UnfollowGuard — How it works

Check who doesn’t follow you back (and who you don’t follow back) using your Instagram export. Everything runs locally in your browser—no logins, no servers.

100% privacy-first • files never leave your device

Skip to app How it works

How to download your Instagram data

1Open the Instagram app → Menu (☰) → Settings and privacy.

2Go to Account Center → Your information and permissions → Download your information.

3Select your Instagram account. Tap Some of your information → search/select Followers and following.

4At the bottom, set Date range to All time, choose Format: JSON, and tap Create files.

Tip: JSON is required (not HTML). The app reads JSON only.

1Open instagram.com in a browser → More (left sidebar) → Settings.

2Go to Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Download your information.

3Choose your IG account → Some of your information → select Followers and following.

4Set Date range to All time • Format: JSON • then Create files.

What you’ll receive

Instagram emails you a link to download a .zip file. When you unzip it, look for the JSON files below (names may vary slightly):

• followers_1.json (sometimes followers_2.json, followers_3.json…)

• following.json

Common locations in the export:

• followers_and_following/followers_1.json

• followers_and_following/following.json

or (older exports)

• connections/followers_1.json

• connections/following.json

If you see multiple followers_*.json files, that’s normal—Instagram splits large lists. The app merges them automatically.

Use them in UnfollowGuard

Open the app: unfollowguard.com/app.html
Drag in all followers_*.json files and following.json (or click to select).
Click Compare Now.
(Optional) Add brands/creators to your Whitelist so they don’t show up in results.
Export both lists to clean text files.

Open the app

Troubleshooting

No results? Make sure you selected the JSON format when creating the export, not HTML.
Still zipped? Unzip the downloaded file first, then drag the JSON files into the app.
Different file names? That’s okay—look for any files that clearly contain followers or following in JSON.
Privacy check: the app never uploads your files; everything runs locally.