9 Reasons Why You Can't Follow Someone on Instagram

Not being able to follow someone on Instagram is frustrating and you may be experiencing this issue for one of several reasons.

1. Network connection error

Sometimes Instagram can work fine, but it won't work if you have a bad internet connection. For example, your Wi-Fi router might not have an internet signal; this often happens if you've just moved to a new place, or your internet provider is having technical issues.

In other cases, you may have a problem with your phone connection. In addition to the internet not working, you may have exceeded your data limit or not have roaming enabled. Either way, you won't be able to follow an account — nor will you be able to perform other actions like refreshing your home feed.

There are a few things you can do to fix an unstable Wi-Fi connection, such as changing your router's channel. Resetting your router or changing your network may also help. You can also reset your network settings and make sure you have 4G/5G turned on.

 

2. You have reached your Instagram follow limit

According to Instagram's Help Center, you can't follow more than 7,500 people. This is to "help reduce spam." If you try to follow the 7,501st person, Instagram will show an error message unless you unfollow an account first.

7,500 is a huge number of accounts, and you'll probably rarely reach that number. But even then, you can still hit this Instagram follow limit.

 

You can only follow and/or unfollow up to 60 users per hour. If you're not following 7,500 accounts, doing nothing for a few hours will fix that. And if you're following 7,500 users, unfollowing one user will fix that immediately. There are a number of practical ways you can clean up your Instagram and make sure you only keep accounts that are valuable to you.

3. The other person blocked you

Sometimes you can't follow someone because they've blocked you. So if unfollowing the account or waiting doesn't work, check to see if someone has blocked you on Instagram. An easy way to do this is to get the user's account URL, log out of your account, and see if the account is still there. If you see their profile, they may have blocked you.

You won't get a notification when someone blocks you and there's nothing you can do about it. The other person may unblock you at some point, but until then, you should respect their decision.

4. You may need to re-verify your account

Sometimes Instagram will prevent you from following new accounts due to an issue authenticating your account. Usually, this is an easy fix; just log out and back in to your account.

1. Go to your menu in the top right corner.
2. Select Settings > Log out .
3. Log back into your account.

5. Instagram app may malfunction

The Instagram app can sometimes crash due to technical issues on Meta's end, but it could also be that you need to update the app. First, try closing and reopening the Instagram app. Usually, everything will work fine after that.

 

If you're still having trouble, you may need to update the app. Go to the App Store or Google Play and look for updates. If neither of these work, wait a while and try using the app again after a few hours.

6. Instagram may have restricted your account

The follow/unfollow tactic is one of the most outdated (and really annoying) Instagram growth strategies. But in addition to being annoying to others, it can get your account banned by Instagram. This is one of the many ways to get your account banned.

If Instagram restricts your account, you may not be able to follow new users. Other reasons your account may be restricted include liking too many other people's posts at once and posting spam comments. If you suspect you've been in trouble for suspicious activity, you can check to see if you've violated Instagram's rules.

Instagram may also block your account if you log in to your account on multiple devices from different locations. While it's normal to use the same account on your phone, computer, or tablet, Instagram may 'red flag' your activity due to multiple locations.

7. You are using a VPN

If you have a VPN connection set up, Instagram may notice different IP addresses and flag your account for unusual activity. This will limit some features on your account, including the ability to follow other Instagram accounts.

The same thing happens when using Instagram on both mobile and desktop at the same time, so if you're connected to a VPN, try disconnecting it and see if that fixes the problem.

 

8. You may need to clear your cache

If you haven't cleared your cache in a while, it can affect a variety of actions on Instagram - including the ability to follow new users. This usually happens when the app's data exceeds its storage limit or becomes corrupted, and will almost certainly affect you at some point.

You can easily clear the app's cache on your Android device. For Instagram on iOS, delete and reinstall the app to achieve the same result.

9. Instagram Servers Down

If Instagram's servers are down, you won't be able to follow new users—or do anything else—until the app is back up and running. This issue usually resolves within a few hours, but in some cases, you may have to wait longer. The best thing to do in this case is to check to see if Instagram's servers are working properly.

Go to Downdetector and see if other users are reporting the same issue. You can also see how many outages have been reported in the last 24 hours.

Sometimes it's not easy to figure out why you can't follow new accounts on Instagram. The worst case scenario is that the person has blocked you, so there's nothing you can do until they unblock you. But if Instagram's servers are down, you should take the opportunity to take a break from social media and do something more meaningful.