The reasons why you might want someone to unfollow you on Instagram can be different: stalkers, weird strangers' accounts, or simply people you don't like. If you want to get rid of these people from your followers list, keep reading.
This piece covers two actionable ways to get someone to unfollow you on Instagram.
💡If you want to make your Instagram page a safer space for your followers and yourself, check our guide with 8 tips on how to do that.
Remove Them from the Followers List
Instagram lets you manually remove users as followers. They won’t get notified when you do so.
Here’s a short guide on how to remove someone as a follower from your Instagram followers list:
- Open your Instagram profile.
- Go to your list of followers.
- Find the user(s) you want to remove from your list and tap Remove.
If, for some reason, you can’t find a person on the list, you can use an alternative method:
- Search for the user you want to remove on Instagram search.
- Once you find them, go to their profile and click on the three dots icon at the top right corner of their profile.
- Hit Remove.
That’s it! The person will be removed from your followers list.
Note that by removing a user from the followers list, you don’t restrict them from following you again, so this person can hit the Follow button if they notice you've removed them.
What Happens When You Remove a User as a Follower on Instagram
They will no longer be able to see your stories unless they visit your profile. And if your account is private, they won’t see your stories even when visiting it, either. What’s more, they won’t see your posts and Reels in their feed.
Block & Instantly Unblock a User
Another method to get rid of a specific follower is to block the user and then instantly unblock them. Note that this method doesn’t stop them from re-following you, either. If you want to restrict the user from following you whatsoever ever again, you’d better block them or make your account private. The user won’t get notified when you block and/or unblock them.
To block and unblock a person, go to their profile and tap on the three dots icon at the top right corner. Then click Block on the menu that opens. Then you can instantly press Unblock. This will ensure they no longer follow you, but here’s what else you should have in mind:
- You will no longer follow them, either.
- If you don’t unblock them, they won’t be able to find you on Instagram.
- Your likes and comments will be removed from their posts, and so will their likes and comments under your posts.
- You won’t be able to DM each other.
💡To discover if someone has blocked you on Instagram, check our another guide!
Blocking someone is a radical way that’ll eradicate the user’s interactions with your profile entirely. And if you unblock them, they can find you on Instagram again, your likes will appear under their content again and their—under yours. You’ll also be able to message each other again on Instagram Direct.
Some other articles that cover this topic also mention Instagram restriction as an actionable way, but when you restrict someone, you don’t get them to unfollow you. Instead, you just hide their comments under your posts, they can't tell if you’re online, or whether you’ve read their DMs. That might potentially make them hit the Unfollow button you, but that’s not how you get them to unfollow your account.
How to Get Someone to Unfollow You on Instagram: FAQ
🟣 Can you stop someone from following you on Instagram without blocking them?
No. You can, of course, make your profile private, but that won’t stop anyone from at least trying to follow you. You’ll need to accept the follow request manually, though, so you have more control over who can become your follower.
🟣 Can you remove multiple followers on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t allow you to batch-unfollow multiple people at a time. Besides, if you do that too quickly, even manually, Instagram might think you’re a bot, so be careful.
🟣 Can I control who follows me on Instagram?
Only if you make your Instagram account private. In this case, you’ll be able to control who follows you and manually accept or decline their requests.
🟣 Can someone see if I unfollow them?
Users won’t get notified once you hit the Remove button or block them. But they can find out you made them unfollow you when they visit your profile. If you want them to never find your page again, simply block them.
🟣 When you unfollow someone on Instagram, can they still see your posts?
If you don’t block the person or make your account private, everyone can see your posts. However, you can close your stories from certain people.
🟣 How do you remove followers who don't follow you?
You can do that with third-party tools like Combin Growth.
Combin can instantly detect who doesn’t follow you back and unfollow them both selectively and a whole lot in one click:
- Download Combin Growth, it's available for Mac, PC and Linux.
- Launch the application and log in with your Instagram account.
- Open the Users tab and get access to all Instagram accounts you follow.
- Click Not followers and see a list of all users that don’t follow you back.
- Click Select All and push the Unfollow the users button to mass-unfollow all Instagram accounts that don’t follow you.
That’s it! After this task for unfollowing will be automatically created and started by the application. You can monitor its progress in the Tasks tab.