How to track an account's Instagram stories
Updated November 5, 2026
Scouty watches an Instagram account's stories throughout the day and saves each one: the image or video, the time, the link, the mentions and the stickers (polls, questions, music, products). So you see how often they post stories, at what time, in which format and where they send their audience.
It comes with the Ultra plan. On Basic and Pro, an Instagram account's Stories tab shows you the Upgrade to Ultra button.
How to turn them on
Open the account in Tracking
In the Tracking table, open an Instagram account: a competitor or one of your own.
Go to the Stories tab
Tap Track stories. You can turn it on for every Instagram account you track; it uses no extra tracking slot and spends no rotation.
Wait a few minutes
The first check runs within a few minutes, and then Scouty keeps watching throughout the day. We start today: Instagram doesn't show stories that have already expired.
What it shows you
- 30-day summary: how many stories, how many per posting day, the time slot they use most, the share of video and how many carry a link.
- Tray by day: each story with its time; tap it to view it and, if it has a link, open it.
- What the cover says: the text you can read on the image and its style, once we've processed it.
- How long we keep them: videos for 45 days and images for 90. After that the story stays in the list, without the file.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see how many views a story got?
No: Instagram doesn't show story views or likes to other accounts. What we measure is frequency, time, format, links and stickers.
It says the account is private or that we couldn't read it.
A private account's stories can't be read. If it says we couldn't read them, we try again later today.
Can I get an account's stories without tracking it?
Yes: when you fetch an Instagram account once, tick the Stories extra (+2 credits, on any plan). It brings the ones live at that moment; if there are none, we refund those credits.
How do I stop tracking them?
With Stop tracking on the same tab. The account stays tracked.
Can I ask Scouty to do it?
Yes: ask Scouty in the chat to "track @account's stories" and it shows you a card; nothing changes until you confirm it. You can also ask it what a competitor posts in their stories, and your assistant connected to Claude or ChatGPT sees them too.
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- How to fetch an account once, without using a slotLook at one of your accounts or a competitor's without following it: you fetch it once, for 3 credits, and see its data from the day you fetched it. It uses no slot and never updates by itself.
- What Scouty can do for youScouty doesn't only read your data: ask it to save, track, create keywords or change your bio, and it does it when you confirm its card. The ones that cost credits show you the price first and only charge when you tap the button.
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