Short answer: no. Instagram does not give any app, including Lurke, a direct “you've been blocked by this account” signal. Nobody outside Instagram, including every third-party app, has access to that information. What people actually do is check for a handful of indirect signs, each of which has another possible explanation, so none of them is conclusive proof on its own.
Why there is no direct “blocked by” signal
Blocking is a private action between two Instagram accounts. Instagram does not publish it anywhere, to the blocked account or to any outside app. Any tool claiming to look up whether a specific account blocked you is not retrieving that fact from Instagram, because Instagram does not expose it through any interface available to third parties.
The indirect signs people check, and their limits
- You can't find the profile by searching, where you previously could. This can mean a block, but it can also mean the account was deactivated or deleted, renamed its username, or switched to private and you no longer meet the criteria to see it.
- A direct message thread stops updating, or new messages don't appear to deliver. This can also happen if the other account deactivated, or if you've been restricted rather than blocked, which limits message visibility without a full block.
- You can't see their likes or comments on a post you can otherwise view. Restrict has this same effect, and so can the other account simply deleting that specific comment.
- Searching from a different, unconnected account still finds the profile normally. This is the strongest of the common signs, since it rules out the account being deactivated or deleted altogether. It still does not distinguish a block that targets specifically you from the account having gone private.
| Sign | Consistent with a block? | Also consistent with |
|---|---|---|
| Profile missing from your search | Yes | Deactivation, deletion, a username change |
| Messages stop delivering | Yes | Deactivation, a restrict instead of a block |
| Can't see their activity on shared posts | Yes | A restrict, or the activity being removed |
| Profile still visible from an unrelated account | Rules out deactivation/deletion | Still doesn't confirm a block aimed at you specifically |
How Lurke approaches this question
Lurke does not check for, or claim to detect, Instagram blocks. Lurke tracks follower and following changes for public Instagram profiles you choose to track, by comparing completed scans; see the Lurke app overview for what it actually tracks. If a tracked public account becomes unavailable to a later scan, that could reflect several different causes Lurke can't tell apart automatically, such as the profile going private, the account being deactivated, or, in principle, a block; see our guide on why a follower count can drop for the similar reasoning applied to a missing follower. Lurke does not add a “blocked” label to any result.
If you are specifically evaluating whether an app's claims about detecting blocks, or any other hidden Instagram signal, are trustworthy, see our guide to spotting red flags in a follow/unfollow-tracking app before you install one or sign in anywhere.
When the answer is still unknown
- Only one sign is present: check it against the alternative explanations above before concluding you've been blocked.
- You haven't checked from an unrelated account: that single check rules out the most common alternative, a deactivated or deleted account.
- An app claims to confirm a block directly: that claim can't be backed by real Instagram data, since Instagram doesn't expose that signal to any app.
This guide is published by Lurke. Product details and scan behavior should be checked against the current app and public data available when a scan completes.