Can You See Who Viewed Your Facebook Story?

Social media platforms provide privacy-focused features for users to control who they share information with. If you turn on the correct settings, you can see who’s viewing or interacting with your content on Facebook. This article will show how to see people who viewed your Facebook stories. You’ll also learn to customize your Facebook story visibility for more privacy.

Can You See Who Viewed Your Facebook Story?

Yes, you can see people (followers or friends) who view your Facebook Stories. The story viewer count feature is available on Facebook mobile and web applications. The feature allows individuals or businesses to track/monitor engagement. Follow the steps below to see who viewed your Facebook story.

How to See Who Viewed Your Facebook Story on Mobile (Android and iOS)

1. Head to your Facebook homepage and tap the Your story panel in the stories section.

Alternatively, open your Facebook profile page, tap your profile photo, and select View story.

2. You should see a view-counter in the bottom-left corner of the story screen. You’ll see a “No viewers yet” message if no one has viewed your story. Tap the view count or swipe up on the screen to see everyone who viewed the story.

3. You should see the name and profile photo of people who viewed your story on the pop-up menu. People who reacted to your story will have an emoji/sticker next to their names. Tap the Refresh button to update the list of viewers manually.

4. Tapping someone’s name on the list opens a Messenger chat window where you can text them. Tap their photo if you wish to view their profile instead. Alternatively, tap the three-dot menu icon next to the person’s name and select View Profile.

How to See Who Viewed Your Facebook Story on Mobile (Web)

The procedure for checking your Facebook story viewers on a web browser and mobile app are similar. Sign in to your Facebook account on a web browser and follow these steps.

1. Select the Your story card at the top of your Facebook homepage.

2. Select the viewer count in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

3. There should be a list of people who viewed your story. Select a person’s name or profile picture to text them.

How to Change Who Can View Your Facebook Story

Facebook gives you some control over who can see your activity online, including your Stories. Listed below are the story privacy options available on Facebook.

• Public: Choose the privacy option if you want your story to be viewable by anyone with a Facebook account.
• Friends: This option makes your stories visible only to your Facebook friends.
• Custom: Want to share your stories with specific friends? Choose the custom privacy option and select the friends you want to share your stories with.
• Hide story from: This is a type of custom privacy option that hides your Facebook stories from specific people. Select “Hide story from” and choose the people you want to block from viewing your story.

Changing your story privacy follows similar steps on the Facebook app for Android and iOS. You can change your story privacy option from an active story or in the app settings menu.

Change Facebook Story Privacy — Method 1

1. Open your story, tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner, and select Edit story privacy.

2. Customise or choose who can view your stories on the “Story privacy” page.

3. Finally, tap Done and then Save.

Change Facebook Story Privacy — Method 2

1. Open your story in the Facebook app and tap Menu icon/profile picture in the top-right (Android) or bottom-right (iOS) corner.

2. Scroll down the menu page, select Settings & privacy > Settings, and choose Stories in the “Audience and visibility” section.

3. Expand the Story privacy drop-down menu, choose your preferred visibility option, and select Save.

4. You can customize your story privacy settings by allowing or preventing people from sharing your stories.

Can You View Facebook Stories Anonymously?

There are a few ways to view someone’s Facebook stories without leaving a trace. These methods aren’t 100% foolproof, and Facebook may update the story feature to block this workaround. 

View Facebook Story Anonymously Using Airplane Mode

If you don’t want a Facebook user to know you’ve seen their Story, you can use airplane mode to prevent the Facebook app from sending information to its servers. 

1. Launch the Facebook app and log in if you haven’t already, then let the home page load. 
2. Turn on airplane mode (or Flight mode) to turn off your phone’s network connection.

3. Select any Story you want to watch. They should be preloaded, meaning you can watch them without an internet connection.
4. Close the Facebook app when you’re done. 
5. Turn airplane mode back off and return to regular browsing. 

Note: If you turn airplane mode off before closing the Facebook app, it will report to Facebook (and Facebook user) that you viewed their story. If some stories don’t load, turn airplane mode off and let them load before trying to access them without the internet. 

View Facebook Stories Using the Half-Swipe Technique

An alternative method to view a Facebook story without the user knowing is to half-swipe from the previous story. This will let you see the story without registering that you viewed it. While this method works well for text or image-based stories, a downside is that you cannot watch video stories.

Follow these steps to half swipe:

1. Open Facebook and select the Story before the story you want to see without the user knowing. 
2. Swipe the story across until you can see the next story, but don’t let go. You should be able to see most of the story (if it isn’t a video). Once you’re done, swipe back to the original story and let your finger off the screen. 

Use an Alternative Account

The third and final way to view a Facebook story without letting the person know is using a different account. This works for people who share their Facebook stories publicly. If the person shares with friends only, you can’t view their stories using an anonymous or alternate account—unless you add them and they accept your friend request. 

Take Control of Your Stories

Many Facebook users prefer sharing stories to convey their fleeting thoughts, pictures, and everyday activities. Organizations and brands also use stories to advertise and interact with their Facebook audiences. The privacy and visibility options put you in the driving seat, allowing you to control people who can (or cannot) view your Facebook stories.