How to see any private instagram page

Is There A Way to View Private Instagram Accounts?

With more than one billion active users per month, Instagram has become the most popular social media platform for sharing visual content, whether to stay connected with family and friends or to reach out to and engage with other users with similar interests or a target market for one’s brand. Most personal accounts are, of course, kept private; Instagram accounts of celebrities, influencers, and businesses are normally available for public viewing. Whatever their default privacy settings, users always have the option to customize who can view specific posts and information.

One of the frequently asked questions about Instagram is, “Is it possible to view a private Instagram account?” Keep reading to find out.

Table of Contents

What is a Private Instagram Profile?

Private mode is an option available exclusively to personal accounts, whether you’re a regular Jane/Joe or a well-known personality. When you set your profile to private mode, only your followers can view, like, and comment on your posts and you have control over who follows your account as you can confirm or reject follow requests. You also have the option to switch to public mode so that anybody on Instagram can view your posts and follow you freely.

Business accounts, however, are always public. This means any Instagram user can follow you and see, like, and comment on your posts. If you wish to make your account private, you will first have to switch it back to a personal account.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram’s private or public mode only applies to the account itself. If you have a private profile, you can’t set the visibility of specific posts to public; and if you have a public profile, you can’t make the visibility of select posts private.

You should carefully consider the pros and cons before making the decision to set your personal profile to private or public mode. How seriously do you take your privacy? What’s the purpose of your Instagram account? Do you care if total strangers or people you barely know follow you and see and/or react to your posts?

You can easily switch between the two modes any time you want to, however. You can give each one a try to see what works best for you.

Is There a Legitimate Way to View Private Instagram Profiles?

Obviously, you can view a private IG profile and their posts by becoming a follower — given, of course, that your follow request is approved. Following a private account is the only legitimate way to view and interact with their posts. Whether or not they confirm your follow request will depend on how well they know you and how much they value their privacy.

If they only consider you a casual acquaintance, they may grant you access if they’re not too cautious about guarding their privacy. If you’re a complete stranger and the person prefers to limit their circle to only family and friends, however, it’s very likely that your follow request won’t be confirmed and you won’t have any way of viewing their private posts.

Some celebrities, for example, create one account for public consumption and another just for people they personally know. If you’re a fan, you may only be able to follow them via their public profile. If you’re keen on learning more about their private life, you may have to find other ways to take a peek because their private Instagram profile will be off-limits to the public.

What are Other Methods to View Private Instagram Accounts?

Online stalking may be pervasive in this day and age of social media, but it’s not always proper behavior. Famous personalities, of course, understand that invasion of their privacy is part of the package. Nevertheless, getting access to their private accounts by going through creative and deceptive means is still not acceptable. This is even more true for the private accounts of average individuals.

With that said, there are ways to get a glimpse of a private Instagram account. We don’t recommend that you try them because you’ll run the risk of getting reported and blocked. Different solutions to this privacy obstacle are easily searchable on Google, of course. Here are the most common tricks.

Create a New Identity for a Temporary IG Account

This method may only work if you know that the person you want to follow won’t approve your follow request using your own account. If the person in question is extremely cautious about who they allow to view their private profile, creating a fake IG account may not be an effective means to gain access.

Create a Duplicate Account

This involves impersonating another IG user and can get you into serious trouble. Nevertheless, countless individuals engage in this practice, and some do it to gain access to another person’s private profile.

How do they do it? First, they have to do some research on all social media platforms to find some of the activities of the person they’re interested in. These are likes and comments they make on other people’s posts, or even photos they may be tagged in that are public.

Second, they identify the likely candidates for impersonation. These are people that the person of interest interacts with the most. They settle on a candidate and then save a photo of the person to their phone/computer. They use this photo to create the duplicate account; they also create a believable bio using the same info from the original to make the duplicate account as believable as possible. Once the duplicate profile is complete, they can now use it to send a follow request to their person of interest.

Sometimes, this trick works; but the illusion doesn’t last. Sooner or later, the duplicate account is exposed and, more often than not, blocked and reported. Between the time when the follow request is approved and when the fake account is discovered, the faker would have already gotten a good look at their person of interest’s profile and posts.

If the said person is a shrewd sort, they may spot the fake account right away and the faker’s mission would be a failure. Again, they may be reported to Instagram and will most likely be blocked by their target.

Perform a Google Search

If your target profile used to have a public account, then you may be able to find it on Google. Public Instagram posts are indexed by Google, so when you do a Google search, you may find some of these old, public posts. You may do a Google search using your target’s current username and/or their real name.

Perform a Search on Other Social Media Platforms

More often than not, Instagram users also have accounts on other social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. If you’re unable to find your target on IG, you can look for their other social media accounts where they will most likely share the link to their IG profile. Of course, there’s always the chance that their other social media profiles will also be restricted. But this method is worth a try as you may also be able to view some of their posts on other platforms — and, needless to say, this is not borderline unethical.

Take a Peek Via a Friend’s Account

If you and your target have mutual friends and these friends are already following your target, or if you know someone who’s a follower, you could try to ask this person if they would let you view your target’s profile using their account. If you and this individual have a close enough relationship, you could also ask them to send you photos and screenshots of posts.

Use Third-Party Apps

There are a lot of third-party apps that offer “private profile viewer tools” for Instagram. You should be wary of these apps as most of them do not work as advertised and are actually designed to infect devices with malware or ransomware; others may just take your money, if you’re lucky, or also steal your personal data. Here are some of the most popular of these apps.

IGLookup.com

Also known as Instagram Grammies, this app is the most widely used private profile viewer on IG. To access a private IG profile, you simply go to the IGLookup website, click on the “Spy now” button, and then enter the username of your target. The process usually takes a bit of time before the private posts of your target are displayed for your perusal.

PrivateInsta

This app is compatible with Andoid, iOS, Windows, as well as OSX. The app doesn’t require a user to sign in to their account to be able to view a private profile; however, you will have to complete a survey first. Once you’ve completed the survey, all you have to do is enter the username of your target on the app’s website and then hit submit.

InstaLooker

The app doesn’t require a download. Just go directly to their website, click on “Spy now,” enter your target’s username, and then hit “Start Viewer.” The app also offers an export option that allows you to download your target’s photos and videos.

InstaRipper

You will first have to download the app; it’s compatible with Android, iOS, Mac OS, and Windows. And then you will be asked to enter your target’s username. You will be provided with a link from which you’ll be able to view your target’s private profile.

InstaDPS

This app works differently than other private profile viewer apps. It will ask you to copy your target’s Instagram username and paste it into the input text box. Next, you’ll click on the “Download” button. An image of your target’s profile will appear; right-click on it to save it to your device. And then you’ll be able to view it any time you want.

Private Instagram Viewer

Similar to the other apps, you will have to visit the app’s website and provide your target’s username. You will be asked to verify if the profile it comes up with is correct; once you’ve confirmed it, you’ll be able to view your target’s account without them knowing about it.

WatchInsta

You won’t need to log in to your own Instagram account to use the app. Just visit the website and provide your target’s username. Choose the type of content you want to view: photos, videos, text files, or all of them. Click “View Profile.” You also have the option to export any or all of the files in .zip format.

Insta-downloader.net

This app only allows you to download your target’s profile photo. You simply have to go to the app’s website, paste the profile photo’s link into the download box, and then click on “Download Photo.”

How Can You Make Your Profile Private?

If you value your privacy and wish to restrict access to your profile, set your account’s visibility to private. There will always be people out there who might still find a way to get past your privacy settings, i.e., they might try one or all of the methods mentioned above, so be extra careful before approving new follow requests.

To switch your account to private, just follow these steps:

Launch your Instagram app.
Tap on “Settings,” which is located at the bottom right corner of the screen.
From the account setting options, tap on the “Privacy” button.
The privacy settings will be displayed; tap on “Connections” and then “Account Privacy.”
You’ll see the Public/Private option. If the button is gray (set to the left), your account is public. Tap on the button to set it to the right; it will turn blue, which means your account is now private.

Final Thoughts

If your Instagram account is a personal one, it’s always best to keep it private. If you’re into some harmless online stalking but you don’t actually want to follow a person, the next best thing you can do is to search for them on Google and other social media platforms. The other methods of attempting to gain access to a private profile are deceptive and unethical — and, therefore, not recommended. Remember that any unethical behavior can get you blocked by your target individual and even banished from Instagram.

8 Hacks to View Private Instagram Accounts Instantly

I don’t know about you, but I hate it when Instagram tells me, “Hey, this account is private.”

It makes me wanna scream, like, “Hey Zuckerberg, I need to view this profile right now.”

Once upon a time, I had this girl I was crushing on. I came to Instagram to look up her page, only to find that it was private. I was pissed to the teeth.

I’m guessing you, too, have had your fair share of run-ins with private accounts.

Don’t stress about it. Since my experience with that girl, I’ve dedicated my life to developing hacks to break into “private Instagram accounts.”

Read on to find out what I have for you.

By the way, you can check this site to buy Instagram followers. There you’ll find strictly genuine, human followers.

Hacks to view private Instagram accounts instantly

Send a Follow request

First of all, let’s go with the oldest trick in the book: to follow the person.

When you send a Follow request to a private account, you have to wait for the owner to accept the request before you can view their profile.

If you’re in luck, and the person happens to be online around the time you send the request, then they may accept, and you will be able to view their profile right away. If not, you may have to wait until they come online.

Personally, I don’t like this trick but let’s pretend to be good boys for a sec and play by Instagram’s rules. At least, this is how they would want us to view the profile of a private account.

Call on Google for help

Perhaps you’ve waited a few seconds, and the other person has yet to accept your request. No problem. Head to your Chrome or Safari and enter the person’s username into the search bar.

Usually, when an account owner makes their profile private, Google has a library of their old posts. That is, posts they made when their account was still public.

Once the search page loads, your search results will be displayed in terms of “All,” “Images,” “News,” and “Videos.” Click the image tab. This should display a collection of that person’s public posts and profile pictures.

If you’re simply looking for a photo of them to use in a picture frame or on a birthday cake, this trick seems like a good one to go with.

Search other platforms

If someone has made their IG account private, and you’re serious about viewing their profile, then go ahead and check their Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc.

If you don’t know their full name, check their Instagram bio.

By scouring through other platforms, you just might find as many photos of the person or details about them as you need.

View through a friend

Often, you may have a friend (or a friend of a friend) who’s already following the person. If you do, ask them if they can check out the account and then save and forward the person’s posts to you.

How do you know if you have friends who are already following the person?

Simply ask via your Whatsapp status.

The fastest and surest hacks to view private accounts on Instagram

Use IGmods.com

IGmods.com is one of several third-party apps you can use to view private Instagram accounts. Follow this step-by-step guide to make use of it.

For iPhone users:

Open “Settings” and go to “General.”
Once in, find the “Background App Refresh” button and make sure it’s ON.
Next, go down to the “Battery” section and turn off low power mode.
Go to the App Store and set automatic downloads to ON.
Now visit com.
From the list of options displayed, click “VIEW PRIVATE ACCOUNT”.
Once the page loads, you’ll see a box labeled “Target Instagram Username”. Type the username of the account you’re trying to view into this box.
Hit “Connect” and wait for the system to respond.
You’ll get a message asking you to confirm the account. This lets you double-check the username you’ve typed in. Once you have, go ahead and click “Confirm.”
A progress bar will pop up, so just wait a few seconds. How long the progress bar takes to complete will depend on the number of posts on the account.
Finally, you’ll get a message that reads, “Private data successfully unlocked for XYZ.”
Now go back to Instagram and search for the username.
Voila, you should be able to see everything on the account.

What about Android and PC users?

The process is quite a bit easier for Androids. You don’t need to change any settings on your phone. Just go to the IGmods.com website and follow all the steps described above.

Use InjectBox.com

This site works directly for both iPhone and Android users. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

Go to Instagram and find the username of the private account you’re trying to view.
Now go to InjectBox.com and scroll down until you find “Private Instagram Viewer.”
Click on that and enter the person’s username.
Then click “View Private Account.”
Once the system responds, you’ll see the numbers of followers and followings on the account. You can double-check this with the original account page to confirm that it’s the right one.
Now, click on the “Confirm Username” button.
The system will ask what you’d like to do:

View photos? This allows you to see only photos.

View followers? This allows you to see only followers.

Unlock profile? This allows you to see the full profile.

Once you click the “Unlock Profile” button, the system will ask you to fill out a CAPTCHA.
Now go back to Instagram and refresh the profile page. It should be PUBLIC now, meaning that you can see everything on it.

Use the Instagram++ extension

For iPhone users:

Turn off auto rotation.
Go to “Settings”, click on “General”, and then turn on “Background App Refresh.”
Open your browser and go to HXTweaks.com.
On the homepage, scroll down to where you’ll find the search bar (just beside the “ALL APPS” icon) and type in “Instagram.”
An Instagram app with the name “Instagram ++” will show up.
Click on it to download and inject the app extension into your main Instagram app.
Afterward, you’ll be taken to a new window where you have to complete a few simple commands.
Once done, wait a few seconds for the commands to activate, then head back to Instagram.
Search for the private account again. This time, all private accounts should have been made public, so you can view these private profiles easily.

For Android users:

The only setting you need to change for Androids is auto-rotation. Once you’ve successfully turned off auto-rotation, you can go to the HXTweaks.com website and use all the steps we mentioned above.

You should be able to view all private profiles easily afterward.

Use the UnlockPrivate app

So far, we’ve been using web options. Now let’s see how we can unlock private Instagram accounts with a mobile app.

How to download the UnlockPrivate app on your iPhone

Go to “Settings,” “General,” and turn ON your “Background App Refresh.”
Next, go to “Battery” and make sure the low power mode is turned off.
Now open your browser and go to XTweak.co.
Once in, search for “Private Instagram Viewer.”
The app should pop up. Go ahead and inject it into your phone.

How to download the UnlockPrivate app on your Android

Open “Settings.”
Turn off power-saving mode.
Go to “Display” and turn off auto-rotate.
Now go to XTweak.co and download the app as described above.

How to view private accounts using the UnlockPrivate app

Go to Instagram and search for the private account you want to view.
Leave the page open, minimize your phone, and open the UnlockPrivate app.
Once in, enter the username of the private account.
Click the “View Profile” button.
Give the system a few seconds to load. Once it’s finished, go back into your Instagram app and refresh the private account page.
Voila, all the profile info should be staring at you now.

CONCLUSION

That was ‘Blursome’ guys! I hope you enjoyed it. Now, no profile can hide from us on Instagram. Feel free to choose any hack that best interests you, and you should be able to view any profile you desire.

Don’t forget that site I told you where you can buy Instagram followers and likes. They’re really legit and reputable.

This is a Contributor Post. Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Contributor. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Contributor to disclose. Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.

how to see? — LiveDune Blog

If you are looking for accounts for advertising, but are afraid to drain your budget and fall into the hands of scammers, then collect as much information as possible about someone else's account. Instagram allows you to do this in the application itself. The data will also be useful in the analysis of competitors.

Instagram competitor analysis ------ will save you other people's mistakes ------ and help you find the best practices for your strategy

More details account

on Instagram with clear conclusions and tips ------ to promote your account

in social networks quickly and not forget anything in LiveDune.

Free ------ express audit of your account: on Instagram

How to find out information about your Instagram account

dots in the upper right corner. Then select "Account Information". Unfortunately, Instagram allows you to view data only for accounts with a large reach or that advertise on Instagram. The social network positions this as protecting accounts from falsification and fighting spam. nine0004

What information is visible on Instagram about the account

Date of registration of the Instagram account. This will allow you to indirectly verify the reliability of the account, because. many newly registered profiles are created to spam or scam.

Match the registration date with the number of subscriptions. For example, an account created a week ago is unlikely to have more than 1000 subscriptions, i.e. the possibility of cheating is not excluded.

Check accounts

Check your account for likes and followers before buying ads

Country. Specified based on its actual location. For example, the user lives in Italy, but in the publications indicates the geolocation of Moscow. In the "Account Information" section, Italy will be indicated.

Active announcements. Previously, in this tab, you could immediately see active account ads in the feed and in stories. Now Instagram has moved this feature to Facebook. In the article "How to see ads of competitors on Instagram" there is a step-by-step instruction on how to do this. nine0004

This information is very useful before launching your own ads - to see what creative and format competitors are using, as it is highly likely that they have already tested different options and use the ones that are most successful in terms of audience response.

Previous Instagram usernames. With this information, you can draw conclusions whether the real account is in front of you or not (compare with the date of registration). Instagram has been analyzing data history since September 2017. If the name has changed, there will be an arrow on the left opposite the parameter, click and the history of changes will be available to you: date and previous name. Theoretically, using this information, you can understand whether the account was bought for the sake of subscribers and subsequently renamed. nine0004

Some even change their name after scandalous situations in order to get lost. For example, company N produced a low-quality product. Customers began to write negative reviews, indicating the name of the company (in the marks). In order not to spoil its reputation, the company simply changed its name on Instagram. Thus, the name of the account in the reviews becomes invalid, and it will be difficult to find this unscrupulous company. It is thanks to information on previous names that such companies can be brought to clean water. nine0003

Accounts with common followers. Previously, in this tab, you could find accounts that have many common followers with the account you are viewing. This information was useful for commercial purposes - for mutual PR or advertising. For example, using this information, it was possible to replace one blogger with another, while retaining the audience to which the advertisement would be broadcast.

At the moment, this method is very rare: bloggers have seen this trick and began to hide "Account Information", or there are no public accounts that have enough common followers with the desired account. nine0004

Therefore, it is better to find accounts with a similar audience - through "Recommended to you". To do this, go to the account of interest and click on the arrow next to the contacts. You will be presented with other accounts with a similar audience by interests.

Try for free

Post statistics, subscriber dynamics, engagement rate and much more on other people's accounts can be viewed in LiveDune.

Conclusion

In order for Instagram to be attractive to advertisers and less likely to encounter fraud, the social network is gradually making its platform transparent and information publicly available. But from these data, unfortunately, only indirect conclusions can be drawn. Therefore, finding out information about the Instagram page from the application is only the first step. And in order to analyze the profiles of interest in more detail, at least for cheats, engagement and dynamics of subscribers, we recommend using LiveDune tools. nine0004

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Search Instagram like a pro

English

Screenshot of Instagram.

Editor's note: This OSINTCurio.us project post Technisette is based on a presentation on Instagram search from the 2019 Netherlands Conference on Open Source Data Search.

Before we start

While you don't need to have an Instagram account to search for data, it can come in handy to track certain hashtags and profiles. nine0004

You can create an account through the mobile app or website. To register an Instagram profile, use your email or Facebook account.

For most of what I'm going to show you, you don't need to login. If you need to log in to the page, click the small blue “Log In” button ( enter ) in the upper left corner of the screen.

Search string

Enter any Instagram profile at random to find the search bar at the top. You do not need to be logged in to do this. nine0004

For example, Instagram.com/search gives you a personal profile, but you'll see the search bar appear at the top of the screen.

Search for people

Searching for people on Instagram may not be as effective as it seems at first glance. For example, if I search for "Mark Zuckerberg", I will get a random profile first and only then the real profile of Mark Zuckerberg.

Google or any other search engine, in this case, may be more effective. Use, for example, advanced Google search (Google Dorks):

site: Instagram.com “mark zuckerberg” .

Left: Instagram search results. Right: Google results.

There are quite a few tools that provide the ability to search for content on Instagram.

Picdeer.com simplifies the user search process because hashtags and users do not get mixed up in the search results as they do in regular Instagram searches. Here you will see a list of hashtags on the left and a list of users on the right. nine0004

Similar resources also include sites pictame.com and sometag.com.

Search results on Picdeer.com.

If you are looking for a specific type of user, such as people belonging to a particular group or religion, you might be interested in what people write in their biographies.

Searchmy.bio is a search engine that will only search in the bios section of user profiles.

You can sort the results according to different criteria: “most followers” ( according to the number of subscribers ) or “most relevant” ( most relevant ) or add hashtags to the search query.

Screenshot of Searchmy.bio.

When you find the profile you are interested in, you will find several useful extensions, starting with Helpertools for Instagram for Google Chrome.

In the example below, I used Mark Zuckerberg's profile, @zuck.

Helpertools for Instagram is partially free. I haven't used the paid version yet, but the free version has a couple of really cool features. In particular, you can compare two profiles with each other. These profiles must be opened in order for Helpertools to demonstrate its magical power. Depending on the number of followers/followers, this may take some time as Helpertools pauses in order to prevent Instagram from detecting the tool's suspicious activity. nine0004

But my favorite feature is the “Business account” section.

In Mark's case, it is marked as “false”, which means that Mark does not have a business account. Having a “business account” ( business account ) is not exactly the same as having a “verified” ( verified ) account. You can switch from a regular to a business profile by yourself by changing the settings, and Instagram does not check any information.

Results from Helpertools for Instagram.

nine0002 Mark's account is not a business account. So let's find another example that is one.

For example, an account for a cheese shop in the Netherlands. Take a look at the profile: there is no contact information here.

Let's look in Helpertools to see if this page is a business account...

Yes, this is a business account!

We can even see what category they have chosen for their profile. But wait, this is just the beginning! nine0004

To get more information, you will now need to create a profile or log into your profile on a mobile phone (or a good emulator) connected to the internet.

Now open the mobile application and log into your account. (I used the android app). When you go to the profile of a cheese shop, you will see several buttons under the inscription bio. One of them is “Contact” ( contact ). If you click on “Contact”, a pop-up window will appear and give you all the contact information associated with this profile (which is entered by the account owner). Thus, we see an email address that was not visible before! nine0004

There is another button here: “Call” ( call ) and it will give you a phone number!

So we got an email address and a phone number.

Remember: if we were to explore the profile through the website, we would not see this information!

1. Log in through the mobile application. 2. Find the desired profile and check the “Contact” tab ( contact ). 3. Press “Call” ( to call ) to see the phone number or “Email” to see the email address. nine0004

Statflux. com will help you analyze your profile. In addition to information from the profile itself, it will also provide additional statistics, for example, the average number of likes and comments.

It will also give you the posts with the most likes and the most comments.

When you're looking at a profile with a lot of posts and don't know which one might be of interest to you, statflux.com can help you figure it out.

nine0002 Examples from @zuck on Statflux.com.

Enlarge your profile photo and download images from your account

In Instagram, the profile picture is cropped (taken in a circle). But sometimes you want to see the whole photo, because that way you get a little more information about what's going on in the background, or, for example, see who else is in this image.

There is a way to get this from source, but the DownAlbum extension also allows you to do this. nine0004

DownAlbum can help you increase your profile picture not only on Instagram but also on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Ask. fm and Weibo.

Once the extension is installed, a “Download photo” button will appear right below the profile picture ( download photo ). Click on the link and a new page will open with an enlarged profile photo that you can use to explore further.

Example from DownAlbum.

DownAlbum also gives you the opportunity to download photos to your computer - just right-click on the enlarged image and save the photo.

Another possibility is the website instasave.io. Enter the username of the profile you are interested in and click the “download” button ( download ) under each photo to save it.

Both of these functions will help you download images to your computer one by one.

nine0002 But what if you need to download all the photos in your profile? To do this, there is an extension for Google Chrome called Downloader for Instagram + Direct Message , which can help you download a lot of photos.

When this extension is installed, you will see a button in the top right corner.

Select the rightmost button to download the entire profile. Make sure you have downloaded the entire page to download all materials. As you can see in this example, Zuckerberg has 141 posts, but this tool shows that there are only 24. If you scroll down the page, you can download more photos. nine0004

And one more thing: don't forget about the “Tagged” section ( search by tags ) on Instagram! To do this, you need to log in, but sometimes this gives you the opportunity to explore many other images on the topic. The “Tagged” section under bio, next to the “Posts” section ( publications ).

Shown on the right: Downloader for Instagram + Direct Message.

Instagram Stories

Instagram “Stories” ( and Stories ) are short videos or photos that users can edit by adding stickers, text, color, and GIFs. (If you want to learn more about the stories, check out this article from Buffer Editor Ash Reid.) nine0004

Usually stories are displayed for 24 hours, but you can "highlight" them so that people can see them longer. Such highlighted stories (“highlight”) can be categorized.

You can tell if a profile has stories by looking at the profile picture. If there is a colored circle around it, then there are stories in the profile.

If you want to see these stories, you will need to login.

Left: @zuck's profile has no stories. Right: @bbc profile has stories. nine0004

Sometimes a profile has these highlighted stories that are categorized. You will see these stories right below the bio.

Click on a category to view stories.

Under bio you will find highlighted stories categorized.

Search stories

Stories can only be searched if they are tagged with a location (geotag) or a hashtag.

You can search for stories in the web version; if you search for a hashtag or geotag at the top, you will see a round photo in a colored circle. Click on a photo to find stories that match that specific tag or location. nine0004

Instagram search results.

You can make it easier to find stories by using the Downloader for Instagram extension in Google Chrome.

When set, a small icon with Instagram colors can be seen at the top right.

Click on the logo to open a new page where you will see a menu as shown in the screenshot; now you will be able to watch your friends' stories, their online broadcasts, location, as well as the search function. nine0004

I searched for the hashtag #Amsterdam and chose one of the options: with a small flag at the end.

Search results from Downloader for Instagram.

If you click on search results, no stories are displayed. Click on the icon with a black eye, then they will immediately appear. With the arrows (left and right button), you can switch between them.

The user who uploaded the stories is shown on the left (shown in blue in the screenshot).

And also very useful: Downloader for Instagram gives you the option to download one or more stories related to the same hashtag (the feature is circled in red at the top left).

Download stories using the buttons in the top right corner.

Keyword search

If you're not looking for hashtags, but just words used in posts, Instagram is probably not the best tool, as you can see in the screenshot example below on the left.

For this, it is better to use Google search or any other search engine. nine0004

For Google, use the search operator Inurl:instagram.com/p/ “keyword” , where the word “keyword” (keyword ) is replaced by the word or phrase you want to find. For example, I took “dinner time” ( dinner time ).

Left: Keyword search on Instagram. Right: Keyword search on Google.

Now you can see that one of the results contains the words “dinner time”, while the phrase “dinner time” ( dinner time ) is not used as a hashtag here. Therefore, if you were to enter these keywords in the Instagram search bar, you would not find this post.

Google search result.

Search hashtags

In the search results, check more than just the first few photos. These will be "Top" ( most popular ) photos, but they won't always give you what you're looking for. Be sure to scroll down and check out “Most Recent” ( newest ).

To search by hashtags, remember to use a symbol (eg #osint).

And one more thing: there are many websites that will help you search for hashtags on Instagram. For example, pictame.com and hashatit.com.

Instagram hashtag search. Scroll down to “Most recent” ( newest ).

Hashtag tracking

When you find a hashtag and want to follow it, make sure you are logged in and click on “Follow” ( follow ) to see new posts that are associated with that particular hashtag.

How to follow a hashtag on Instagram.

Download posts with selected hashtags

Downloading posts with the hashtags you need is very easy if you use the Google Chrome extension Downloader for Instagram .

Open the page to the extent you need to download and use the extension to download the posts associated with the hashtag. nine0004

Download posts with specific hashtags using “Downloader for Instagram”

Search by location

You can search by location using the search bar at the top of the website. You will be able to identify the location by the icon in the form of an inverted drop.

Select a location to see what stories and posts have been published from that location. Moreover, in order to choose a geolocation, you yourself do not have to be physically located in this place. nine0004

Please note that the user can specify any location, and this does not mean at all that he really was there. So a photo of me standing in front of the Grand Central Station in Amsterdam could be geolocated as Times Square in New York simply because I told Instagram that the photo was taken there. If you want to include your real location in your photo, you must give Instagram permission to use your location data. nine0004

Search results by location on Instagram.

Are you not sure if Instagram has the place you are looking for? Or do you not know the correct spelling of a geographical name? Check out Instagram.com/explore/locations. Below is a list of countries. Select the country and city you are interested in.

Filter your results by country and city to see what places are available in a particular city.

Search for previously published posts by location

An Open Data Research (OSINT) enthusiast shared this video with me on how to find Instagram posts by location within a given time period. I have to admit that this is quite difficult, but although the video was made back in 2017, this method continues to work in 2019! Watch the video here and the script in Python here .

This video explains how to calculate the date you are interested in. Once you have a date, you can search for the location you need. nine0004

Look at the URL; at the end you add: ?max_id= followed by the number you calculate.

For example: https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/3001373/times-square-new-york-city/?max_id=1817012758118400

Scroll down to the “Most recent” section ( newest ) - it now shows older posts.

The photo on the left is dated August 27, 2011, but it appears as the first result in the “Most recent” section ( newest ).

That's it!

These were some basic Instagram search methods.

Of course, there are a million other ways, methods, websites, extensions and scripts that you can use to make your Instagram search easier. If your favorite method is not listed in this article, please leave your comments below or email our editor at [email protected]! This way we can all learn from each other. nine0004

Are you ready to learn more?! Open Part 2 (Part 2) on how to search on Instagram!

This article originally appeared on OSINTCurio.