FollowerOwl
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[00] HOW IT WORKS

You already have the data. We just read it for you.

Instagram will give you a file listing everyone who follows you and everyone you follow. It is your data and asking for it takes about a minute. FollowerOwl opens that file inside your browser and works out the difference. There is no password field on this site, because there is nothing here that could use one.

[01] THE SHORT VERSION

Four steps, and only one of them involves us. Two if you count reading the answer.

  1. [01]

    Ask Instagram for your data

    Settings → Accounts Centre → Your information and permissions → Download your information. Pick 'Followers and following', the JSON format, and 'All time'. Instagram emails you a ZIP.

    Instagram's own feature. Nothing here touches your account.

  2. [02]

    Drop the ZIP on this page

    Your browser opens it locally and reads three files: followers, following, and pending requests. Photos and messages are never opened — not skipped after reading, never read at all.

    Watch your network panel while it works. Nothing is uploaded.

  3. [03]

    See who doesn't follow you back

    Instantly, with no account, sorted by how long you have been following them. The people you have followed longest without a follow back appear first.

    Free, and it stays free.

  4. [04]

    Come back with a second export

    Save this snapshot, and next time you export we compare the two and show exactly who left in between. That comparison is the only honest way to find unfollowers.

    We'll remind you when it's worth taking a new export.

Try it yourself — it’s free

[02] GETTING YOUR EXPORT

Asking Instagram for the file. The only fiddly part, so here it is screen by screen.

Part one: find the export screen

Instagram keeps this in a different place on each device. Pick yours and follow only those steps.

  1. Open instagram.com and sign in

    Any browser works. You'll need the left-hand sidebar, so use a window wide enough to show it.

  2. Click More, then Settings

    More is at the bottom of the sidebar.

    Instagram

    • Home
    • Search
    • Explore
    • Reels
    • Messages
    • Notifications
    • Create
    • Profile
    • More

    More

    • Settings
    • Your activity
    • Saved
    • Switch appearance
    • Report a problem
    • Switch accounts
    • Log out

  3. Click See more in Accounts Center

    It's inside the Meta box at the top of the settings page.

    Accounts Center

    Manage your connected experiences and account settings across Meta technologies.

    • Personal details
    • Password and security
    • Ad preferences
    • See more in Accounts Center

  4. Open Your information and permissions

    Under the Account settings heading.

    Accounts Center

    • Profiles
    • Connected experiences
    • Account settings
    • Password and security
    • Personal details
    • Your information and permissions
    • Ad preferences
    • Meta Pay

Part two: which screen did you land on?

Instagram is midway through renaming this screen, so which one you get is out of your hands. The rest of the steps depend on it — open the one whose wording matches.

My screen says “Download your information”11 steps from here

  1. Open Download your information

    Your information and permissions

    • Download your information
    • Transfer a copy of your information
    • Search history

  2. Choose Download or transfer information

    Download your information

    • Download or transfer information

  3. Pick the account you want

    Instagram only asks this if your Accounts Center holds more than one profile. If you don't see it, you're already past it.

    Where do you want to get information from?

    • Your other profile
    • @yourhandleInstagram
    • Next

  4. Choose Some of your information

    Not all of it — you only need one list, and asking for everything makes the export enormous.

    What information do you want?

    • All available information
    • Some of your information

  5. Tick Followers and following, and nothing else

    Scroll to the Connections group. Leave every other box clear, then press Next.

    Select information to download

    • Connections
    • Contacts
    • Followers and following
    • Logged information
    • Link history
    • Recent searches
    • Next

  6. Choose Download to device

    What do you want to do with your information?

    • Download to device
    • Transfer to destination

  7. Set the date range to All time

    It defaults to the last year, which would hide anyone who followed you before that.

    Export settings

    • Date rangeLast year
    • Notifyyour email address
    • FormatHTML
    • Media qualityMedium

    Date range

    • Last week
    • Last month
    • Last 3 months
    • Last 6 months
    • Last year
    • All time
    • Save

  8. Set the format to JSON

    This one matters — an HTML export holds the same names, but not in a shape we read.

    Export settings

    • Date rangeAll time
    • Notifyyour email address
    • FormatHTML
    • Media qualityMedium

    Format

    • HTML
    • JSON
    • Save

  9. Check the summary, then Create files

    All three lines have to read like this. A wrong one here is the single most common reason an export won't open on our side.

    Create files to download

    • Date rangeAll time
    • FormatJSON
    • Media qualityMedium
    • Create files

  10. Instagram emails you when it's ready

    Usually a few minutes. A large account can take a few hours. The download link in that email expires after four days, so don't leave it too long.

  11. Download the ZIP, then drop it on this page

    Leave it zipped — we open it here. Nothing is uploaded: the file is read in this tab, and you can watch that happen in your browser's network panel.

My screen says “Export your information”11 steps from here

  1. Open Export your information

    Your information and permissions

    To download or transfer a copy of your information, go to Export your information.

    • Export your information
    • Search history

  2. Tap Create export

    Export your information

    You can export a copy of your information to an external service, or export it to your device.

    • Create export

  3. Pick the profile you want

    Instagram only asks this if your Accounts Center holds more than one profile. If you don't see it, you're already past it.

    Choose a profile

    Select a profile to export your information.

    • Your other profile
    • @yourhandleInstagram

  4. Choose Export to device

    Choose where to export

    • Export to device
    • Export to external service

  5. Tap Customize information

    Left alone, this exports your entire account history. You want one list out of it.

    Confirm your export

    • Notifyyour email address
    • Customize informationAll information
    • Date rangeLast year
    • FormatHTML

  6. Clear every section, then tick Followers and following

    Instagram arrives with everything ticked. Use Clear all on each group first, then tick the one box you need and save.

    Choose specific info to export

    • Your Instagram activity — Clear all
    • Comments
    • Likes
    • Saved

    Connections — Clear all

    • Contacts
    • Followers and following
    • Logged information
    • Recent searches
    • Save

  7. Set the date range to All time

    It defaults to the last year, which would hide anyone who followed you before that.

    Export settings

    • Date rangeLast year
    • Notifyyour email address
    • FormatHTML
    • Media qualityMedium

    Date range

    • Last week
    • Last month
    • Last 3 months
    • Last 6 months
    • Last year
    • All time
    • Save

  8. Set the format to JSON

    This one matters — an HTML export holds the same names, but not in a shape we read.

    Export settings

    • Date rangeAll time
    • Notifyyour email address
    • FormatHTML
    • Media qualityMedium

    Format

    • HTML
    • JSON
    • Save

  9. Check the summary, then Start export

    All three lines have to read like this. A wrong one here is the single most common reason an export won't open on our side.

    Confirm your export

    • Customize informationFollowers and following
    • Date rangeAll time
    • FormatJSON
    • Start export

  10. Instagram emails you when it's ready

    Usually a few minutes. A large account can take a few hours. The download link in that email expires after four days, so don't leave it too long.

  11. Download the ZIP, then drop it on this page

    Leave it zipped — we open it here. Nothing is uploaded: the file is read in this tab, and you can watch that happen in your browser's network panel.

[03] WHAT WE ACTUALLY READ

Three files, and nothing else in the archive. Which is why a 1.3 GB export is no slower than an empty one.

The archive Instagram sends you holds your photos, your messages, your viewing history — years of things that are nobody else’s business. We jump straight to three files inside it and never open the rest:

  • connections/followers_and_following/followers_1.json
  • connections/followers_and_following/following.json
  • connections/followers_and_following/pending_follow_requests.json

A ZIP keeps an index of its contents, so those three can be read without decompressing anything around them. That is why the size of your export barely matters, and why the whole thing finishes in about the time it takes to let go of the mouse.

The exact set operations that turn those three files into the number on your screen are written out in full on the methodology page, along with the questions an export cannot answer however it is processed.

Everything above happens on your own machine. You can watch it: open your browser’s network panel before you drop the file and you will see no upload, whatever the size of the archive.

Why one export cannot show unfollowers

A single export is a photograph of one moment. It can tell you who does not follow you back right now, and that part is free and needs no account. What it cannot tell you is who left — nothing in the file records that, because Instagram never wrote it down.

Finding unfollowers means comparing two exports from different days and seeing who is missing from the second. That is the only honest way to do it, and it is why we ask you to come back rather than showing you a number today.

Any tool claiming to show unfollowers from a single export is guessing, and the ones that avoid the wait do it by logging into your account with your password.

Check all of this yourself — every claim on this page is testable in about a minute.

Got the file already?

Drop it on the home page. No account, no password, and the answer is on screen before you have finished reading this sentence.

Check my followers