Followers Tracker - see who doesn’t follow you back on Instagram
Followers Tracker is a GUI application I built to help Instagram users analyze their exported Instagram data and see who does not follow them back.
The main goal was to solve this problem without using any third-party Instagram login, without asking users for their credentials, and without scraping Instagram.
Instead, the app works with the official data export that users can download directly from Instagram.
Why I Built It
I noticed that many people were looking for a safe way to check who does not follow them back on Instagram.
Most tools that claimed to do this required users to log in with their Instagram account, give access to their credentials, or use services that felt risky and unreliable.
There is a manual way to do it by downloading your Instagram data as a ZIP file, but it can be confusing. The exported data contains JSON files, and comparing followers and following lists manually is annoying, especially when the structure is not easy to understand.
I also saw many users saying that some tools did not show the correct data, or that older websites for this purpose were no longer working.
So I built a simple app where users can import their own Instagram JSON files and sort the results clearly.
What the App Does
The app allows users to import their Instagram followers and following JSON files, then compare the two lists.
It can show:
- Users who are not following you back
- Users you are not following back
- Users you both follow each other
This makes it easier to understand the relationship between the two lists without manually sorting JSON files or using unsafe third-party services.
Privacy-Focused Approach
A key part of this project was keeping the process safe and transparent.
The app does not require an Instagram login.
It does not ask for a password.
It does not connect to Instagram directly.
It does not scrape any data.
The user works only with files they downloaded themselves from their own Instagram account.
This was important because many similar tools require too much access or depend on unstable Instagram scraping behavior.
Mobile Information Page
I also added an information page for mobile users that explains how to download the Instagram data and use it inside the app.
This was needed because the Instagram data export process can be confusing, especially for users who are trying to do it from a phone.
The info page gives users clearer guidance so they can prepare the right files before importing them into the app.
Sorting and Count Features
After the first release, I added counts for each sorted option.
This made the app more useful because users could immediately see how many accounts were inside each category, instead of only seeing the list.
For example, users could quickly understand how many people they follow who do not follow them back.
Reddit Launch
I shared the project on Reddit in a post explaining how users can see who does not follow them back on Instagram without using a third-party application.
The post reached around 500k views, which showed that many users had the same problem and were looking for a safer solution.
Technical Focus
The project focused on:
- Parsing Instagram JSON export files
- Comparing follower and following lists
- Sorting users into clear categories
- Building a simple GUI for non-technical users
- Avoiding third-party login flows
- Keeping the process private and file-based
- Making the app easy to use from both desktop and mobile
Summary
Followers Tracker is a small but practical tool that solves a common problem in a safer way.
Instead of asking users to trust a third-party service with their Instagram login, the app lets them use their official Instagram data export and process it locally through a simple interface.
The project became useful for many users and gained significant attention after being shared on Reddit, reaching around 500k views.