How to See What Someone Likes on Instagram (2026)
You cannot open a full feed of someone else's likes — Instagram removed the "Following activity" tab in 2019. As of 2026, what's visible is public engagement: the likes and comments shown on public po...
You cannot open a full feed of someone else's likes — Instagram removed the "Following activity" tab in 2019. As of 2026, what's visible is public engagement: the likes and comments shown on public posts. Anything on a private account, or a private list of what a person has liked, stays closed.
People search for this expecting an older feature that no longer exists. The honest answer is narrower but still useful: you can read public signals, just not a private activity history. This guide covers exactly what's visible, why the old feed disappeared and the public signals worth watching with a public engagement view instead.
How to see what someone likes on Instagram: what's visible
What you can actually see depends on whether the activity is public. The table below draws the line between what's observable and what is not.
Visible versus hidden likes
| What you want to see | Visible? |
|---|---|
| Likes shown on a specific public post | Yes — the count, and some visible names |
| A full feed of everything someone has liked | No — removed in 2019 |
| Likes by a private account | No |
| Public comments and tags they leave | Yes |
| Private likes or hidden activity | No |
The pattern is simple: you can see engagement that happens in the open on public posts, but there is no way to pull a person's complete like history. These signals come from public account activity only — Clarvio cannot see private likes, and the right use is understanding public behavior, not surveilling an individual.
Why the full likes feed disappeared
Instagram once had a "Following" activity tab that showed what accounts you followed were liking and commenting on. It removed that in 2019 because it surfaced behavior people did not realize was public, and it created exactly the kind of surveillance dynamic the platform wanted to avoid.
That history matters because most tools promising to "see someone's likes" are really promising a feature Instagram deliberately deleted. The data is not exposed through the app or any API, so a complete likes feed is not something a credible tool can deliver — public or paid.
Public signals to watch instead
If your real goal is understanding an account's activity, the reliable signals are public and easy to track over time:
- public comments and who they engage with openly
- visible engagement on their own posts
- posting frequency and content formats
- follower and following movement
- collaboration posts and tags
Reviewing these by hand across accounts gets tedious, so signal-based analysis can organize public engagement into dated trends for you — reading external, public-only data with no Instagram password and no login. For competitor research or creator evaluation, this public picture is usually enough to understand strategy and fit without chasing a private likes list that no longer exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you see what someone likes on Instagram?
You can see the public engagement they leave in the open — likes and comments on public posts, plus public tags. You cannot see a full feed of everything they have liked, because Instagram removed that activity view in 2019.
Can you see someone's liked-posts feed?
No. There is no way to view another account's complete liked-posts list. You can only ever see your own likes, under Your Activity, as covered in how to see liked posts on Instagram.
Can you see what a private account likes?
No. A private account's activity is limited to approved followers, and even then there is no full likes feed. Private likes are not exposed to any tool.
What can I track instead of someone's likes?
Track public signals: comments, visible post engagement, posting cadence and follower movement. A public engagement view reads these from public accounts with no login, which is more reliable than guessing at private activity.
Is there an app to see someone's Instagram likes?
No legitimate app can show a private likes feed, because the data is not available. Tools that claim to either repackage public engagement or ask for a login they should never need.
Final take
The real answer to how to see what someone likes on Instagram is that a complete private-like history is not something you can responsibly expect — Instagram retired that view in 2019. Focus on public comments, visible engagement, follower movement and content activity, which tell you more about strategy anyway. To read public engagement signals over time, try a public engagement view at clarvio.app.
Sources:
Clarvio