The profile itself: the picture at full size, the bio, the grid, and ways to look without an account or a login.
The app shows a small circle. A profile viewer shows the picture at the size it was uploaded.
Every public post in order, each one openable, without the login wall Instagram's own website puts up.
Instagram does not show anyone who visited their profile, signed in or not. A viewer changes nothing there.
A profile viewer shows what Instagram gives any visitor. On a public account that is nearly everything; on a private one it is the header.
The username may be spelled differently or may have changed, the account may be private, or it may have been deactivated.
Usernames are unique on Instagram; display names are not. Search by the username when you have it. With only a name, check the picture and the bio of each match.
A bio link goes to a site the owner chose. Treat it as you would any link from someone you do not know.
Instagram shows a profile picture as a small circle in the app and on the web. The file behind it is larger.
The app crops the picture to a circle and shows it at thumbnail size on the profile, beside comments and in search results.
It opens the same picture at the size the owner uploaded it, so a face, a logo or a shop sign can be read.
Checking that an account belongs to the person or business you think it does, before you send a follow request, a message or a payment.
A private account's picture is part of its public header. It shows at the small size Instagram gives every visitor; the posts behind the lock stay closed.
The picture is stored as a square. The circle is the app's crop, so the corners the app hides appear in the full-size view.
Four routes people use to look at a profile. They differ in what they need and in whose name ends up on a story viewer list.
The website shows a public profile's header and the first rows of the grid, then puts up a login prompt. Stories and highlights do not play for a logged-out visitor.
Your name stays off the lists, and your friend's name takes its place on any story you watch from their account.
A second account needs its own login and its own email address or phone number, and its name appears on every story it watches.
An Instagram web viewer runs in the browser, so a computer gets the same profile as a phone, on a larger screen.
Posts sit in rows across the screen, and a photo opens at the width of the window instead of the width of a phone.
Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge. No extension, no app and no Instagram login.
Two public profiles open in two tabs, which is how people compare two shops, two venues or two photographers.
A private window stops your browser keeping history. It does not change what Instagram records, which for a profile visit is nothing.
Open the viewer in any browser tab.
Type the public username and open the profile.
Use the browser's zoom for photos; nothing on the page needs the app.
Bookmark the accounts you check often.
Most people who open a profile without an account are checking something before they act on it.
Picture, name, bio and counts are public on every account. Posts, stories, highlights and lists on a private account stay closed to every viewer; the private accounts guide explains why.
The public account you want to look at.
Picture, bio, counts, grid and highlights, in the browser, with no login wall.
Open any post or highlight. Nothing is recorded for the owner.
A private account shows its header and a lock to everyone the owner has not approved. No viewer on this site, and none anywhere else, opens the rest. The private accounts guide explains what is and is not possible.
Short answers. Each page in this section goes deeper.
Type a public username and open the viewer. No Instagram login on your side, no name on theirs.
