account using third-party websites or apps like InstaStories. These third-party online tools only require you to provide the user’s username or URL, and you can view their stories, photos, videos, and every other public information on the account.

Where can I watch Instagram stories anonymously?

You can watch Instagram stories anonymously on third-party websites like InstaStories, IgAnony, StoriesIG, InstaNavigation, etc.

How can I see someone’s old stories on Instagram?

The only guaranteed way to see someone’s old Instagram stories is if they saved them as highlights. With this, you can go to their profile and view their highlights to see the old stories you’re searching for. However, some third-party apps promise to show Instagram stories beyond the 24-hour time limit.

How can I see an Instagram story preview?

To preview an Instagram story, here are simple steps to follow:

Launch the Instagram app on your device (it works best on mobile devices).
Locate the Instagram user’s profile whose stories you want to preview.
Once the stories have been preloaded, you’ll see a colorful ring around the user’s profile picture. That shows the user has an active story.
Press and hold the profile picture to preview their story.
Release your finger to exit the preview.

Is InstaStories safe to use?

Yes, InstaStories is entirely safe to use. The web-based app allows you to view people’s profiles and stories anonymously without creating an account on their site. This means that your personal information is safe, as the website does not store them.

Does Ghostify work on Instagram?

Yes, Ghostify allows you to view Instagram stories anonymously. It works on public Instagram accounts; however, if you’re already following a private account, you can view their stories on Instagram without being traced.

Enjoy your Research Watching Instagram Stories Anonymously

Instagram stories are powerful tools for social media marketing. Studying your competitors’ Instagram stories will help you implement stories better. With these different ways to watch Instagram stories anonymously without giving your competitors a clue that you’re monitoring them, I hope you achieve your research goals.

Have you tried these ways to view Instagram stories without being seen? How was your experience?

Have you started using Instagram Stories for your account? I’d love to know more in the comments below.

Sign up for my online Udemy Instagram for Beginners Class below to learn more about using Instagram for your small business. This online class gets updated from time to time with newer strategies and tools for Instagram.

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