Here’s how to watch someone’s Instagram story without them seeing you’ve seen it

So we all know the best part about Instagram stories is that we can see who’s watched ours, and the worst part about Instagram stories is that other know when we’ve watched theirs. Until now, that was the unquestionable nature of the story-watching game.

But no longer. Are you ready to have your fucking mind blown?

Here’s how to watch someone’s Instagram story without them knowing:

Click on the story before or after the one you want to watch

Watch until it’s somewhere relatively benign. Like an aesthetic Instagram you follow to make you feel young again or a celebrity.

Then press pause

I didn’t know you could do this until like, a week ago, but if you press and hold an Instagram story it pauses. Who knew!

Swipe and peek, but don’t swipe completely!

This is the tricky part. Once you’ve paused an Instagram story, you can swipe a bit to the left or right and Instagram will play the other stories around it without registering that you’ve seen the story.

It will even keep the circle saying you haven’t watched the story completely in tact

I’m not sure if this is a loophole or an intentional move on the part of Instagram, but either way, it’s real and I fuck with it.

Here’s a video on how to do it:

Tread carefully

Honestly, it’s pretty easy to fuck this up and accidentally watch the IG story. I made someone post random bullshit twice before I successfully took a screenshot. But if you aren’t planning on taking a screenshot and don’t tend to go overboard on swiping, then get your fucking creep on without getting caught. I know you can do it.

Related stories about Instagram:

• A guide on everything you need to know about using Instagram

• This is how Instagram ranks the viewer order on your Insta story

• How to get a blue tick on Instagram, Tinder, Facebook and Twitter