How to See Your Pending Follow Requests on Instagram

At some point, almost everyone taps "Follow" on a private account and then… nothing. Days pass, weeks pass. Did they ever see it? Did they quietly ignore it? Instagram doesn't say — and strangely, it doesn't give you a list of the requests you've sent anywhere in the app. This page explains exactly what a pending request is, the slow way to check them inside Instagram, how to cancel one, and the fast way to see them all at once using your own data.

What a "pending" follow request actually is

When you follow a private account, you don't start following them immediately. Instead, you send a request, and the follow only begins if they tap accept. Until then, your request sits in a pending state. The other person can accept it, decline it, or simply leave it sitting there forever — many people rarely open their request list, and a request can also get buried under newer notifications and effectively forgotten.

A pending request does not expire. It stays pending until the person acts on it, you withdraw it, or one of the two accounts is deleted or deactivated. That means your pending list can contain requests you sent years ago and have completely forgotten about — a mildly embarrassing discovery many people make the first time they look.

Checking requests inside the Instagram app

Here is the honest situation: Instagram has no screen that lists your sent requests. The only in-app way to check is one profile at a time:

1. Open the profile of the person you think you requested.
2. Look at the button under their bio. If it says Requested, your request is still pending. If it says Following, they accepted. If it says Follow again, the request is gone — declined, or you cancelled it.

That works when you remember exactly who you requested. For anyone with a long-forgotten list, checking profile by profile is not realistic — which is why the data method below exists.

How to cancel a pending request

Withdrawing a request is simple, and the other person is not notified that you cancelled:

1. Visit the person's profile.
2. Tap the Requested button.
3. Confirm to cancel the request (Instagram may label this as unfollowing the request). The button turns back to Follow.

You can re-request later if you change your mind, but be aware that sending a fresh request does create a new notification for them — so repeated cancel-and-resend cycles are best avoided with people you don't know.

See every pending request at once

Although the app hides them, Instagram's official data download keeps a complete record: the export includes a pending follow requests file with every request you've sent that is still unanswered. That is exactly what UnfollowCheck reads.

1. Download your data following our step-by-step: How to download your Instagram data (choose Some of your information → Followers and following → JSON).
2. Open the UnfollowCheck checker and drop in the ZIP — don't extract it.
3. Open the Pending requests tab. Every unanswered request is listed with its username and, with a JSON export, the date you sent it. Tap a username to open that profile and cancel the request if you want to.

Everything runs in your browser: the file is never uploaded, and nobody — including us — sees your list. The same ZIP also powers the main guide, How to see who unfollowed you on Instagram.

Should you tidy up old requests?

There is no penalty for leaving requests pending, and a long-pending request doesn't affect your account. Still, a quick tidy-up is satisfying and occasionally useful: cancelling requests to accounts that have clearly gone quiet, changed beyond recognition, or that you no longer remember requesting makes your following activity reflect who you actually are today. Just don't read too much into a pending request — most of the time it means "hasn't looked," not "no."

Frequently asked questions