Checking your Instagram followers is something every serious creator should do to keep engagement high. Over time, inactive followers build up—it happens to everyone—but they can actually hurt your account. Why does this matter? We’ll break down how fake and inactive Instagram followers can lower your engagement and how to find them.
You’ll also learn how to remove these ghost followers so your posts reach more real, active people. Of course, if your following grows big enough (fingers crossed!), this won’t matter as much. Celebrities, for example, have millions of followers and can’t possibly go through them all!
What Are Inactive Followers on Instagram?
Inactive accounts and ghost followers are often confused, but they are slightly different:
- Inactive accounts are profiles that have been abandoned by their owners. For example, someone might have started a photography account but stopped using it. While the account belongs to a real person, they haven’t logged in for a long time.
- Ghost accounts can be either active or inactive. What makes them “ghosts” is their complete lack of interaction with your posts. They might not see your content in their feed, or they simply choose not to engage.
Our main focus is on inactive accounts because if someone isn’t logging in, they won’t be engaging with your content anytime soon. While you can’t always tell for sure if an account is truly inactive, some signs include:
- No recent activity or updates
- An outdated profile that hasn’t been refreshed in a long time
How Inactive Followers Affect Your Instagram Growth?
At first, it might not seem like a big deal. So what if some followers haven’t logged into their accounts for a while? If you’re not trying to grow a personal brand or business, inactive followers won’t really matter.
But if you take your Instagram presence seriously, identifying and managing inactive followers is crucial because they can negatively impact your account in several ways:
- Lower Engagement: Let’s say you have 1 million followers, but 25% of them are inactive. If you normally get 10,000 likes per post, you could be missing out on an extra 2,500 likes just because those followers aren’t engaging. This matters because brands and sponsors use engagement rates to decide how much to pay for collaborations.
- Less Favor from Instagram’s Algorithm: Instagram prioritizes content that sparks engagement. If your posts aren’t getting likes, comments, or shares, the algorithm won’t push them to the Explore page or recommend them to new users. Inactive followers make it harder for your content to reach a wider audience.
- Loss of Credibility: Brands that pay for sponsored posts analyze engagement, not just follower count. If your audience includes too many inactive, fake, or bot accounts, it damages your credibility and reduces future monetization opportunities.
Inactive followers can slow down your account’s growth and impact your potential earnings. The less engagement your posts get, the less likely Instagram is to suggest your content to new users, making it harder to attract real, active followers.
Now that you understand the negative effects of inactive followers, let’s go over how to find and remove them to keep your engagement strong.
How to Find Inactive Followers on Your Instagram?
You now understand why inactive followers can harm your account, but how do you actually identify them? Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t provide an easy way to track who is engaging with your content and who isn’t. That means you’ll need to manually search for inactive followers by following these steps:👇
- Go to your profile
- Tap on “Followers”
- Manually check each profile – Look for accounts that show signs of inactivity, such as:
- No profile picture
- No posts or very outdated content
- No visible activity
If you recognize a follower and know they use a different active account, you can remove their inactive one.
When removing followers in bulk, it’s possible to mistakenly remove active users who simply don’t post or engage often. Many people scroll through Instagram without liking or commenting but may still appreciate your content. If they enjoy what you share, they might refollow you later even if you remove them.
Some apps claim to detect inactive followers, but using them comes with risks—Instagram may restrict or ban your account for violating its policies. To stay on the safe side, it’s best to remove inactive followers manually.
How to Remove Inactive Followers on Your Instagram?
Inactive followers can drag down your engagement rate, even if they’re real accounts. It’s common for people to create an Instagram profile and stop using it over time. But when a large percentage of your followers are inactive, it significantly lowers your engagement.
The good news? You can remove them using these methods:
1. Manually Find and Remove Them
The most effective but time-consuming way to remove inactive followers is doing it manually. Follow these steps:
- Go to your Instagram profile.
- Tap “Followers” to view your list.
- Open each profile and check for inactivity.
- Tap “Remove” next to the accounts you want to delete.
If you have thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of followers, this process can take time. However, it’s the safest way to clean up your audience without risking your account.
2. Use Tools to Identify and Remove Inactive Followers
Another option is using third-party tools to analyze your followers and remove inactive accounts. These tools can help you:
- Identify inactive followers
- Analyze engagement patterns
- Remove unwanted accounts (depending on the tool)
However, be cautious—some tools offer automatic follower removal, but using them can put your account at risk. Instagram may flag this activity, leading to restrictions or even a ban. It’s always better to prioritize safety over convenience when managing your followers.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to find and remove inactive followers on Instagram, make it a habit to do this regularly—perhaps once a week. Keeping your audience engaged will help ensure that the followers who truly appreciate your content can interact with it more, boosting your overall engagement.