UNFOLLOWED

How to Find Who Unfollowed You on Instagram With Two Data Exports

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Instagram doesn’t keep a list of people who unfollowed you, and one data export can only show who follows you right now. To find unfollowers, save your followers list today, download a new export later, and compare the two in a spreadsheet: anyone who was in the old list but isn’t in the new one stopped following you.

Why one export isn’t enough

An unfollower is someone who used to follow you. Your Instagram export lists your followers at the moment Instagram created the file, with no record of people who left before that. So the only reliable way to know who unfollowed you is to have two lists from two different dates and look for the names that disappeared. This is also why no honest tool can tell you who unfollowed you last month unless it already had a copy of your followers from last month.

The method below takes about ten minutes the first time and needs nothing more than your Instagram export, the UNFOLLOWED checker and a free spreadsheet app such as Google Sheets, Excel or LibreOffice Calc. You never share your password, and your lists stay on your own device.

Step 1: Save your first snapshot

  1. Download Followers and following from Instagram’s Accounts Center. The download guide walks through every screen.
  2. Add the ZIP to the checker, open All Results and click Export CSV.
  3. Rename the file so you can find it later, for example followers-2026-11-01.csv, and keep it somewhere safe. This file is your “before” snapshot.

The CSV has five columns: username, status, profile_url, you_followed_on and followed_you_on. Everyone who follows you has the status Mutual or You don’t follow back. Accounts with the status Doesn’t follow you back are people you follow who don’t follow you, so they aren’t your followers and you can ignore them for this comparison.

Step 2: Take a second snapshot later

Wait as long as you like (a week, a month or a season) and repeat Step 1 to get a second file, for example followers-2026-12-01.csv. The longer the gap, the more changes you’ll see, but the harder it is to remember why someone might have left. Many people find a monthly check is enough.

Step 3: Compare the two files in a spreadsheet

These steps use Google Sheets; Excel and LibreOffice use the same formula.

  1. Create a new spreadsheet and import the old CSV into a sheet named Old.
  2. Import the new CSV into a second sheet in the same file and name it New.
  3. In the Old sheet, type still_follows in cell F1, then put this formula in F2 and fill it down to the last row:
=COUNTIFS(New!A:A, A2, New!B:B, "<>Doesn't follow you back")>0
  1. Filter the Old sheet to rows where column B is Mutual or You don’t follow back (the people who followed you) and column F is FALSE.

The rows left over are accounts that followed you in the old export and don’t in the new one. The formula looks up each old follower’s username in the new file and checks that they still count as a follower there. If you use the checker in another language, the status column uses that language’s labels, so copy the exact “doesn’t follow you back” label from your file into the formula.

To see the opposite, your new followers, add the same formula to the New sheet with Old! in place of New!, and filter for followers whose value is FALSE.

Not everyone on the list unfollowed you

A name that disappears between two exports usually means an unfollow, but not always:

  • Username changes. The export lists usernames, so someone who renamed their account looks like one lost follower and one new follower. If a “new follower” has a familiar profile picture, that’s probably what happened.
  • Deactivated or deleted accounts. When someone deactivates their account, they drop out of everyone’s follower lists until they come back.
  • Accounts removed by Instagram. Spam and fake accounts are removed from time to time, which lowers follower counts across the platform.
  • Your own actions. If you removed a follower or blocked someone, they’re no longer following you either.

Open the profile link in the profile_url column before drawing conclusions. A profile that no longer loads points to a deactivated, deleted or renamed account rather than an unfollow. Our guide to why follower counts drop covers these causes in more detail.

Tips for keeping snapshots

  • Put the date in every file name so you always know which is older.
  • Keep the CSV files, not just the ZIPs. They are small, open anywhere and are already in the format the formula expects.
  • Treat the files as private. They list real people’s usernames, so don’t post them publicly or send them to anyone who asks for them.
  • If you only care about a few people, you don’t need a spreadsheet: search for their usernames in the new results instead.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see who unfollowed me without an old export?

Not reliably. Instagram doesn’t provide a history of your followers, so without a list from an earlier date there is nothing to compare against. Save a snapshot today so you have one next time.

Does the export include people who unfollowed me?

No. It may include a list of accounts you recently unfollowed, but that is about your own unfollows, not other people’s.

How often should I take a snapshot?

As often as you find useful. Monthly works well for most personal accounts. Instagram usually prepares a followers-only export quickly, so frequent checks aren’t much work.

Will the person know I checked?

No. Downloading your own data and comparing it in a spreadsheet happens entirely on your side. Nobody is notified.

Sources

UNFOLLOWED is not affiliated with Instagram or Meta. Instagram changes its menus from time to time; check the Instagram Help Center if a step looks different.