How to Watch Instagram Stories Anonymously

You can view Instagram stories anonymously by using a second account, enabling airplane mode before opening a story, or using a third-party app, though none are fully reliable.

Sera Karasu

October 18, 2022, 12:20 PM2 min read

In brief

AI summary

Creating a second Instagram account lets you view other people's stories without them seeing your main account.
Enabling airplane mode before opening a story can work since Instagram preloads a few stories in advance.
Third-party apps for anonymous story viewing are often unsafe and only work on public, not private, accounts.

Contents5 sections

Instagram has thousands, even millions of stories posted every day. We spend a lot of time on the app watching other people's stories and videos. But sometimes, for various reasons (personal and private ones), we don't want to be seen looking at other people's stories. We should say up front that we don't think doing this anonymously is very healthy. Still, for users who want to view stories anonymously, we'll look at how to watch Instagram stories anonymously.

How to Watch Instagram Stories Anonymously

There are some ways to view stories anonymously, though these methods may not always work. Still, let's share the easy ones we know about.

Create an Anonymous Account

If you want to view stories anonymously, you can create an account other than your own. You can switch between accounts, which lets you easily jump from your own account to that one.

Turn on Airplane Mode

Another way to view stories anonymously is to enable airplane mode. Instagram automatically preloads a few stories in advance so it can display them instantly even without a reliable Wi-Fi or data connection, so in theory you can view just one that way. To find out if it works, you need to open the account's profile in the Instagram app and turn on airplane mode on your phone before tapping the user's story.

Use Third-Party Apps

As a last resort, you can use third-party apps. However, most of these apps aren't safe and can cause issues with your account. Also, sites like this only work on public accounts and may not work on private profiles.