Instagram’s rumored paid tier would let subscribers see who doesn’t follow them back

Would you subscribe to an Instagram version of YouTube Premium or Snapchat Plus? If you answered “yes” to that question, the latest leaks involving the Meta-owned app will pique your interest. Instagram is reportedly working on a paid tier that would unlock several premium features, including the ability to see which of your followers don’t follow you back.

The source of that rumor is Alessandro Paluzzi, a mobile developer who is known for locating and leaking upcoming features on major social media apps. After digging into Instagram’s code, Paluzzi found a line that references “a new paid subscription that will offer new perks, including the ability to create unlimited audience lists.”

Paluzzi then responded to his initial X post with an update on the rumored subscription. In addition to the audience lists, other paid features posited by Paluzzi include the ability to “see the list of followers who don’t follow you back” and the power to “sneak a peek at a story without showing that you’ve viewed it.”

Revenue is the most obvious reason why Instagram would be compelled to launch a premium offering. YouTube’s paid tiers crossed the 100 million subscriber mark

in 2024, and Snapchat Plus has been a boon for its parent company. Snap only needed a few days to reach one million customers for its add-on tier.

A paid tier could also help Instagram’s business by taking traffic away from other apps. Right now, users who want to look up non-mutual followers must rely on either elaborate workarounds or third-party services like Followers Tracker and Unfolks. By bringing desired features in-house, Instagram could do to the follower trackers what it did to the link-in-bio services. The move could reshape an entire industry overnight.

If Instagram does ultimately validate Paluzzi’s latest prediction, it could spin its paid tier as a must-have purchase for its professional class. The app is already trying to position itself as the most creator-friendly platform in the social media world. A premium offering would serve that mission in a big way.