FollowBell
Search each one in the other's Following list. Open the first profile, tap Following, type the second username. Then the same the other way. Two minutes, no app needed, as long as the lists you open are public.
If one of the two is private, there is still a way, from the public side. If both are private, nobody outside can tell.
How to check if someone follows someone on Instagram
- Open the first person's profile and tap Following.
- Use the search bar at the top of the list and type the second person's username. If they appear, the first follows the second.
- Open the second person's profile, tap Following, and search the first username.
- Both found: they follow each other. Only one: it goes one way.
Search by username rather than scrolling. On someone else's profile the list is not in the order they followed people, and on a long list a name is easy to miss. Why that order is not what it looks like.
When one of the two is private
You cannot open a private account's lists. But a follow has two ends, and the public end shows it:
- Does the private account follow the public one? Open the public account's Followers and search the private username.
- Does the public account follow the private one? Open the public account's Following and search the private username.
That answers both directions without ever opening the private profile. When both accounts are private, there is no public end left, and nobody outside can tell.
Does he follow her back?
Usually the question comes right after a follow: he followed someone new, and what matters is whether it goes both ways. The check is the same: search his username in her Following, or hers in his Followers.
In FollowBell, an Android app that watches public Instagram accounts, you never have to ask. When an account you watch follows someone new, the notification already says it: “Followed 1 woman: @ines.karalis · follows back” If that could not be read, the line simply says nothing about it, rather than guess, and one tap on the person checks it.
Checking two accounts in FollowBell
Pick two accounts and FollowBell answers in one screen, each part both ways:
- Do they follow each other. Also when one of the two is private, by the method above.
- Do they like each other's posts, on the six most recent of each. How the likes are checked, and their limits.
- Did either tag the other in their recent posts.
Each question gets a one-line answer, both ways, one way only, or no, with who did what underneath. Tap an answer to see the posts behind it. When part of it cannot be read, it says so instead of guessing. No Instagram login is involved, so nothing shows on either side.
What you can know: whether each follows the other right now, even when one account is private.
What no app can tell you, whatever its ads say: since when. Instagram publishes no follow date, and a follow found today may be years old.
What about mutual followers?
Instagram shows the followers you have in common with someone, under their name. It does not do that between two other people, and FollowBell does not list them either. What it answers is the direct question: do these two follow each other, and does it go further than a follow.
Know if it goes both ways
Follows, likes and tags between two public accounts, and “follows back” on every new follow. No Instagram login. Android, on Google Play.