Instagram has no setting that hides your complete following list and following count from everyone. A private personal account limits private accounts you follow to approved followers, but public accounts you follow remain visible to anyone; block a specific person only if you need to prevent that account from viewing your profile.
Instagram says the number of followers and following is public profile information for both public and private accounts. Its account-privacy table also says public accounts you follow can be seen by anyone, so switching to private is a limit, not a complete hide control.
2
Switch an eligible personal account to private
Open Instagram profile > menu > Settings, choose Account privacy under Who can see your content, turn on Private account, and confirm Switch to private. Business profiles cannot be private; Instagram requires switching back to a personal account first.
3
Review existing followers
Making the account private controls future follower approvals but does not automatically remove people already following you. Review the Followers list and remove an unwanted follower when that narrower action is sufficient.
4
Block a specific account when necessary
Open the person’s profile, use its options menu, choose Block, select the scope Instagram offers for that account and related accounts, and confirm. Instagram does not notify the person, but blocking also restricts messages and other interaction, not only the following list.
5
Verify from the intended privacy boundary
Check the profile from an account that is not an approved follower and from an approved follower. Confirm private-account content is limited as expected while accepting that the public following count and public accounts you follow can still be visible.
6
Avoid follower-hiding tools
Do not give an unfollower or privacy app your Instagram password or session cookie. A third-party tool cannot create a visibility control Instagram does not provide and may trigger scraping restrictions or compromise the account.
Video walkthrough
If it does not work
If Private account is unavailable, confirm whether the profile is a business account; Instagram states business profiles must switch back to personal before becoming private.
If a person still sees the profile after removal, confirm the account is private and that the person is no longer an approved follower; use Block only when the broader interaction restriction is intended.
If the following count or public accounts remain visible, that matches Instagram’s documented visibility limits and cannot be fixed by repeatedly toggling privacy.
ⓘ Sources and verification
Checked against official documentation on . Scope: iPhone & iPad.
Reviewed against the linked current first-party documentation; availability and labels can vary by device, account, language, or region.
