What FollowerSignal checks—and what the result can prove.
Clear definitions, collection boundaries, freshness rules, and production QA for every public-data result.
Last reviewed July 31, 2026What a relationship report compares
A report compares the follower and following records available for one public Instagram account at collection time. Accounts present only in Following are labeled not following back; accounts present in both lists are mutuals.
What counts as an unfollower
A single snapshot cannot prove an unfollow. FollowerSignal uses the term unfollower only when an account appears in an earlier saved followers baseline and is absent from a later completed snapshot. Renames, deletions, deactivations, privacy changes, and incomplete provider availability can still affect interpretation.
Freshness and faster previews
Public utility tools may show a clearly labeled recent cached result first. Short freshness windows vary by workflow, and stale previews are refreshed quietly when possible. Relationship reports and saved change tracking retain their own collection timestamps instead of being presented as live forever.
Production quality checks
Automated checks run against core routes, provider workflows, scheduled scans, payments, metadata, and search visibility. Rotating live-input checks measure completion, terminal feedback, and wall-clock duration. A release is deployed only after lint, production build, artifact validation, and tests pass.
Privacy boundary
FollowerSignal does not request an Instagram password or private session. Public-tool analytics exclude usernames, free-form inputs, follower lists, profile results, payment objects, and provider credentials. Owner and preview-site traffic are excluded from business reporting.
Known limitations
Private accounts remain private. Public availability can change while a check is running. Provider-backed requests can take longer for large or highly active accounts. FollowerSignal is independent and is not affiliated with Instagram or Meta.