Instagram Stories are those fun, fleeting posts that vanish after 24 hours, unless you highlight them. They’re great for quick updates without cluttering your main feed, and the best part is you can see who’s checked them out.
But what if you want to be a little sneaky and view a story without the poster knowing? Instagram doesn’t have a built-in feature for this, but there’s a nifty Chrome extension that lets you browse stories anonymously. Hiddengram is the extension we’re looking at today. It’s easy to install and lets you view stories without leaving a trace.
Adding Hiddengram to Chrome
Adding a Chrome extension is super simple and quick. Let’s get Hiddengram installed in just a couple of minutes.
First, open your Chrome browser. You can launch it from the shortcut on your desktop, the Start Menu, or the taskbar.
Next, go to the Chrome Web Store page for the extension: Hiddengram. Once the page loads, hit the “Add to Chrome” button to proceed. A pop-up will appear.
Click the “Add extension” button on the prompt to install Hiddengram in your browser.
Once installed, the Hiddengram icon should appear in the top-right section of your Chrome window.
If you don’t see the Hiddengram icon, click the “Extensions” icon (it looks like a puzzle piece). Find Hiddengram in the list, and then click the “Pin” icon to make it visible.
Now head over to instagram.com. You can either search for the person whose story you want to view using the search bar, or click their name in your feed to go directly to their profile.
When you’re on their profile, click their profile picture to view their story. The colored ring around their picture means they’ve uploaded a new story.
Normally, the ring fades when you view a story, signaling to the uploader that you’ve seen it. However, with Hiddengram active, the ring remains colored, and you won’t appear in the viewed list.
You can also temporarily disable Hiddengram if you want the profile owner to know you’ve seen their story, restoring the normal behavior.
Temporarily Disabling Hiddengram
To disable Hiddengram and revert to the default behavior, click the Hiddengram icon at the top-right of the Chrome window. When Hiddengram is paused, the icon turns green to indicate its disabled status.
