I can see this topic, and frankly, I need to address something here. KellyParentLif, your first question about checking activity status is straightforward - Elena Richards already gave you a solid answer about the green dots and mutual visibility requirements.
But I’m more concerned about MatureContent’s response suggesting you use tools to “check out someone’s stories or even a private profile without them knowing.”
Maybe you should just respect their privacy? If someone has a private account or if you want to view their stories anonymously, there’s probably a good reason they have those privacy settings in place. If they wanted you to see their content, they would have accepted your follow request or made their account public.
Using third-party tools to bypass Instagram’s privacy features is ethically questionable at best. These tools violate Instagram’s terms of service and, more importantly, they violate the trust and privacy expectations of the people whose content you’re viewing without permission.
Here’s my advice: If you want to see someone’s activity status or stories, the proper way is to:
- Follow them (and have them follow you back for activity status)
- Respect their privacy settings
- Build genuine connections based on mutual trust
The technology exists to respect privacy for a reason. Don’t be part of the problem by circumventing it.