How to Check Who you Requested to Follow on Instagram in 2023 & Its Pending for Accept

A follow request on Instagram is similar to a friend request on Facebook. The difference is that Instagram uses the concept of “influencers and handles” where it is believed that you would be following profiles more for viewing than merely creating a connection.

While many Instagram profiles are public and anyone can follow them without permission or acceptance from the owner of the handle, many other profiles are private. Thus, the owner of the handle needs to accept your follow request for you to be able to check their content.

How to check your sent follow requests on Instagram 2023 that are not yet accepted.

Why do all the online tricks to check sent follow requests fail with Instagram?

Instagram made recent changes and disallowed checking certain data directly and this includes sent follow requests. To check the same, you will have to download the data. The data file is sent to you via email and may take up to 14 days. Thus, I will explain the procedure for downloading the data and then extracting the information.

The methods that suggest accessing the information using this link are absolute and not working as of now. If you click on it, it redirects to the Settings & Privacy page. Which is a dead end for your solution.

Try the following working methods to see who you requested to follow on Instagram:-

1. Download Instagram data using your web browser
2. Download Instagram data using your phone app
3. Check your follow requests on Instagram using the downloaded data

1. Download Instagram data using your web browser

The procedure to download Instagram data using your web browser is as follows:

• Open Instagram and log in to your account.
• Click on More at the bottom-left corner.
• Select Your activity from the menu.

• Scroll down a little and you will notice a section named Data Download. Click on Request Download corresponding to it.
• Click on the last tab named Download your information.
• In the right pane, select the radio button corresponding to HTML.
• Click on Next.

• Enter your password and click on Request download.

• An email link will be sent to your registered email ID.

2] Download Instagram data using your phone app

• The procedure to download Instagram data using your Android phone is as follows:
• Open the Instagram app on your phone.
• Click on your profile picture.
• Click on the Menu button at the top-right corner.
• Select Your activity from the menu.

• In the Your activity page, scroll down to the absolute bottom of the menu.
• Click on Download your information.

• Click on Request a Download.

As in the case of the web browser, information will be emailed to the registered email ID.

3] Check your follow requests on Instagram using the downloaded data

• Whenever you receive the email for the Instagram data, do the following:
• Open the email titled Your Instagram information.
• In the email, click on Download information.
• It will be downloaded as a ZIP file in the Downloads folder of your computer.
• Right-click on the ZIP file and select Extract All…
• Open the extracted file on your computer.
• You would notice a lot of folders containing various information about your Instagram activity.
• Open the folder titled “followers_and_following.” You will notice HTML files in this folder.

• Double-click on the file named “pending_follow_requests” in the folder.

The webpage that opens will show the list of all the follow requests that have neither been accepted, nor deleted.

Why can’t you access this data on Instagram through a simple option?

Instagram allowed users to check the list of sent follow requests which are pending till very recently. However, this option has been removed for security reasons. The option to Download data is rarely used and cannot be accessed by a hacker. The reason is that this data is sent directly to your email ID and can only be downloaded through the email link.

How can you check rejected follow requests on Instagram?

Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if Instagram allowed you to check rejected follow requests on Instagram? They have a reason to deny you that access. But here is a trick. Return to the same “followers_and_following” page on Instagram. Double-click on the file named “recent_follow_requests” to open the data. Now, check all your recent followers. If there is no pending request, it means they rejected your follow request.

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