Here's How To Creep On Someone's Instagram Story Anonymously

Real or imagined, tracking down a person and digging up dirt on their life is anything but cool. Causing anxieties in the person being watched, stalking is often associated with harassment and crimes of passion. A study in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior explains, "Motivations for stalking include a delusional belief in romantic destiny, a desire to reclaim a prior relationship, a sadistic urge to torment the victim, or a psychotic over-identification with the victim and the desire to replace him or her." However, not all stalkers fall under these rubrics. Many stalkers want nothing more than to keep abreast of people of interest, such as their crush, their ex's new lover, or a shady neighbor.

In today's world, where being secretly interested in someone's life is still considered creepy, Instagram presents both an opportunity and a means of entry. If you have the person's IG handle, you can anonymously go look at their profile. However, most of the time, grid planners are reserved for significant moments or celebratory milestones — the ultra-vibrant, successful life that's worth keeping on the profile. More private thoughts and tales are usually posted to their story, which disappears within 24 hours. The problem is the account owner can see who viewed their story and who viewed it more than once, Instagram notes. Imagine how awkward it is to be caught spying by your target of surveillance. Fortunately, there are hacks to creep on someone's Instagram story without giving yourself away.

The easiest approach to seeing someone's story without being seen is to create another account for the sole purpose of creeping. You can use an AI version of your face or use any pet photo for your photographic alter ego and pick any name you want (cue "Princess Consuela Banana Hammock"). Nobody has to know it's you. If there's any encouragement, Kim Kardashian once revealed that her grandmother Mary Jo "MJ" Shannon "has a creep IG account to see what we're all up to," People reports. However, this method might not work if your burner account is tied to your primary account, which has already been blocked by the one you're stalking. No matter how many accounts you create in the future, they can be blocked altogether if associated with your primary account. 

A more convenient and fool-proof way is to use a third-party website, such as StoriesIG.me or InStories, to creep on a person's Instagram story anonymously. All you have to do is to go into incognito mode, enter the ID username of your object of interest in the search box, and voila — you can now look at the person's story in a web browser and even download it without being known.

To keep your name from popping up on the viewer's list on someone's Instagram story, turn on the Airplane mode as you see the story, per TechniqueHow. However, this method only works smoothly on preloaded story slides and might take a longer time to view new slides. You can also prevent yourself from being seen if you block the poster right after viewing their story, Lifehacker suggests. After 24 hours, unblock the person, continue with your story stalking pastime, and block again. The only crack in this method is that if the person's story has many slides and you viewed all the slides before blocking them, your username might come up in the first slides. If it so happens that the person is viewing their own story in the split second that you are, they can see your username in the viewer's list.

Although it's tempting to snoop around and dish the dirt, try not to turn it into a habit and make sure that your Instagram stalking doesn't cause the person being stalked any emotional or physical distress. You should, by no means, make unwanted contact with the story poster or take screenshots of their stories and share them widely without permission. There's a fine line between satisfying your curiosity and cyberbullying. In the long run, find a way to get off the hamster wheel and make good use of your time with high-leverage activities.