Step-by-Step: How to Remove an Instagram Follower Without Blocking Them (2025)
Learn how to discreetly remove followers on Instagram without blocking them, ensuring privacy and genuine engagement.
Learn how to discreetly remove followers on Instagram without blocking them, ensuring privacy and genuine engagement.

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Want to remove someone from your Instagram followers without blocking them? Here's how you can do it discreetly in just a few steps. Removing followers is a great way to control who sees your content, maintain privacy, and improve engagement without causing unnecessary tension. Plus, they won’t even get notified about it.
By managing your followers, you can avoid issues like fake accounts, low engagement, and wasted ad spend. Tools like UpGrow can also help you maintain a genuine and active audience.
Take control of your Instagram today!
Here's what you need to know about removing a follower and how it compares to blocking.
Removing a follower is simple and subtle. The person you remove won't be notified about it. Once removed:
The process is reversible. Public followers can refollow instantly, while private account followers will need your approval to follow again.
Next, we’ll cover the exact steps to remove one or multiple followers.
Now that you understand how removing followers works, here’s a simple guide to do it quietly.
These instructions work for both public and private accounts. However, for private accounts, the removed follower must request to follow you again.
Keeping your follower list in check is essential for maintaining meaningful engagement. Studies show that accounts with more than 30% fake followers see a 58% drop in conversion rates and 83% lower engagement per genuine follower. To keep your list healthy, try these steps:
Once you've cleaned up, take advantage of Instagram's privacy tools to control who can follow you.
Instagram's privacy settings let you decide who sees your content. Switching to a private account gives you more control, including:
Make it a habit to review and adjust your privacy settings as needed.
For private accounts, carefully evaluate new follow requests to ensure they're genuine. When reviewing, consider:
A healthy engagement rate typically falls between 3–8%, which can serve as a good benchmark for assessing new followers.

Once you've cleaned up your follower list, UpGrow helps you maintain an engaged audience and achieve consistent growth.
UpGrow's Audit Tool identifies bots and fake accounts, ensuring your followers remain authentic and engaged. It evaluates factors like:
UpGrow's Boost feature has shown impressive results, with beta tests revealing a 275% increase in monthly followers. It uses AI to target audiences based on demographics, location, interests, and language.
For example, an eco-apparel brand using UpGrow reduced the time spent vetting influencers by 65%, increased click-through rates by 220%, and achieved a $9.78 ROAS, compared to the $5.20 industry average.
In Q1 2024, brands reported a 67% drop in wasted ad spend, highlighting UpGrow's ability to connect with genuinely interested followers while staying within Instagram's guidelines.
You can remove followers without blocking them to quietly manage who sees your content, maintain relationships, and, for private accounts, require removed users to request approval again.
UpGrow's AI tools have already helped over 55,000 users verify followers and achieve real growth. Beta testers even reported a 275% jump in monthly followers.
Take control of your audience, use UpGrow's precise targeting, and grow an engaged and genuine follower base.