Instagram is by far one of the most popular social media platforms as of now. The platform has just about everything you’d expect from a modern-day social media network that revolves around sharing photos and videos.
Stories, of course, form a huge part of this entire experience. When a user uploads a story, it stays on their profile for 24 hours, and they can see who has seen their stories from among their friends.Â
In this article, we’re going over a few methods that you can use to watch Instagram stories anonymously.
Before we begin, note that there’s no actual way of watching Instagram stories anonymously. The methods mentioned in this article are merely workarounds that may or may not work in your given situation.
Use airplane mode
Just about every smartphone these days has an airplane mode that disables all outgoing communications on your phone. You can use this to your advantage to see stories without letting anyone know.
All you have to do is open the Instagram app on your phone and wait for all the stories to load. Once they have, enable airplane mode on your device, and then you can watch any of the loaded stories. Since your device is offline, it doesn’t count as a view.Â
Note that this method will only work for a few stories that Instagram might load automatically for you. Another thing to keep in mind is that you completely close the Instagram app once you’re done.
Also read: How to fix ‘Instagram Couldn’t Refresh Feed’ error?
Use browser extensions
Numerous browser extensions allow you to watch stories without even having to log in to your Instagram account. However, keep in mind that such extensions only work for public accounts. If you’re trying to watch a story from a private account, you will have to reveal your identity.
If you’re on Chrome/Edge, you can use IG Stories for Instagram or Extension for Instagram. On Firefox, StoriesWatcher is a viable alternative as well.
Use a story saving app
There are many story saving apps on Android and iOS that let you download stories from profiles and watch them offline. Once again, keep in mind that these apps may or may not work for stories posted from a private account.Â
On Android, you can use Story Saver for Instagram or Video Downloader for Instagram to downloaded stories or even posts from accounts you want to see. On iOS, you can try using Story Saver for Me.
Alternatively, you can check out our article on the top eight Instagram video and stories downloaders for Android, iOS and PC.
Also read: How to fix ‘Sorry there was a problem with your request on Instagram’ error?
View Instagram stories with Siri Shortcuts
If you’re using iOS 13 or above, you can watch stories using Siri Shortcuts. If you don’t have the app on your phone, you can get it from the App Store.
Once you have the app, open this link in your web browser to get the shortcut for viewing or downloading Instagram stories. You’ll be prompted to enter either a username.
Once you’ve done that, the shortcut will automatically fetch the stories for the specified user and give you a quick preview. You can then either share these stories or save them to your gallery.
Create a second account
This doesn’t exactly sound like a solution, but it’s by far the best method of making sure you can still see any stories you’d want without revealing your main account.
This sidesteps all third-party apps or extensions that you might have to use and hence avoiding any interference that might come with its own set of security issues.
I recommend the story-down site. You can load and view stories without any errors, and even photos and videos can be viewed in high quality. Of course, you can view it anonymously, and the best part is that you know the exact time the story was posted!