Easily View a List of People You Have Requested to Follow on Instagram

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Find out who hasn't accepted your follow requests

Co-authored by Megaera Lorenz, PhD Reviewed by Anyah Le Gilmore-Jones

Last Updated: December 2, 2025 Fact Checked

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How to View Follow Requests

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While it's easy to see who has requested to follow you on Instagram, it can be tricky to see a list of who you've requested to follow. But don't worry, it's still possible! This wikiHow article will teach you how to download a list of your recent and unanswered follow requests on Instagram, along with a few alternatives if you don't want to download your data.

See Who You Requested to Follow on Instagram

Go to your profile > ☰ > Accounts Center > Your Information and permissions.
Select Export your information > Create export.
Choose your Instagram account and select Export to device.
Tap Customize information and deselect everything except “Followers and following.”
Tap Start export and enter your password.
Download and unzip the file once you receive the notification email.
Open the start_here.html file and click Pending follow requests and Recent follow requests to see follow requests.

Section 1 of 3:

Can you see a list of sent follow requests?

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The only way to see the follow requests you sent is to download your Instagram data. When you request to download a ZIP file of your "Followers and following" data from Instagram, you'll be able to see everyone you've requested to follow who hasn't yet accepted your request. You'll also see a general list of everyone you've asked to follow recently.
- Requesting a download has been the only way to view a list of people you've requested to follow on Instagram for a while, but the process has recently changed. We've detailed the updated step-by-step process below.
- Depending on how much data you request, it can take anywhere from several minutes to 30 days to receive your files. You can speed up the process by only downloading information about the people you requested to follow instead of all your Instagram data.^{[1]
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  Research source} In our test, we received a link to download a list of people we requested to follow in about 20 minutes.

Section 2 of 3:

How to View Your Follow Requests

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Open your Instagram Settings menu. If you're using the Instagram mobile app, tap your profile photo at the bottom-right, then tap the three-line menu (☰) at the upper-right corner.^{[2]
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- If you're using Instagram on your computer, click your profile picture in the bottom left corner, then click the gear icon next to your username at the top of your profile. Click Settings and privacy.
- This method will help you view two different lists of follow requests: One list of recent follow requests you've sent recently (whether they were accepted or not), and another containing pending follow requests (requests you've sent that have not yet been approved or denied).
It’s at the top of the Settings menu.^{[3]
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It’s under the Account settings header.
It's near the top of the page.
A window will open displaying a list of all your connected Meta accounts.
If you have more than one connected Meta account, select the Instagram profile you want to view follow requests for.
This option will download your information directly to your mobile device or computer. If you prefer to save it to a cloud so you can easily download and view it on a different device, select Export to external service instead.
At this point, if you want to download all your information, you can just select Start export. However, if you’d rather just export the relevant information (i.e., your followers and following info), tap or click Customize information first.
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Uncheck all the boxes except the one next to “Followers and following”. To do this quickly and easily, tap Clear all at the top of each information category. This will unselect all the boxes in each category. Then, find the Connections header and tick the box next to “Followers and following.” Select Save at the bottom. This will take you back to the “Confirm your export” menu.
- If you want, you can also adjust other download settings from the “Confirm your export” page. For instance, set a specific date range, change the format of the download, or adjust the quality of the downloaded file.
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Tap Start export. You’ll be prompted to enter your password. Enter it and tap or click Continue. You’ll be returned to the previous menu, and a banner will pop up telling you that your export is being prepared.
- At this point, you’ll need to wait until Instagram contacts you and lets you know that your download is ready.
- Once the download is available, you’ll have 4 days to save it to your device. After that, it will be deleted.
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Download and unzip the file. When the file is ready, you’ll get an email from Instagram notifying you that the download is available.
- Follow the link to the “Export your information” page from the email, or navigate back by going to your profile > ☰ (or gear icon) > Accounts center > Your information and permissions > Export your information. Locate the requested download under the Available downloads header, then tap or click Download > Download.
- Once downloaded, unzip the file. This will create a folder on your computer, phone, or tablet with the same name as the downloaded file.
The folder will contain several other folders and an HTML file.
This opens the "About your download" page in your default web browser.
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Click Pending follow requests. Now you'll see a list of all follow requests that are still pending—that is, that have not been accepted or rejected.
- To see recent follow requests that were either accepted or deleted, click Recent follow requests.
- Keep in mind that if a person denies your follow request, it won't appear in this list. This list only displays follow requests that have not been rejected or approved yet.

Section 3 of 3:

Alternatives

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Check your search history. If you requested to follow somebody on Instagram after searching for them, you should be able to find that user's profile by browsing your search history. Once you find the person you're looking for, tap their profile to see if there's a "Requested" button at the top. To view your search history:^{[4]
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- Tap the magnifying glass at the bottom of the Instagram app.
- Tap the search bar at the top.
- Tap See all.
- This will not work if you've recently cleared your search history.
- If the person denies your follow request, the button will change back to "Follow." So, you'll only be able to tell if you've requested somebody if they haven't denied your follow request.
If someone with a private account followed you but has not yet accepted your request to follow them back, you'll see a "Requested" button next to their username on your friends list. On your Instagram profile, tap your number of followers, then scroll through the list of All followers. If a private account hasn't accepted your follow request on this list, you'll see "Requested" next to their name.

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Question

Is there a way to disable follow requests for my account?

Community Answer

No. If your account is set to private, there's no way to disable follow requests. You could change your username to something very different and use a non-identifying profile picture if you don't want anyone searching for you.

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Question

I can't follow a person. Then why does it show "Requested" next to the name?

Community Answer

Because they haven't approved or declined your request yet. Give it some time and you'll find out.

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Question

How do I know how many private accounts I requested?

Community Answer

If you download your profile data in the methods listed above, you will see a file that shows how many people you've currently requested at the time of the download.

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