Our methodology

How we test the tools we compare

Before we write about an Instagram viewer or tracker, we build a fact sheet for it. Each fact gets the URL it came from and the date we checked it. If we can’t verify something, it doesn’t go on the page, or we say plainly that the tool doesn’t list it.

• Primary sources first. The tool’s own website, its help, FAQ, terms and privacy pages, and its App Store and Google Play listings. Reputable third-party articles count only as a second source, and we name them.
• A live test. For web viewers we open the site in a desktop browser and look up a large public account, then note what loads, what fails, which ads and trackers run, and whether a bot check or login wall appears.
• Domains and redirects. Viewer sites often move. We check which addresses still answer, where they redirect and when a domain was registered, so readers don’t land on a copycat.
• Where we tested from. Some viewers behave differently by country, so the fact sheet records the country our test came from.
• Ratings with context. Store ratings are reported with the store region and the month we read them, for example “4.1 stars from about 24,000 ratings on the US App Store”.
• What we don’t do. We don’t sign in to competitor apps with an Instagram account, and we don’t buy their subscriptions for a page. When a claim depends on a paid feature we haven’t tested, we say that.

The rules we write by

• Peekd is our product. We write comparisons about tools we compete with, and we don’t hide that.
• Credit where it’s due. Each comparison includes what the other tool does well, even when that’s something Peekd doesn’t do.
• Facts, not labels. We describe what a tool does (“asks you to sign in with your Instagram account”) and leave the verdict to you. We don’t call competitors scams.
• Nothing invented. No made-up ratings, prices, user numbers, quotes or test results.
• Real re-checks only. We only move a page’s “updated” date after we have re-checked its facts.

Our pages compare Peekd with other tools, so they can’t be neutral. What we promise is that every fact can be traced to a dated source. You’ll find the comparisons in our guides, starting with the best Instagram tracker apps.

Where Peekd’s data comes from

Peekd only uses information that anyone can see on a public Instagram profile without logging in. When you add a username, Peekd takes a snapshot of who the account follows and who follows it. It re-checks the account on a schedule and compares each new snapshot with the last one. A name that appears is a new follow; a name that disappears is an unfollow. Each change is dated to the check where Peekd first saw it, so a date can trail the real event a little.

Peekd never asks for your Instagram password or anyone else’s, never logs in as you, and never interacts with the account you track, which is why that person isn’t notified.

Some of the free tools on this site work differently. The not-following-back checker and the unfollowers checker read the data download you request from Instagram yourself. That file is processed inside your browser and isn’t uploaded to us.

What Peekd can’t do

• See private accounts, or anything a private account hides.
• Track verified accounts or accounts with more than 10,000 followers.
• Show follows or unfollows from before tracking started.
• Show likes, comments, DMs, close friends or profile visitors. Instagram doesn’t publish these, so no outside app can honestly show them.

The longer explanation, with examples, is on how Peekd works.

Corrections

Tools change their prices, domains and features often. If something on one of our pages is out of date or wrong, email peekd@reelpop.co with the page and what changed. We re-check the source, update the fact sheet and fix the page.