About InstaScope and its methodology
InstaScope is an independent project for exploring your own Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Snapchat exports. It is maintained by Mehmet Altay İnce (altayince), who is responsible for project changes and explanatory content. InstaScope is not affiliated with Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, Microsoft, ByteDance or Snap Inc.
The examples below expose the inputs and calculations so you can check a result yourself. They use invented records, not customer accounts or testimonials. The source repository is private; no account or access to it is required to read this methodology.
Compare supported exports and choose an analyzer
Check the relationship calculations
LinkedIn analysis uses supported CSV records from your own export. Connections are source records, not live follower counts; comparison matches validated profile URLs and excludes missing or ambiguous identities. Message analysis groups by exported conversation ID. Career and Learning summaries describe recorded activity without inferring hiring outcomes or expertise. Complete-export activity includes local searches, content and minimal account-event records. Follow statuses do not establish live followers or verified unfollow dates, and account events do not establish compromise. Read the LinkedIn export guides for coverage, date and privacy limits. LinkedIn methodology and export guides.
Instagram analysis compares normalized usernames from the files you select. Mutuals appear in both Followers and Following. Not Following Back is Following minus Followers; Fans is the reverse. Two exports can reveal additions and absences, but cannot establish the reason or precise time of an unfollow. Your own recently-unfollowed records are a separate optional category.
In this fictional example, Followers contains sample.cedar, sample.fern, sample.oak. Following contains sample.fern, sample.oak, sample.pine, sample.sage. Compare the two lists:
| Result | Calculation | Accounts |
|---|---|---|
| Mutuals: 2 | Present in both lists | sample.fern, sample.oak |
| Not Following Back: 2 | Following minus Followers | sample.pine, sample.sage |
| Fans: 1 | Followers minus Following | sample.cedar |
For a comparison, the older fictional Followers list is sample.cedar, sample.fern, sample.birch. Comparing it with the newer list above gives 1 added account (sample.oak) and 1 missing account (sample.birch), with a net change of 0. The equal totals do not mean the lists are identical. A missing username alone does not identify an unfollow, rename or account deletion.
Usernames are trimmed, normalized to lowercase and deduplicated. The calculations use the supplied records, not a live connection to your account. Omitting a numbered followers file can change the answer.
What a recorded date means
A JSON timestamp is read as seconds since the Unix epoch and displayed in UTC. A date in Following describes the outgoing record; a date in Followers describes the incoming one. Supported HTML dates retain their written calendar fields without an inferred timezone. Missing dates stay unavailable. For duplicate records in one direction, an exact JSON instant takes priority over a timezone-unknown HTML date; otherwise the earliest supported date at the same precision is retained.
Inspect a fictional following.json record and convert its timestamp. A date cannot prove uninterrupted following or the first-ever follow between two accounts.
What supports a chat result
WhatsApp analysis uses supported exported text records, participant labels and recorded calendar fields. Message counts describe the supplied file. Timing does not establish replies, online presence or relationship quality. A supported format does not establish complete historical coverage.
The public worked examples use invented accounts and chat records. Instagram examples run through the same normalization, relationship calculations and Wrapped story generation as the working tools. Automated tests check the stated inputs and displayed results. These examples are demonstrations, not usage claims or testimonials.
How changes are checked
Automated checks cover synthetic parser and calculation fixtures, static output and browser behavior. Public guide examples are checked against calculation code. Code and text can be developed with coding assistants. Passing automated checks does not certify every sentence or imply an independent human review.
Guides describe supported behavior and its limits. Official platform instructions are linked where relevant; menu names and export formats may change. There is no automatic freshness date or claim that a guide was reviewed on every visit. The changelog records substantive changes. An updated date on a guide reflects a content or source revision, not a promise that every external account screen was tested that day. External account screens and every possible export format cannot be continuously verified.
Local analysis and deliberate sharing
Archive and chat analysis run in your browser without Instagram or WhatsApp credentials. Saving a snapshot, downloading a file and sharing an image are separate choices. WhatsApp Wrapped can include exported names and qualifying message-derived words automatically; inspect each card before sharing.
What public-photo lookup can establish
The photo tools use a matching public profile image when Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or TikTok supplies one. Only the profile reference you enter is sent to the separate service; account passwords, session cookies and export data are not used. All six platforms also accept a photo explicitly selected from your device, without upload. WhatsApp and Snapchat use local photos without account lookup. Retrieval failure is not evidence that an account is private, deleted or blocking you. Zoom enlarges the source, and optional local AI upscaling estimates detail rather than recovering an authentic higher-resolution original.
Read the full privacy and analytics explanation for storage lifetimes and the site's limited aggregate events.
Project maintainer
View the maintainer's public GitHub profile. This is a profile link, not a public issue form. When describing a problem, use the affected page, expected behavior and a small invented example. Never share a personal export, private chat, password, session cookie or access token.