On most social media platforms, you can view anyone’s profile picture. On Instagram, however, you cannot view profile pictures, even for those you follow. Clicking a profile picture on Instagram will not expand it to a fuller size. Profile pictures are only clickable when someone has shared an Instagram story.
Instagram users have reported confusion as to why we cannot view profile pictures, and many people try to find ways to view these images. Whatever your reason may be for wanting to view someone’s profile picture on Instagram, we’ve provided a few ways to view them.
Why Can’t I View an Instagram Profile Pic?
For some unknown reason, Instagram only allows us to view others’ profile pictures in the tiny circle on their profile. This can be frustrating if you’re trying to look closer to figure out whose profile you’re viewing, to save your own photo if you lost it, or just to get a better look at a profile pic.
Luckily, there are some tricks to view, download, or save Instagram profile pictures.
How To See Someone’s Instagram Profile Picture
To view someone’s profile picture, you have a few options. One is to use a third-party website to view their profile picture; we’ll break that option down in a moment. Another way to view a profile picture is to use the desktop version of Instagram.
To view someone’s Instagram profile picture, follow these steps:
- Log into Instagram on a browser (we used Google Chrome).
- Go to the profile you want to view.
- Right-click on the profile picture and click “Open Image in New Tab” or “Save Image As…” if you want to save it.
This will allow you to see the profile picture in a new window. While it will still be rather small, once it’s off Instagram you can zoom in or save it.
While the desktop version is slightly more simple, you can follow this same process on your phone as well. Follow these steps to view a profile picture from the Instagram app:
- On the Instagram app, go to the profile you want to view.
- Tap the three dots in the top right corner and tap “Copy Profile URL”.
- Paste the URL in a browser on your phone to view their profile.
- Tap and hold or right-click on the profile picture and choose “Open in New Tab”.
From the new tab, you can save the image to your phone.
Instagram Profile Picture Viewer
There are also third-party services that help you view profile pictures. One such service is InstaDPS. This website allows you to type in any Instagram username to view a full-sized image of their profile picture.
Simply go to their website, type in a username, and a profile picture will appear in full size and good quality (not pixelated). From here, you can save the image to your phone or another device. InstaDPS works for both public and private Instagram accounts.
Instagram Profile Picture Downloader
Another service that will help you view a profile picture is instadps.com. Just like the other profile picture viewer, this site allows you to type in a username and view a larger version of profile pictures. This website also has a download button, making it easy to save the picture to your phone, computer, or tablet.
Instadp works for both private and public profiles, and it also allows you to download Instagram stories. You can only view and download Instagram stories from public profiles, however
