Who was your first Instagram follower?

Why the app can’t show it

The followers list in the Instagram app is sorted by Instagram’s own ranking, not by date, and it has no “oldest first” option. Scrolling to the bottom doesn’t give you your first follower either.

Where the date is stored

When you download your Instagram data, the followers file (followers_1.json, or followers_1.html in the HTML format) lists every follower together with a timestamp of when they followed you. Accounts that followed, unfollowed and followed again show the most recent date.

Find your first follower

1. Request your data from Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Download your information. Pick Followers and following and the JSON format.
2. When the file arrives, open it in Unwrapped’s Instagram analyzer. It runs in your browser; the file is never uploaded.
3. Open your followers list and sort by date, oldest first. The top row is the earliest follower who still follows you.

Only people who still follow you are in the file. If your very first follower left, they won’t appear.

FAQ