Why Am I Losing Followers on Instagram? Official Reasons
If your count keeps dropping and you’re asking “why am I losing followers on Instagram?”, start with Instagram’s own explanations. Its help pages point to three things: it routinely removes disabled accounts, it removes follows that came from inauthentic activity, and people can unfollow you without Instagram telling you. Two more causes sit on your side: followers you removed after Instagram flagged them, and apps you once gave your login to.
Each cause below says what you’d notice, how to confirm it in Instagram and what to do. For settings beyond followers, the Instagram how-to hub has the full list.
Table of Contents
- Why am I losing followers on Instagram?
- Sudden drop or slow drift? A quick way to tell
- Did Instagram remove fake or disabled accounts?
- Did you clear flagged followers?
- Did people unfollow you?
- Did a connected app touch your account?
- Fewer new followers? Check Account Status
- How do you track follower changes in Insights?
- What shouldn’t you do to win followers back?
- Can Outfeed show who unfollowed you?
- Losing Instagram followers: FAQ
Why am I losing followers on Instagram?
Instagram’s Help Center says a drop in follows may mean some came from accounts generating inauthentic activity, and that it routinely removes disabled accounts, so your follower total can change even within a short time. The checks below cover the rest: flagged followers, unfollows, connected apps and stalled recommendations.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Changes to your likes, follows or comments on Instagram.
Sudden drop or slow drift? A quick way to tell
A drop all at once points to a removal, Instagram’s or your own; a slow slide over weeks points to unfollows. That split is our rule of thumb, not Instagram’s. The causes and checks come from Instagram’s help pages.
| What you notice | Likely cause | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| A drop in one go, nothing changed on your side | Instagram removed disabled accounts or inauthentic follows | Nothing to check |
| A drop right after you removed flagged followers | Your own clean-up | Your Followers list |
| A steady decline over weeks | Unfollows | Total followers, in Insights |
| A drop after using a likes or followers app | Removed inauthentic engagement | Apps and websites, in settings |
| Few new followers coming in | Content not recommended to non-followers | Account Status |
Did Instagram remove fake or disabled accounts?
Possibly: Instagram routinely removes disabled accounts, and when one of them followed you, your total falls with it. Its 19 November 2018 announcement adds that it has auto-detected and removed fake accounts “since the early days of Instagram”. That day it also began removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts using third-party apps to boost their popularity. Checked against About Instagram: Reducing Inauthentic Activity on Instagram (19 November 2018)
There’s no setting involved. If bot-like accounts keep following you, how to spot a fake Instagram account covers the signs.
Did you clear flagged followers?
On a public account, Instagram may gather suspected spam, bot or irrelevant followers into a Flagged for review list that you can remove in one go. Tap Remove all and your count drops by that many at once. Instagram also says new follows from flagged accounts arrive as requests and are declined automatically after 30 days.
In the Instagram app: remove flagged followers:
- In the Instagram app, go to your profile and tap Followers.
- If Instagram has flagged any followers, you'll see a notification called Flagged for review that you can tap.
- Tap Remove all to remove all flagged followers at once, or tap Remove next to an account. To say an account shouldn't be flagged, tap Options next to it and tap Not spam or irrelevant.
- Tap Remove to confirm.
In the Instagram app: turn automatic filtering on or off:
- In the Instagram app, go to your profile and tap Menu.
- Tap Follow and invite friends and turn off Flag for review. You can turn this back on at any time.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Manage unwanted followers on Instagram.
Instagram notes the feature may not be available to you yet. Removed followers aren’t notified.
Did people unfollow you?
Possibly, and Instagram won’t say who: people aren’t notified when someone unfollows them. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Unfollow someone on Instagram To find accounts you follow that no longer follow you, compare your Following and Followers lists; Instagram documents no list or filter that does it for you. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Managing Your Followers (no follow-back article found)Not verified Who doesn’t follow me back on Instagram walks through the comparison. For a slow, steady decline, start here.
Did a connected app touch your account?
If you ever gave your login to an app offering likes or followers, Instagram says to change your password and remove connected apps. It says such apps can get complete access to your account, and using them can lead to removed engagement, limited features, or a disabled or terminated account.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Why you should not use apps that offer likes and followers on Instagram.
Change your password under Password and security, in Accounts Center or Meta Account. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Change your Instagram password Then remove the app:
On iPhone:
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap Menu in the top right.
- Below Your app and media, tap Website permissions.
- Tap Apps and websites, then tap Active at the top.
- Tap Remove next to the app you'd like to remove.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Manage the privacy settings for apps and websites that you've logged into or connected on Instagram.
Android uses the same steps. The app may keep what it already stored. If someone has taken over your account, Instagram’s official route is instagram.com/hacked. Checked against Instagram Help Center: If you think your Instagram profile has been hacked For a YouTube channel, the steps to recover a YouTube account start with the Google Account behind it.
Fewer new followers? Check Account Status
If gains have stalled rather than losses rising, check whether Instagram can recommend your content to people who don’t follow you. Professional accounts see this in Account Status. If the account isn’t eligible, none of its content is recommended to non-followers, though followers still see it. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Recommendation eligibility on Instagram
On iPhone:
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- Tap Menu in the top right.
- Below More info and support, tap Account Status.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: Check your Account Status on Instagram.
Android is the same. Bought engagement works against you here too: Instagram’s Recommendations Guidelines say it avoids recommending accounts that have repeatedly bought likes to build a following. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Recommendations on Instagram Reach worries are covered in our Instagram shadowban guide.
How do you track follower changes in Insights?
Open Insights and look at Total followers: Instagram says it shows the followers you’ve gained or lost once you have at least 100 followers. Insights are free for public accounts, and the overview shows New followers for a timeframe you pick within the past 90 days. Checked against Instagram Help Center: About Instagram insights (Total followers) Checked against Instagram Help Center: View account and content insights on Instagram
In the Instagram app:
- Make sure your account is public. If you have a personal account, set it to public to access Your dashboard. If you want access to Professional dashboard, switch to a professional (business or creator) account if you haven't already.
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
- If you have a professional account, tap Professional dashboard. If you have a personal account, tap Your dashboard.
- If you don't see your dashboard in your profile, tap More to go to your Settings and activity.
- If you have a professional account, tap Insights below For professionals. If you have a personal account, tap Your dashboard below Your insights and tools.
Checked against Instagram Help Center: About Instagram dashboards.
For one reel, View insights shows Follows: accounts that started following you after viewing it. Checked against Instagram Help Center: View insights on your Instagram reels
What shouldn’t you do to win followers back?
Don’t chase the number back with bought followers, follow-back schemes or tracker apps.
- Bought followers or likes. Instagram lists “artificially collecting likes, followers or shares” among the reasons an account can be disabled. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Why was my Instagram account disabled?
- Follow-for-follow apps. Instagram warns that apps offering likes or followers in exchange for your login can get complete access to your account. Checked against Instagram Help Center: Why you should not use apps that offer likes and followers on Instagram
- Unfollower trackers. Instagram’s Terms of Use forbid collecting information in an automated way without its permission, and asking for other people’s logins. Checked against Instagram Terms of Use
Growth that holds up is covered in how to grow Instagram followers organically. On YouTube, followers are subscribers, and private subscriptions don’t appear in the list: see how to see your subscribers on YouTube.
Can Outfeed show who unfollowed you?
Where Outfeed AI, our product, fits in:
Start planning Instagram feed posts in Outfeed AI
Losing Instagram followers: FAQ
Why am I suddenly losing followers on Instagram?
Instagram says it routinely removes disabled accounts, so your follower total can change even within a short time, and that a drop in follows may mean some came from accounts generating inauthentic activity. People can also unfollow you at any time without being notified.
Does Instagram remove fake followers?
Yes. Instagram says it has auto-detected and removed fake accounts since its early days, and on 19 November 2018 it began removing inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that use third-party apps to boost their popularity. It also routinely removes disabled accounts.
How can I see who unfollowed me on Instagram?
Instagram doesn’t notify people when someone unfollows them; its notifications cover new followers and follow requests, not unfollows. Compare your Following list with your Followers list to see which accounts you follow no longer follow you. Total followers in Insights shows how many followers you’ve gained or lost once you have at least 100, not who.
How do I stop losing followers on Instagram?
You can’t stop Instagram removing disabled accounts or inauthentic follows. You can remove connected apps you don’t trust, change your password if you ever shared it with a likes or followers app, and, on a professional account, check Account Status for recommendation eligibility. Don’t buy followers.