How to Clean Up Your Instagram Following List

Following too many people on Instagram? Your following list probably needs a cleanup. Here's how to do it without getting your account flagged.

Why Clean Up Your Following List?

People clean up their following list because:

• They want a better follower-to-following ratio
• Their feed is cluttered with posts they don't care about
• They're following inactive or dead accounts
• They followed too many people during growth phases
• Many accounts don't follow them back

Who Should You Unfollow?

Start by unfollowing these types of accounts:

1. Accounts That Don't Follow You Back

If you're following someone and they're not following back, they're probably not seeing your content anyway. Unless it's someone you genuinely want to follow (celebrities, brands, etc.), unfollow them.

2. Inactive Accounts

Look for accounts that:

• Haven't posted in 6+ months
• Never engage with your content
• Seem abandoned or deleted

3. Bot or Spam Accounts

Red flags for bot accounts:

• Random usernames with numbers
• No profile picture or generic photos
• Following thousands but have few followers
• Posting promotional spam

4. Accounts You Don't Care About Anymore

Be honest - if you haven't looked at their posts in months, unfollow them. Your feed should only show content you actually want to see.

Instagram's Unfollow Limits (Important!)

Before you start mass unfollowing, know Instagram's limits:

• You can unfollow about 150-200 accounts per day
• Pace it at around 10 unfollows per hour to be safe
• New accounts have stricter limits
• Going too fast gets you temporarily blocked

Pro tip: Don't unfollow everyone at once. Spread it over several days.

How to Clean Up Your Following List (Step by Step)

Method 1: Manual Cleanup (Free but Slow)

1. Go to your profile
2. Tap "Following"
3. Scroll through and tap "Following" to unfollow accounts
4. Repeat for each account you want to remove

This works but takes forever if you're following hundreds of people.

Method 2: Use a Tracker Tool (Fast and Smart)

The faster way is using a tool like our unfollowers tracker:

1. Enter your Instagram username
2. See who doesn't follow you back
3. Get clickable links to each profile
4. Unfollow directly from Instagram

This saves hours because you can see the full list instantly instead of checking each profile manually.

Best Practices for Unfollowing

• Don't unfollow more than 150-200 per day - Instagram will block you
• Take breaks between unfollows - Wait 30-60 seconds between each one
• Unfollow in small batches - Do 20-30 at a time, then wait an hour
• Keep accounts that engage with you - Even if they don't follow back, if they like your posts, maybe keep them
• Don't use automation apps - Instagram bans accounts that use bots to mass unfollow

What Happens After You Clean Up?

After cleaning your following list:

• Your feed becomes more relevant
• Your follower-to-following ratio improves
• Your engagement rate might increase
• You'll see content from accounts you actually care about

Should You Worry About Your Follower Ratio?

Here's the truth: your follower-to-following ratio matters for credibility.

• Good ratio: Following fewer people than follow you (like 1000 followers, 500 following)
• Bad ratio: Following way more than follow you (like 500 followers, 2000 following)

A bad ratio makes you look like you're just following for follow-backs, which hurts your credibility.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Unfollowing everyone at once - You'll get blocked by Instagram
• Using third-party apps that auto-unfollow - These get accounts banned
• Unfollowing people who actually engage - Keep accounts that like/comment on your posts
• Not checking before unfollowing - Make sure you actually want to unfollow them

Tools That Can Help

Besides our unfollowers tracker, you can also:

• Use Instagram's "Least Interacted With" feature (under Settings → Account → Accounts you follow)
• Sort your following list by "Date followed" to find old accounts
• Check engagement on your posts to see who interacts

Bottom Line

Cleaning up your Instagram following list improves your feed and your ratio. Start by unfollowing accounts that don't follow back, inactive profiles, and spam accounts. Just remember to stay under Instagram's limits - about 150-200 unfollows per day max.

The easiest way to start? Use our tracker to see who doesn't follow you back, then unfollow them in small batches.