How to View Instagram Stories Anonymously in 2026 — Complete Guide

Why Would You Even Want to Do This?

Look, I'm not gonna judge. We've all been there — maybe you're keeping tabs on an ex, or you want to check out a competitor's content without them seeing your name pop up. Maybe you just deleted Instagram but still want to see what your friends are posting.

Whatever your reason, here's the reality: every single time you view someone's Instagram story, your username shows up in their viewer list. They can see exactly who watched and when. For a lot of people, that's a dealbreaker.

So I spent a weekend testing every method I could find for viewing stories anonymously. Some of them work great. Most of them are garbage. Here's what I found — and I'll also point you to my roundup of the best anonymous viewer tools if you want the quick version.

The Method That Actually Works: Online Story Viewers

I'll cut straight to it — the most reliable way to view Instagram stories anonymously is through a dedicated web tool like PeekStories. I've been using it for about three weeks now, and it hasn't failed me once.

Here's how it works. You go to the website, type in a public Instagram username, and boom — you can see their stories, highlights, reels, posts, everything. The key part? Instagram has zero idea you're watching. The tool fetches the content from its own servers, so Instagram only sees a request from PeekStories, not from you.

The process takes literally 10 seconds:

1. Go to peekstories.com 2. Type the username 3. Browse their stuff — stories, highlights, reels, whatever 4. Download anything you want to keep

No account needed. No app to install. No trace left behind. You can also download content in HD if you want to save something.

The Airplane Mode Trick — Does It Still Work?

You've probably seen this one floating around TikTok and Reddit. The idea is simple: open Instagram, let the stories load, flip on airplane mode, then watch them offline. In theory, Instagram can't log your view if you're not connected to the internet.

I tried it. Multiple times. And honestly? It's hit or miss in 2026.

Sometimes it works fine — the story plays, you force-close the app, turn airplane mode off, and your name doesn't show up. But other times, Instagram queues up the view data and sends it the moment you reconnect. It's like the app is getting smarter about this.

The bigger problem is that stories don't always fully load before you go offline. Videos especially — you'll get a frozen frame or nothing at all. So yeah, it can work in a pinch, but I wouldn't count on it.

Burner Accounts — More Trouble Than They're Worth

Some people create a second Instagram account with a random name and no profile pic. And sure, technically that works — the person will see "user8847291" viewed their story instead of your real name.

But here's the thing — Instagram's gotten way better at detecting fake accounts. They'll ask for phone verification, flag suspicious login patterns, and sometimes just straight-up disable the account. I had a burner account last about 3 days before Instagram locked it.

Plus you still show up in the viewer list. It's just under a different name. That's not really anonymous — that's just a disguise. And if you need to follow someone to see their stories (because they're private), you've gotta send a follow request from your sketchy-looking burner account. Good luck with that.

A Few Things You Should Know

Before you go wild with anonymous viewing, here are some important details:

This only works for public accounts. If someone's profile is private, no third-party tool can access their content. That's just how Instagram's privacy settings work, and honestly, that's a good thing.

Stories disappear after 24 hours. If you want to see them later, you've gotta download them before they vanish. Highlights stick around though — those are permanent as long as the person keeps them up.

You don't need an Instagram account. This surprised me at first, but tools like PeekStories work entirely without any login. So if you've deleted your account or never had one, you're still covered.

So What's the Best Method?

After testing everything I could get my hands on, I keep coming back to online story viewers. They're fast, they're free, and they actually work — consistently.

The airplane mode trick is too unreliable. Burner accounts are a hassle. Browser extensions are sketchy (I wouldn't trust most of them with my data).

Just go to peekstories.com, type a username, and you're done. No signup, no installation, no trace. You can view stories, highlights, reels, and posts — and even download stuff if you want.

That's it. That's the whole guide. If I find a better method, I'll update this post. But right now, this is what works.