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Officially, you can't view someone's Instagram Stories without an account. However, you can use a secondary Instagram account to see someone's Stories without revealing your identity. Another workaround is to enable your phone's airplane mode before looking at someone's Story.

Want to see someone's Instagram Story but without them knowing you've done so? There are a couple of workarounds you can use to do that, and we'll show you how to use them.

Is It Possible to See Someone's Instagram Stories Without an Account?

First thing first: you can't view someone's Instagram Story without being logged in to an Instagram account. Instagram forces this rule because it wants to identify every user in a list of people who have watched each Story.

Note that the above rule doesn't apply to regular Instagram posts and Reels. You can indeed view someone's Instagram profile and those items without logging in to an account on the platform.

Related: How to Save and Download Instagram Stories

How to View Instagram Stories Anonymously

Although Instagram offers no official option to view someone's Stories without an account, you have a couple of options to see someone's Stories without revealing your identity.

Here are those options.

Use Another Instagram Account

One way to watch someone's Instagram Story without revealing your identity is to use another Instagram account. You can create a new account or use an existing secondary account to view someone's Stories.

Instagram will still share your username with the user whose Story you've watched, but it'll share the username of your new or secondary account. This helps keep your primary account out of sight of that user.

Related: How to Use Multiple Accounts on Instagram

Use Airplane Mode on Your iPhone or Android Phone

Another workaround to view someone's Instagram Story anonymously is to use your smartphone's airplane mode. This is an unofficial method where you enable your phone's flight mode, view the user's Story, and then turn off the mode. Since you're disconnected from the internet when you watch the Story, Instagram doesn't tell the user that you've seen their Story.

To use this method, launch the Instagram app on your iPhone or Android phone. In the app, access the profile of the user whose Story you want to watch.

Open the user's Instagram profile.

When you're on the profile page, enable your phone's airplane mode. On an iPhone, swipe down from the top-right corner and tap the flight icon. On Android, pull down twice from the top of your phone's screen and tap the airplane icon.

Select the flight icon.

Now that airplane mode is activated, tap the user's Story to watch it.

Open the Story.

When you've finished watching the Story, close the Instagram app on your phone. Make sure you fully close the app and not just minimize it; that way any trace of your story viewing disappears. If you're not sure how to do that, follow our guide for force-closing apps on iPhone or our guide on force-closing Android apps.

You can now turn off your phone's airplane mode and re-connect to the internet. Instagram won't notify the user that you've seen their Story.

Related: How to View Instagram Posts Without an Account