Privacy Policy
Last updated 20 September 2026
The short version
- Followell never asks for your Instagram password and never logs in to your account.
- Everything Followell reads and stores stays on your iPhone.
- We don’t collect, sell or share your data. We don’t use analytics or advertising.
- We don’t have servers that hold your data, so there’s nothing for us to lose or leak.
Who we are
Followell is made by Monkeymole Media, based in the United Kingdom. We’re responsible for this app and this policy. You can contact us at privacy@followell.app.
How Followell works
Instagram lets you download a copy of your own data. You choose to give that file to Followell, and Followell reads it on your iPhone to work out who you follow, who follows you, and how that has changed. Followell does not connect to Instagram, does not use your Instagram account, and cannot follow or unfollow anyone for you.
What’s stored on your iPhone
To work, Followell keeps the following on your device only. None of it is sent to us.
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Usernames of accounts you follow and that follow you, with the dates shown in your export | To show who doesn’t follow you back and who has unfollowed you |
| Your follower and following counts from each import | To show how your followers change over time |
| Your whitelist and labels, and accounts you’ve marked as unfollowed | To remember your choices between imports |
| The times of your recent unfollows (kept for 3 days) | To pace your unfollows and help keep your account safe |
| Your settings | To remember your preferences |
| Access to a folder you choose, such as Downloads | Only if you turn on automatic import, so Followell can spot new exports |
| A small summary of your counts (how many don’t follow you back, your follower and following totals, pending requests, your follow-back percentage and the date of your last import) | So the widgets, Control Centre button and Siri can show your numbers without opening the app |
The export file itself is read when you import it. Followell only uses the followers and following information in it and ignores anything else.
To keep track of the free unfollows, Followell stores a scrambled, one-way code for each account you unfollow on the free allowance in your iPhone’s secure storage (the Keychain). This code can’t be turned back into a username. It remains if you delete and reinstall the app, so that the free allowance can’t be reset.
What we collect
Nothing. Followell has no user accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking. We don’t receive your Instagram data, your contacts, your location or anything else. This is reflected in the app’s “Data Not Collected” privacy label on the App Store.
Purchases
Subscriptions to Followell Pro are handled entirely by Apple. We don’t see your name, email address or payment details. Apple tells the app only whether your subscription is active. Apple’s handling of your purchase is covered by Apple’s Privacy Policy.
Widgets, Siri and Control Centre
Followell’s Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets, its Control Centre button and its Siri shortcuts need a few numbers to display. Followell writes a small summary — counts, your follow-back percentage and the date of your last import — to a shared container on your iPhone that only Followell and its own widgets can read. It contains no usernames, and it never leaves your device.
When you ask Siri one of Followell’s shortcuts, Apple handles the request. Siri may process what you say on Apple’s servers, which is covered by Apple’s Siri privacy notice. Followell only receives the instruction to run, and answers using the summary already on your device.
If you use the step-by-step export guide, its current step appears in a Live Activity on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island. It shows only the wording of the guide, nothing about your account.
iCloud backup
Followell can keep a copy of your decisions — your whitelist and labels, the accounts you’ve marked, your history of who unfollowed you and your settings — in your own iCloud account, so a new iPhone picks them up. It is off unless you switch it on in Settings, and it never includes your follower or following lists. The copy sits in your private iCloud storage, which only you and your devices can read. We have no access to it, and Apple’s handling of it is covered by Apple’s Privacy Policy. Turning it off in Settings removes the copy from iCloud.
Notifications
If you allow notifications, Followell schedules reminders on your iPhone: when your next batch of unfollows is ready, and a monthly nudge that your export is getting out of date. These are created and delivered on your device. We don’t use push notification servers, and no notification leaves your iPhone.
Opening profiles
When you tap an account, Followell opens that profile in the Instagram app or in your browser. What happens there is covered by Instagram’s Privacy Policy, not this one.
Deleting your data
You can delete everything Followell has stored at any time: go to Settings in the app and tap Erase All Data, which also clears the widget summary and any iCloud copy. Deleting the app removes everything on your iPhone. The only exception is the scrambled free-unfollow record described above, which contains no usernames.
Children
Followell is not directed at children under 13, and because we don’t collect any personal information, we don’t knowingly collect information from children.
Your rights
Under UK and EU data protection law you have rights over your personal information, including to access and delete it. Because Followell keeps your data only on your device and we hold none of it, you can exercise these rights directly in the app. If you have any questions, contact us at privacy@followell.app. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this policy
If we change how Followell handles data, we’ll update this page and the date at the top. If we ever start collecting data, we’ll say so here and in the app before it happens.