Story insights: who viewed your story
See who watched your story, who reacted, replied or shared it, and how people moved through it. Only you can see your story insights.
Updated 22 October 2026
Story insights show what happened with one of your stories: who watched it, who reacted, replied or shared it, and what people did while watching.
Insights are only for your own stories, and only you can see them. Nobody can see the viewers of someone else's story.
Open the insights of a story
- Open your own story: tap Your story at the top of Home, or tap the ring on your profile photo. For an older story, open a highlight on your profile.
- At the bottom right of the story, tap the eye button. It shows a number, or the word Viewers.
- A panel opens over the story. The story pauses while the panel is open.
- Tap the cross at the top right of the panel to close it and continue.
The panel always shows the insights of the story that is on screen. If you move to another story, open the panel again for that one.
The story archive window does not show insights. To see the insights of a story after 24 hours, add it to a highlight and open it from there. See Story highlights and archive.
The top of the panel
The title says how many viewers the story has, for example 12 viewers. Under it are three numbers with icons:
- People icon: viewers.
- Paper plane: shares.
- Heart: reactions.
Below that are two tabs: Insights (a bar chart icon) and Viewers (a people icon). The panel opens on Viewers.
The Viewers tab
This is the list of people who watched the story, newest first. Each row shows:
- Their photo and username. Tap them to open their profile.
- Their name and how long ago they watched.
- The word replied if they replied to the story, and shared if they shared it.
- Their reaction on the right: the emoji they picked, or a red heart.
- A paper plane button that opens your chat with them.
Type a name in Search viewers to find a person in the list. If nobody has watched yet, you see No one has seen this story yet.
The list shows up to the 500 most recent viewers. If there are more, you see Showing the most recent and the number, and the totals count only those viewers.
The Insights tab
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overview | Views, Interactions and Profile activity in one place. |
| Views | A circle chart that splits viewers into Followers and Non-followers. |
| Interactions | A circle chart of interactions from followers and non-followers, then the totals: Reactions, Replies and Shares. |
| Navigation | How people moved: Exited (closed the viewer), Forwards (tapped to your next story), Back (tapped to your previous story), Next story (moved on to the next person's stories) and Previous story (went back to the person before). |
| Profile activity | Profile visits (people who tapped your name in the story) and Follows (people who tapped Follow in the story). |
How the numbers are counted
- Each person counts once per story, even if they watch it many times.
- Watching your own story does not count as a view.
- Interactions is reactions plus replies plus shares.
- A person counts as a follower if they followed you at the time they watched.
- Navigation counts only what people chose to do. If a story simply ran out and the next one started on its own, nothing is counted.
- A share is counted only when the person really sent or copied the story, not when they just opened the share sheet.
- Someone who reacted is always in the viewers list, even if their view was not recorded.
Privacy
- Only you can open the insights of your stories.
- When you watch someone else's story, you appear in their viewers list, with your reaction if you reacted.
- There is no setting to watch a story without being shown as a viewer.
For numbers about your posts and clips, see Post insights and views and the Insights dashboard.
Questions
Why does the eye button say Viewers instead of a number?
The button shows a number only when a view count is stored on the story. Tap it: the panel title always shows the real number of viewers.
Can I see who viewed someone else's story?
No. Insights are only for your own stories.
Can I see insights after 24 hours?
Yes, through a highlight. Add the story to a highlight, then open it from your profile and tap the eye button.
Why is Navigation lower than Views?
Navigation counts only taps and closing the viewer. When a story ends on its own and the next one starts, nothing is counted.
How do I message a viewer?
Tap the paper plane at the end of their row in the Viewers tab. It opens your chat with them.
Related articles
- StoriesHow to post a photo or video story, add text and stickers, share a clip to your story, and watch, react to and reply to other people's stories. Stories show for 24 hours.
- Story highlights and archiveKeep your stories after 24 hours. Your story archive saves every story you post, only for you, and highlights show chosen stories on your profile.
- Post insights and viewsWhat the view count under a post means, how to open the insights for one of your posts, what each number shows, and who can see them.
- Your Insights dashboardSee how your posts, clips and profile are doing over the last 7 to 90 days: views, interactions, followers and profile visits, with daily charts and your top content.
- Send and receive messagesHow to start a private chat with another member, use your chat list, find unread messages, and block or report someone from a chat on sikhami.com.
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Write to us at help@sikhami.com. Tell us what you were trying to do, what happened, and add a screenshot if you can.