The short version: tap the Instagram wordmark at the top of your feed and select Following to see posts only from accounts you follow, in order, with no suggested content. It resets every time you close the app, which is the bit nobody tells you, and it's a small annoyance that's by design.
The quick steps
This works on both iPhone and Android, and it takes about ten seconds once you know where to look.
- Open Instagram and go to your main feed (the home icon, bottom left)
- Tap the word "Instagram" at the top left of the screen
- A dropdown menu appears with three options: Favourites, Following, and Home
- Select Following
- Your feed now shows only posts from accounts you follow, in chronological order
That's the whole process. No settings menu, no hidden toggle buried three screens deep. Instagram built it as a quick-switch dropdown because, I'd argue, they want it to feel like a minor detour rather than a real option, not the default you'd stick with.
Why it doesn't stay switched on
Here's the uncomfortable part. Following mode is not a setting you turn on once and forget. It resets to the default algorithmic Home feed every single time you close and reopen the app, or sometimes even just after you've scrolled away for a while. There is no permanent toggle in Settings that makes Following your default view. I've tested this across both iOS and Android versions of the app, and it behaves the same frustrating way on both.
Instagram will deny this is deliberate, but the business model answer is obvious: a chronological, following-only feed shows you less content per session because you'll run out of new posts from people you follow within a minute or two. The algorithmic feed is designed to keep you scrolling, which keeps you watching ads. Following mode is quieter and shorter, and shorter sessions mean fewer ad impressions. That's not a conspiracy theory, it's just how the incentives line up.
A worked example
Say you run a small plant shop account with about 1,200 followers. You follow 80 accounts: a mix of other plant sellers, a few interior design accounts, two friends, and some gardening hashtag pages you followed years ago. On the default Home feed, you're seeing maybe 15% actual content from those 80 accounts and the rest is suggested reels, sponsored posts, and "accounts you might like."
Switch to Following and your feed becomes those 80 accounts only, newest post first. You'll likely scroll through it in under two minutes because there simply isn't that much fresh content from 80 accounts on any given day. That's the trade-off: cleaner feed, shorter session, less noise, but also less to look at. For a lot of people trying to use Instagram for actual research or inspiration rather than entertainment, that trade is worth it.
Favourites as a middle ground
If Following feels too sparse, try Favourites instead. You manually add up to 50 accounts to a Favourites list (long-press any post, or go through the account's profile menu), and that list gets a slightly boosted position in your regular Home feed along with its own dedicated view. It's not chronological and not purely from that list, but it's a useful halfway point if going fully algorithm-free feels like overkill.
I'd use Favourites for the handful of accounts you never want to miss, like a supplier's Instagram, your industry's key voices, or close friends, and leave Following mode for the days you want a genuine digital detox from the suggested content machine.
What this means if you post content, not just consume it
If you run a business account, the Following-only feed matters to you in a different way. It's a reminder that most of your actual followers are probably not seeing your posts via a chronological feed at all; they're seeing them (or not) through the algorithm, which means your reach depends far more on engagement signals than on follower count. This is exactly why so many small business accounts feel like they're shouting into a void even with a decent follower base.
If your engagement has been dropping and you suspect the algorithm has deprioritised your content, it's worth reading up on how to reset your Instagram algorithm fast, because a stale algorithm is a separate problem from the feed-view issue and needs a different fix. Similarly, if your own feed is cluttered with suggested posts getting in the way of your research or inspiration scrolling, there's a real fix for how to stop suggested posts on Instagram feed that goes beyond just switching to Following mode for ten minutes at a time.
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Where this fits into a wider content strategy
None of this is really about you as a viewer, though. If you're building a business presence on Instagram, you need to think about what the algorithm rewards regardless of how individual users set their feed view. Reels still get disproportionate reach compared to static posts, and consistency matters more than perfection. If you're trying to work out whether your reach is healthy, it helps to know what counts as a good number of views on Instagram reels for an account your size, rather than comparing yourself to creators with ten times your following.
And if churning out content consistently is the bottleneck, which it is for most small businesses I speak to, look at how to batch create Instagram reels so you're not trying to film something fresh every single day. Collaborating with other accounts in your niche is another underused lever; how to use the Instagram collab feature covers how that works and why it can double your reach on a single post without doubling your workload.
A note on troublesome accounts
Switching to Following mode won't filter out accounts that are following you back and causing genuine problems, like spam or impersonation. If you're dealing with an account that's harassing you or clearly violating Instagram's rules, blocking is the quick fix, but it's worth knowing what happens if you report an Instagram account before you do it, because reporting and blocking have different effects and most people assume they're the same thing.
For the rest of the series, see the Instagram Help: 81 Guides to Followers, Hashtags, Money, Accounts and Fixes. To see who does not follow you back, use the free unfollowers checker.
Frequently asked questions
Does switching to Following mode stay on permanently?
No. It resets to the default algorithmic Home feed each time you close and reopen the Instagram app, so you'll need to tap the dropdown and select Following again each session. There is currently no setting that makes it the permanent default.
Can I set Following as my default feed on Android or iPhone?
Not through any official setting within the Instagram app itself. Both operating systems behave the same way; the app resets to Home each time. Third-party workarounds exist but they typically breach Instagram's terms of service and risk your account, so they're not worth it.
What's the difference between Following and Favourites?
Following shows every post from every account you follow, in strict chronological order, with nothing else mixed in. Favourites is a manually curated list of up to 50 accounts whose posts get boosted visibility within your regular Home feed, but it's not purely chronological and not a separate algorithm-free view.
Why does Instagram make it hard to stay on Following mode?
A chronological, following-only feed runs out of fresh content quickly, which shortens your session length. Shorter sessions mean fewer ad views, so there's a clear commercial reason for Instagram to keep the algorithmic Home feed as the default rather than letting Following stick.
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