About Shyview
Free tools for looking at public Instagram accounts in a browser, without an account of your own.
Who runs it
Shyview is a private site built and run by one developer: the viewers, the server behind them and the blog. There is no company behind it, no account to follow and no app to install. Everything happens on these pages.
Shyview is independent. It isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Instagram or Meta, and it can only show content that an account has made public.
How a search stays anonymous
Four parties take part in a search, and your name isn't passed along at any step.
- 01Your browserSends the username you typed. No login, no account of yours.
- 02Our serverAnswers from its copy if it has a recent one, or asks the provider.
- 03Data providerReceives the username only, never who asked for it.
- 04InstagramGets the provider's request. Your account and name are not in it.
Your browser asks our server, never Instagram. Our server passes the username to a data provider, which fetches the account's public content, and the answer comes back the same way. Instagram sees a request from the provider, with no Instagram account behind it, so there is no name to add to a viewer list.
You don't sign up, log in or connect anything, so the site never learns who you are. Private accounts stay private: if an account isn't public, our server can't see it either.
What we store, and for how long
Three things, each with its own clock.
Copies of public content, filed under the account
To answer the next search for the same account quickly, we keep what the provider returned for a while. The copy is stored under the account's username. It isn't tied to you or to your IP address.
| Result | Kept for | |
|---|---|---|
| Stories | About 5 minutes | An older copy can be shown for up to 30 minutes while a fresh one loads. |
| Profile details | 10 minutes to 2 hours | Depends on the size of the account and how often it's searched. |
| Highlights | About 6 hours | The items inside a highlight are refreshed every 12 hours. |
| Posts and reels | About a day | Up to 36 recent posts per account, 12 at a time. |
A request count per IP address
Our server counts requests per IP address to keep the service fair: 60 in 10 minutes. The counters hold a number, not what was searched, and they delete themselves after 10 minutes, after 5 minutes for the bot-check threshold, and an hour after a passed check.
A log line per request
Like most web servers, ours writes one line per request: the IP address, the page asked for, the time and the browser's name. We read these only to fix errors and stop abuse, and delete them after 14 days. The privacy policy has the full list.
Own a public account and want our copies of it gone sooner? Email support
The tools
One search box on every page; each tool reads a different part of a profile.
- Story ViewerWatch a public account's stories without logging in. Your name never lands on their viewer list.
- Profile ViewerSee a public profile the way a visitor sees it, without an account: the full-size picture, bio, counts, highlights and latest posts.
- Posts ViewerScroll a public account's feed without an account, open any photo, video or carousel, and keep the files on your device.
- Highlights ViewerOpen the story collections a public account keeps on its profile, play each one in order, and save any item you want.
- Reels ViewerPlay a public account's reels in your browser, with sound, and save any of them as an MP4. No account needed.
- Story DownloaderSave a public account's current stories to your phone or computer, photos as JPG and videos as MP4, without logging in.
The blog covers how Instagram shows public accounts and what changes on the platform mean for the people on it. Questions go to the FAQ or straight to us.