When did you follow someone
on Instagram?
Instagram doesn't show the date you followed someone in the app. Your data download does: request “Followers and following” in JSON, then open the ZIP here to see each date — the file stays on your device.
Parsed entirely in your browser. Your file is never uploaded or sent to Lurke.
FROM INSTAGRAM TO YOUR BROWSER
How to get your file
- 01
Open Instagram's download page
In the Instagram app or on instagram.com, go to Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Download your information.
- 02
Download or transfer information
Choose your account, then “Some of your information.”
- 03
Select only “Followers and following”
Leave everything else unticked so the file stays small and ready sooner.
- 04
Download to device
Set Date range to All time and Format to JSON — not HTML. Then tap Create files.
- 05
Wait for Instagram's email
Instagram emails you a download link when the file is ready. In our experience that's usually 5–30 minutes. Instagram doesn't publish a delivery time.
- 06
Open the ZIP here
Download the ZIP from that email, then drop it (or the .json files inside it) into the checker below.
READ THE RESULT CORRECTLY
What this file can and can't show
Instagram's data download gives you your own account's follow history, in your own copy of the file. It does not extend to anyone else's account, and it doesn't update itself after the day you requested it.
For another public profile, Instagram won't hand over its data download to you, and there's no setting that reveals when it followed someone. The closest you can get is comparing two complete checks of its Following list over time — see our guides to Instagram Following list order and whether you can see who someone recently followed.
REAL EXPORT PROBLEMS
A few things
you might run into.
What to do when a file, a format, or a date doesn't look right.
Check that “Followers and following” was ticked under “Some of your information” when you made the request. If it was, request the download again. This checker still works with just one of the two lists, so you can read your Following dates in the meantime.
Instagram lets you pick a format when you request the download. If Format was set to HTML, this checker (and Lurke's app import) can't read it. Go back to Download your information, request the export again, and set Format to JSON before you tap Create files.
Instagram doesn't publish a delivery time. In our experience it's usually 5–30 minutes, and sometimes longer. If the link in Instagram's email has expired, request the download again from Accounts Center; you'll get a fresh link.
No. Instagram's data download only covers the account that requests it — you can't download another person's follow dates, even for a public account. To check whether a public profile started following someone recently, compare two complete checks of its Following list over time instead; see our guide to Instagram Following list order.
No. The ZIP or JSON files you drop are read and parsed in your browser's memory with JavaScript. Nothing is sent to Lurke or anyone else. Our analytics only record that a tool run on this page started, succeeded, or failed — never a username, a count, or the file itself.
following.json, any followers_1.json … followers_N.json files, pending_follow_requests.json, and recently_unfollowed_profiles.json — the files inside Instagram's “Followers and following” data category. Any other file in your ZIP is ignored.
Lurke can import this same file.
This page reads a one-time snapshot. The Lurke app for iPhone and Android can import the same “Followers and following” file, so your full lists and follow dates stay in the app. If your account is public, Lurke's later scans can then show what changes after that day.
See how the Lurke app works