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How to Download an Instagram Following List as CSV

Export the accounts an accessible Instagram profile follows to CSV, then verify audience=following, the 14 columns, row count, and task state.

Aug 30, 2026Instagram
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To download an Instagram Following list as CSV, open a profile available to your current Instagram browser session, choose Following, select a row ceiling, choose CSV, and start the export. After download, verify audience=following, the source profile, the 14-column header, confirmed rows, and terminal task state.

This file answers one specific question: which accounts does the target profile currently follow within the observed rows? It is not a Followers list, a historical follow/unfollow log, or an automatic non-follow-back report.

Disclosure: Web Tidy publishes this guide and develops Instagram Follower Exporter. Product direction, fields, row ceilings, status behavior, and permissions were checked against current first-party code on August 30, 2026. Public guides and community questions informed terminology and reader concerns rather than product claims.

Followers and Following are opposite directions

DirectionMeaningExpected audience value
FollowersAccounts that follow the target profilefollowers
FollowingAccounts that the target profile followsfollowing

This page covers Following to CSV only. It does not relabel Following as Followers, compare two lists, identify historical unfollows, monitor changes, or calculate common followers between accounts.

Download the Following list step by step

  1. In Chrome, open the Instagram profile that the current session is allowed to access.
  2. Open Instagram Follower Exporter and confirm the target username or profile URL.
  3. Change Audience to Following. Do not leave the default Followers direction selected.
  4. Choose a row ceiling of 100, 200, 500, or 1,000.
  5. Keep account-ID duplicate removal enabled unless your audit requires otherwise.
  6. Set Format to CSV, then start the task.
  7. Track validating, running, paused, stopping, completed, partial, or failed and note confirmed rows.
  8. Download the result, then verify its direction, source, fields, count, and state.

What the Following CSV contains

The file uses this 14-column order:

id,pk,username,profileUrl,fullName,profilePicUrl,isVerified,followedByViewer,requestedByViewer,audience,sourceProfile,sourceProfileUrl,collectedAt,rowIndex

A reviewable Following CSV keeps more context than usernames alone:

  • audience must be following.
  • sourceProfile and sourceProfileUrl record which profile follows the exported accounts.
  • id is the preferred comparison or deduplication key when present; usernames can change.
  • collectedAt is local normalization time, not the time the target followed the account.
  • rowIndex is final local output order, not a newest-followed ranking.

Do not infer a follow date from rowIndex, and do not describe one user-started export as scheduled tracking.

Verify the direction before using the list

  1. Confirm the filename ends in .csv and the first row contains all 14 headers.
  2. Check that audience is following.
  3. Verify sourceProfile/sourceProfileUrl match the intended target.
  4. Compare confirmed rows with the selected ceiling. A profile above 1,000 produces a bounded observed result.
  5. Record completed, or preserve partial together with the stop reason.
  6. Import id, pk, and username as text in Excel or Sheets.

If the direction is wrong, do not try to fix the label after the fact. Run a new task with Following selected so the rows and provenance remain aligned.

What one Following CSV cannot answer

A single Following file does not show:

  • who follows the target profile;
  • who does not follow back;
  • when an account was followed;
  • who unfollowed between two dates;
  • relationships outside the confirmed rows;
  • whether anyone should be followed, unfollowed, or contacted.

For current non-follow-back review, export both directions for the same profile with comparable settings, then calculate Following − Followers. Use the dedicated non-follow-back workflow instead of turning this page into a comparison guide.

Stops, local History, and permissions

  • Each run exports one target's Followers or Following; this workflow selects Following.
  • Login, challenge, rate limit, private or unavailable targets, and lost page context stop the task.
  • Only transient network errors and HTTP 5xx responses retry, with at most three attempts per request.
  • Local History keeps up to 20 terminal tasks for review and re-download. It is not scheduled monitoring.
  • Permissions are storage, tabs, and downloads, without cookies, scripting, identity, or alarms.

The exporter does not output JSON, sync to a CRM, enrich email or phone data, automate follows or unfollows, send messages, or bypass private profiles, login, challenges, or rate limits.

Frequently asked questions

What does Following mean?

Following means accounts that the target profile follows. It is the opposite of Followers.

Can one Following CSV identify accounts that do not follow back?

No. You also need a comparable Followers file for the same profile and then calculate Following − Followers.

Is rowIndex the newest-followed order?

No. It is the final local export order, not an Instagram follow timeline.

Can this run automatically on a schedule?

No. Each export is user-started, and the extension does not request the alarms permission.

Can it download any private profile's Following list?

No. It can only use a target that the current Instagram session can access, without bypassing privacy or verification controls.

Next step

Choose Following and CSV, start with a small accessible target, and validate audience, source profile, row count, and terminal state before relying on the file.

Download an Instagram Following CSV