Instagram Is Finally Getting A 'Follows You' Feature

Instagram is a funny old beast. As one might expect from a platform based on sharing intimate photos of your life (and pets), it can attract a fair few creepers who simply want to see inside your world.

In fairness, while you do get editorial control over the aspects of your life that you share - if you're not comfortable with other people seeing it, don't post it - and there is a private mode.

It has always stuck in the craw a bit that there isn't a feature that allows users to check out just who exactly is following them, however.

Well...now there is. Instagram users with Android phones are reporting the appearance of 'follows you' on certain people's profiles.

Credit: PA

Previously, to find out if someone followed you, it was required that you go into their profile and search through a list of the (potentially thousands) people they were 'following'.

Not a great system, particularly if you happened to be looking for someone really important - an ex, say, or your boss - and you didn't necessarily want them to know that you want to wanted to know if they followed you. Do you follow?

Social media users have actually been asking for this functionality for some time - Twitter has had it for years, for example - and reactions were a little mixed to it.

Some liked it: "Oh wow so now Instagram lets you know who actually follows you ...loves this new update! So you can now lurking who's a fan lmao" said one user, while another wrote "SINCE WHEN IS THERE A 'FOLLOWS YOU' ON INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS OMG."

OK, it's not that exciting.

Others were a little peeved that Insta had decided to come to the party as late as they have.

"It's about time Instagram added a 'follows you' notification," posted one to Twitter, where he was backed up by another who tweeted "Instagram finally has a 'follows you' feature. It's only took them forever."

Credit: PA

The release appears only to exist at the moment for users on Android machines in certain selected locations, with no coverage, for example in Europe (or least, on this writer's Insta) but plenty in Indonesia, based on tweets. It also doesn't work on iOS, though we suspect that will come in time.

As for Instagram themselves, they were cryptic: "We're always testing ways to improve the Instagram experience," they said when asked by Mashable.

Topics: Instagram

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday