Spring Clean—How Many People Can You Unfollow on Instagram?

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Karen Lin

Instagram 101 | Feb 21, 2024

Want More Real Instagram Followers?

​Are you seeing irrelevant content on your feed due to overwhelming Instagram followers? It’s a common headache many users share. So, how do you sift through this digital jungle of followers without losing your mind?

This blog discusses the ins and outs of unfollowing on Instagram to keep your online space a bit more zen. We will also discuss how many people you can unfollow on Instagram.

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So, How Many People Can You Unfollow on Instagram?

It’s common for Instagram users to unfollow accounts to personalize their feeds and keep only active Instagram followers. You can unfollow 180 to 200 accounts each day.

However, Instagram limits the number of accounts you can unfollow within specific time frames. This measure is to prevent misuse or spam-like behavior on the platform. Instagram’s guidelines require users to be mindful of unfollowing to maintain authenticity.

Users can ensure a healthy and engaged follower base on Instagram by following the platform’s guidelines on unfollowing limits. This allows for a more personalized feed tailored to individual preferences. To stay updated on Instagram’s unfollowing limits and policies, refer to their Help Center or community guidelines.

How Many People Can You Unfollow on Instagram a Day?

Do you wonder how many people you can unfollow on Instagram in a day? Instagram has set a daily limit on the number of accounts you can unfollow. This limitation prevents platform misuse and maintains a positive user experience. You can typically unfollow up to 200 accounts per day. This daily limit promotes a balanced approach to managing your followers, preventing aggressive or spam-like behavior.

How Many People Can You Unfollow an Hour on Instagram?

There’s also a limit on how many people you can unfollow in an hour on Instagram. Generally, you should not unfollow more than 60 accounts in one hour. This limit is in place to ensure fairness and prevent sudden or disruptive unfollowing activity. If you want to work around this restriction, a practical approach is to unfollow accounts at different times.

Take a break for an hour or two between unfollowing accounts. This signals the system that a real person, not a robot, is behind the activity. To avoid exceeding the daily limit, unfollow accounts gradually to make it seem more natural.

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Reasons Why Instagram Imposes Unfollow Limit

Instagram is a popular platform where people share photos and videos every day. Due to the large number of users, the platform has to limit certain actions to maintain order. 

For businesses on Instagram, promoting their products, attracting subscribers, and increasing revenue is essential. Like any sales-oriented platform, Instagram must have certain rules to prevent disruptions and fraud. Account owners must maintain balance and avoid misuse of notifications and follow/unfollow abuse.

Marketers and spammers often use mass following and unfollowing tactics to artificially increase their Instagram follower count. They follow many accounts and then unfollow those who don’t reciprocate or unfollow everyone. This method aims to increase followers by following others, hoping that some will follow back, leading to rapid growth. However, this method comes with two significant problems.

Firstly, it overwhelms users with notifications for new followers, leading many to unfollow these accounts days later. Manipulating the follower count undermines the platform’s authenticity and makes it harder to create genuine influence.

Remember that Instagram’s prohibition on purchasing fake accounts aligns with its commitment to maintaining a platform based on genuine connections. The platform aims to encourage genuine interactions rather than depending on artificial metrics. This unwavering stance aims to maintain the authenticity and credibility of the Instagram community.

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Factors Affecting Instagram Unfollow Limit

There are potential factors that influence the limits on unfollows on Instagram. These factors can restrict your account activity, including following users and interacting with content.

  • Account’s Activity: Like other social media platforms, Instagram places a high value on user activity. The more you engage with the platform, the more Instagram will trust your account. This trust can result in a higher limit for the number of people you can unfollow. Active users typically gain more engagement and followers.
  • Amount of Followers: Think of Instagram as a teacher and your followers as your grade. The benefits of 10k followers on Instagram include boosting your authority score, earning credibility, and increasing the unfollowing cap.
  • Age of Your Account: Like trust building with a long-time friend, Instagram favors accounts with a longer history. Older accounts earn more credits, giving them an advantage over newer arrivals.
  • Engagement: Regarding social media, having many followers doesn’t necessarily mean success. A large following may indicate bot accounts. The true value lies in user engagement, such as activity level, likes, comments, and interactions. Building a strong engagement rate can surpass unfollowing restrictions and maximize your authority on the account.
  • Type of Account: Different accounts are available on Instagram, including personal, business, and creator accounts. Regular users should opt for personal accounts, while brand influencers use creator accounts. Business accounts provide greater exposure for companies. Creator and business accounts have higher unfollow and post limits than personal accounts.

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Ways To Bypass Unfollow Limit

Instagram’s unfollow limitations are in place to maintain a balanced and authentic user experience. However, the question arises: Can we bypass these restrictions? Here’s how you can do it:

Spacing Out Unfollow Actions

A simple strategy to work around Instagram’s unfollow limits involves unfollowing accounts at various intervals. Just take a short break for an hour or two before continuing the unfollowing process. This will help the platform recognize human activity, allowing for more unfollows.

Cautious Use of Third-Party Apps

While third-party applications are useful, their effectiveness relies on responsible use. A mishap that may look like misuse may lead to account suspension. Some of these applications offer an unfollow feature with set time intervals. 

Aligning these timings with the mentioned limits allows the application to remove the accounts you follow. However, exercise caution and opt for trusted software with positive app store reviews to avoid potential issues.

Strategic Use of the Instagram App

A smart approach to using the Instagram platform can bring various benefits. If your interactions appear natural, Instagram might allow you to remove more followers than the current limit. When on Instagram, unfollow accounts with minimal interaction to make the algorithm believe the account owner is purging inactive accounts.

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How To Mass Unfollow on Instagram

Engaging in mass unfollowing on Instagram is a strategic move to curate your follower list. Since Instagram doesn’t provide a built-in feature for mass unfollowing, users employ third-party apps. However, using such tools cautiously is essential due to potential risks and violations of Instagram’s terms of service. Here is how to mass unfollow on Instagram:

Utilize Third-Party Apps

Several third-party apps allow you to mass unfollow Instagram. These apps typically provide features that allow users to unfollow multiple accounts simultaneously. However, remember that you still have to follow a limit of a certain number of users per day.

Potential Risks and Considerations

Although tempting, follower management apps have notable risks.

  • Security Concerns: Third-party apps may compromise the security of your Instagram account. Granting access to these apps can expose your login credentials and other sensitive information.
  • Violation of Instagram Policies: Using third-party apps to automate actions, including mass unfollowing, violates Instagram’s terms of service. Instagram discourages using automation tools that manipulate the platform and cause excessive activity.
  • Account Suspension: Instagram employs algorithms to detect unusual activities, including mass unfollowing through third-party apps. Such activities can lead to account suspensions or even permanent bans.

Safer Alternatives for Mass Unfollowing

To ensure a secure and compliant approach to mass unfollowing, consider manual methods within Instagram’s native features. While this is more time-consuming, it aligns with Instagram’s policies and safeguards your account from potential risks.

  • Unfollow Manually: Visit the profile of each user you wish to unfollow on Instagram and manually select the unfollow option.
  • Use Instagram’s Built-in Features: Leverage Instagram’s features, such as the “Following” list, to manage and unfollow accounts manually. All you need to do is filter your following list to “Earliest” or “Least Interaction” and unfollow users.

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Unfollowing Etiquette To Follow 

Understanding and practicing unfollowing etiquette is crucial for maintaining positive online interactions on social media. Unfollowing someone may seem simple, but doing it thoughtfully can preserve relationships and foster a respectful digital environment.

Evaluate Your Reasons

Before hitting the unfollow button, take a moment to reflect on your reasons for doing so. Knowing why you unfollow someone can help, be it a change in interests, a curated feed, or personal reasons. This self-awareness can help you decide whether to unfollow, mute, or restrict someone.

Unfollow Privately

If communication isn’t suitable or you believe it might cause unnecessary discomfort, unfollowing privately is a considerate approach. This involves discreetly unfollowing the account without making a public announcement. This way, the person may be unaware of the change, avoiding potential awkwardness.

Utilize Muting or Restricting

Before unfollowing, explore other options, such as muting or restricting. Muting allows you to control what content you see without the person knowing. On the contrary, restricting limits their interactions with your account without outright unfollowing. These alternatives are valuable in maintaining connections while managing the content on your feed.

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Best Instagram Unfollow Apps

Navigating the shifts in Instagram’s API is challenging for those who want to mass unfollow frequently. Privacy adjustments in updated Instagram versions render many older apps ineffective. However, some third-party apps maintain safety and effectiveness, accomplishing the task without compromising security. Let’s explore some top Instagram unfollow apps:

Nitreo

Nitreo is an Instagram growth and unfollow app with a great reputation for being organic. It is a comprehensive platform that helps users grow their Instagram presence organically with essential features for management and enhancement.

By avoiding bots, fake accounts, and mass unfollowing, Nitreo provides a steady and hassle-free growth experience for Instagram users.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is more than just an app for unfollowing people on Instagram. It is a comprehensive solution that simplifies the life of a social media marketer. With its user-friendly interface, it makes managing followers and unfollowers effortless.

It provides real-time updates and detailed reports through a dedicated account manager, offering valuable insights into follower dynamics. This efficient tool is useful for unfollowing and gaining a deeper understanding of your audience.

SpamGuard 

Are you looking for the best app to track followers and unfollowers and prevent spam and bots? SpamGuard is the best option for you. This app helps you clean up your profile and block spam effectively by removing spam accounts and non-reciprocal followers. Its anti-spam sensor also prevents unwanted interactions on your Instagram profile.

SpamGuard App provides a free initial inspection, which helps you understand your needs without spending any money. Instagram users can enjoy services that help remove inactive followers and bots, providing better profile interaction and reach.

Follower Pro+

This Instagram unfollow app is available for iPhone users in free and paid versions. It provides insights into your followers, including those who only browse your account without following you, making unfollowing them easy. 

It offers a handy search function, tracks new and lost followers, and identifies users not following you. The paid version includes more control options for an enhanced experience.

Managing Instagram Unfollowers: Alternative Strategies

To avoid the negative effects of Instagram’s algorithm, alternatives to increasing Instagram unfollowers should be considered. This is a strategic approach to addressing issues related to excessive followers.

  • Mute Accounts: Choosing to mute a user on Instagram completely conceals their activities from your view. This action, known as “muting,” extends to all aspects of their engagement, including stories, posts, comments, and likes. Muted accounts remain off your profile radar, even if you continue to follow them after employing the mute feature. Many users prefer muting instead of unfollowing because it allows them to manage content visibility without breaking the following connection.
  • Restrict Accounts: The “Restrict” feature allows users to unfollow multiple accounts at once, solving the problem of account limitations. While the person remains on your following list, restricting their access ensures none of their activities surface in your feed. Restricted accounts are unable to interact with your content through comments or likes. Moreover, the restricted individual may not even be aware of their restricted status, sparing the need for explanations.
  • Block Account: When severe issues with another user’s account arise, blocking becomes viable when a direct unfollow is insufficient. Blocking servers all connections with the account, rendering both parties unable to like, comment on, or follow each other’s posts.

Additionally, Instagram removes all prior interactions posted to your account by the blocked user. 

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Increase Your Followers With Path Social

If you plan on unfollowing multiple users on Instagram, remember that Instagram has certain limits on following and unfollowing. For safety, it’s recommended not to unfollow more than 200 users daily. Going beyond this limit may lead to a ban or permanent suspension.

You might come across various third-party apps that claim to help with mass unfollowing. While some may work, providing them with your login details is risky. Prioritize the security of your account and be aware of potential risks linked to unauthorized third-party applications.

Now, you know how many people you can unfollow on Instagram. If you are looking for a reliable app to track Instagram unfollowers, choose Path Social. With our data-driven technologies and innovative techniques, we help your brand grow organically. So, what are you waiting for? Start growing and gaining Instagram followers today!