If you are an active social media user, it’s not a far cry to assume that you use or at the very least know about Instagram. As of January 2023, this platform officially has over 2 billion monthly active users. That certainly isn’t a tiny number, now is it? While being legitimately impressive, the manner that Instagram’s active user base has increased over the years is not all that surprising. After all, it is almost unanimously believed that the platform is addictive, multi-faceted, and easy to use.
Many people who use the platform consider it a great place to make friends and share stories about their lives. It’s thrilling to connect with new people and see the follower count on our profiles go up, isn’t it?
As good as the feeling might be, lately, a lot of Instagram users have been complaining about a glitch they’ve been facing on the platform. Users at large have reported that Instagram is displaying an incorrect follower count for their respective profiles on the platform.
If you’ve also been experiencing this issue, do not worry; you’re not the only one facing it. In this blog, we will explore the cause of this glitch on Instagram and how you can fix it. We will also learn about Instagram bugs and their most common variants. So, let’s jump right into it.
What are Instagram bugs?
Bugs are rarely unavoidable, especially on apps and platforms of larger scales (case in point: Instagram). While the platform works on updating its interface and functionality constantly, it hasn’t been able to dodge bugs completely.
Over the years, users have reported several hitches they’ve faced while using Instagram. Simply put, Instagram bugs are the major and minor glitches you might face while using the platform.
Some common examples of these bugs are login problems, photos, media, or stories not loading, server down, etc. And while these things put a damper on the platform’s image, Instagram knows how to put its best foot forward.
The platform does this by owning up to having these bugs when users report them and letting people know it’s working on fixing them. This certainly reassures the users that their problems are being taken care of.
Instagram is known to solve these issues within a few hours, which is another challenging but impressive feat.
Despite it all, it is also true that these glitches could be a huge deal to many people; especially those who essentially have their businesses on the platform or use it for work purposes.
Another common problem Instagram users have been facing lately is the wrong follower count displayed on their profiles. Some users have reported that the number of people following them is not the same as what’s displayed in their Followers section. Some have said that their follower count keeps fluctuating.
In the next section, we’ll explore the possible reasons behind this issue. Let’s begin!
Why Does Instagram Showing Wrong Number of Followers?
As we’ve just established, bugs are a common occurrence on Instagram. One such bug is the platform showing an incorrect number of followers on a profile.
Seeing your follower count not reflected in the Followers section can be frustrating. It can be more frustrating not to know why. But don’t worry; we’ve garnered a list of potential reasons why Instagram might be showing the wrong number of followers on your profile.
While you may not know for certain the reason for the glitch, it could help to try some fixes and see if the problem gets solved. Let’s go through the probable reasons.
Your followers might have deleted their accounts.
It is possible that the incorrect follower count displayed on your profile has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your followers. They might have deleted their accounts or deactivated them temporarily.
You might think these users are still in your Followers. However, since they have deactivated their accounts, Instagram will hide them from your followers list for the time being and show you a reduced follower count. In any case, that’ll reflect on your follower count.
Instagram issue
Likely, an incorrect number of followers on your profile could be because Instagram is facing some technical issue(s) or a bug they’re yet to fix. This has happened before and most likely could be the reason for this glitch. So, don’t worry. If it’s a problem from Instagram’s side, they will fix it.
Servers down
It could also be possible that the reason you have an incorrect number of followers displayed on your profile is that Instagram’s server is down. This may affect the time Instagram takes to reflect the change in followers on your profile.
How to fix the problem of wrong Instagram follower count?
With our discussion above, we hope you got an idea of the possible reasons why Instagram might be displaying an incorrect follower count on your profile.
Now that we know that, let’s figure out how to fix this issue.
Here are some ways you could attempt to fix the problem of the wrong number of followers being displayed by Instagram on your profile:
Fix #1:
The first thing to try is updating the app. If you haven’t updated the app in a long time, this might just be what it needs.
Head to the PlayStore on Android or AppStore on IOS, and update the app.
Fix #2:
Next, you can try clearing the Instagram cache. This can be done by accessing your device Settings.
Step 1: After you open device Settings, click on Apps. Then select Manage Apps.
Step 2: Now, search for Instagram and tap on Storage.
Step 3: Click on Clear data and select the option to clear all data.
Step 4: Click Ok to confirm.
Remember to be careful if you use this option because this could potentially clear important user data.
Fix #3:
And finally, if you feel it’s a server issue, you can consult websites like Downdetector to check if the server is down.
Downdetector incorporates a rigorous methodology with which it checks if a sufficient number of users are experiencing a particular issue. Based on the feedback it receives, it will then assign a status to that particular website.
There are other tools and websites that are similar to Downdetector that you can use to check if a particular website or platform has its server down. Some examples of such tools/websites are Datadog, Site24x7, and New Reli.
To summarize
Well, now we have an understanding of why Instagram might be acting up and showing incorrect data on your profile. Let’s try to summarize everything we’ve learned in this blog.
First, we began by understanding what Instagram bugs are and some common types several users have faced over the years. Then, we explored potential reasons why Instagram might be showing an incorrect follower count to its users.
Finally, we figured out a couple of ways that you can try and fix the problem of the wrong follower count on your profile. We hope this helps you in case you face this issue.
If you have any more questions you’d like us to answer, make sure to drop them in the comments. We’ll cover them in our upcoming blogs, as always.
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