OK, so you’ve just looked at someone’s Instagram story by mistake. Now you’re panicking because they’re eventually going to see that you viewed it.
Most likely, their stories are public and you accidentally clicked on their profile picture while you were searching for their Instagram page.
However, now is not the time to panic. Now is the time for action. There is a quick way to fix this so that they can’t see your view.
Deactivate your Instagram account for 48 hours.
As you probably already know, an Instagram story will only last for 24 hours. After that, they will be unable to see who viewed their story.
If they decide to archive the story in question, then the viewer list will last for 48 hours. After that, if they attempt to look at the views, they will be met with the following message:
Viewer lists and view counts aren’t available after 48 hours.
So there you go. In the worst case scenario, your view will be visible for two full days.
This means that you can temporarily deactivate your Instagram profile for that period and they will be none the wiser.
You can live without Instagram for two days, right?
Blocking them on Instagram will also remove the view.
If you block someone on Instagram, your views will no longer show on their stories. However, blocking someone comes with a number of caveats.
Firstly, if you block someone on Instagram, there is always the chance that they will find out.
If they can’t view your Instagram page but one of their close friends can, then the jig will be up. Suddenly, you’re in a much more awkward position than you were originally in.
Secondly, blocking someone on Instagram will remove you from their follower list. If you were following them at the time, then you will have to re-follow them once you hit the unblock button.
This will obviously lead to a follow notification. Consequently, questions may be raised about why you decided to unfollow them.
Thirdly, this will also remove them from your followers list. i.e. They will now have to follow you back.
Basically, it’s a bit of a messy solution, which is why I would personally just deactivate my profile.
If you do decide to use the block option, then you will need to keep them blocked for over 48 hours. As stated above, a story will only last for 24 hours. However, if they archive that story, then the view list will last for another full day.
Do not click on their profile picture while searching for their Instagram page.
I’m probably preaching to the choir at this stage. However, it is still worth mentioning that you should always click on the name instead of the profile picture when you are searching for other Instagram pages.
If they have a public story up, then their profile picture will have a purple border around it. If you click on the profile picture while there is a purple border around it, Instagram will bring you straight into their story.
Boom, you’re now in trouble.
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