Short answer: Bluesky does not tell you who unfollowed you. There is no unfollow notification and no list in the official app. The only reliable way to find out is to compare snapshots of your follower list over time – which you can do yourself, for free, without handing your password to anyone.
Here is why unfollows are silent, how to do the comparison, why your count can drop even when nobody unfollowed, and what to watch out for with "unfollower" apps.
The Direct Answer
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Does Bluesky notify me of unfollows? | No |
| Does the official app list unfollowers? | No |
| Is my follower list public? | Yes – anyone can see it |
| Can I find out who unfollowed me? | Yes – by comparing two snapshots of your follower list |
| Does a lower count always mean an unfollow? | No – deleted, deactivated and taken-down accounts drop off too |
| Do I need an unfollower app? | No – and many want your password, which they don't need |
Why Unfollows Are Silent
On Bluesky, a follow is a record that lives with the follower, not with you. When someone follows you, their app writes an app.bsky.graph.follow record into their own repository, pointing at your account. Your follower list is built by an AppView that collects every follow record on the network that points at you.
When they unfollow, they delete that record from their repository. Nothing is written to yours, and there is no "unfollow" record type – just an absence where a record used to be. The new follow generates a notification; the deletion does not.
Because follow records are public, your follower list is public too. Anyone can open it, and anyone can download it. That is what makes the snapshot method possible. Our ATProtocol federation guide explains the repository model in more detail.
How to Find Who Unfollowed You: Compare Two Snapshots
The method is simple: save your follower list on one date, save it again later, and see who is missing. Skyscraper's free web tools make the saving part easy.
Step 1: take a snapshot
- Go to Skyscraper's Bluesky Tools and open Account Backups.
- Enter your handle. Backups work for any public account and include your posts, followers and following.
- Choose JSON and download the file. Name it with the date, for example
backup-2026-09-01.json.
Step 2: take another one later
A week or a month later, do the same thing and save backup-2026-09-08.json. You get two free backups a day, which is more than enough for this.
Step 3: compare the follower lists
Open each file and find the followers section. Pull out one identifier per follower into a plain text file, one per line. Use the DID if the file includes it, because handles can change and a renamed account would otherwise look like an unfollow plus a new follow.
Once you have before.txt and after.txt, the comparison is one line in Terminal on a Mac:
comm -23 <(sort before.txt) <(sort after.txt)That prints everyone in the first list who is missing from the second. Swap -23 for -13 to see who is new instead.
If you prefer Python, the same idea is a set difference:
before = set(open("before.txt").read().split())
after = set(open("after.txt").read().split())
print("Gone:", sorted(before - after))
print("New:", sorted(after - before))No account login, no third-party service holding your data, and the result is exact for the two moments you captured.
The limits of this method
- It only covers the gap between snapshots. Someone who followed and unfollowed in between never shows up.
- It cannot tell you why. A missing follower might have unfollowed, or might be gone from Bluesky entirely. Check below.
- Older history is not recoverable. Start taking snapshots now if you want answers later.
Why Your Follower Count Dropped When Nobody Unfollowed
Your follower count is a count of follow records that currently exist and point at you. Several things remove those records or hide them from the count:
- Deleted accounts. When an account is deleted, its follows go with it.
- Deactivated accounts. A deactivated account is hidden from the network until it comes back, and its follows stop counting.
- Taken-down accounts. Accounts removed by moderation, including spam and bot sweeps, drop off.
- Actual unfollows. Of course.
A sudden drop of many followers at once is more often a spam cleanup than a wave of unfollows. To tell the difference for a specific missing follower, try opening their profile. If it no longer loads, they did not unfollow you; they left.
Be Careful With "Unfollower" Apps
Your follower list is public. An app that tracks unfollowers only needs to read public data, so it does not need your password.
- Never give a third-party tool your main password. If something truly needs to sign in, use a tool that goes through Bluesky's own login flow, or create an app password in your Bluesky settings so you can revoke it later.
- Be wary of tools that post or DM on your behalf. Some growth tools follow and unfollow accounts automatically, which can look like spam.
- Consider what you want the answer for. Tracking every unfollow is a reliable way to make social media feel worse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Bluesky notify you when someone unfollows you?
No. Bluesky sends a notification for new follows but nothing for unfollows, and the official app has no list of people who stopped following you.
How can I see who unfollowed me on Bluesky?
Compare two snapshots of your follower list taken on different dates. Anyone in the older list but missing from the newer one has unfollowed you, or their account was deleted, deactivated or taken down.
Does someone know if I unfollow them on Bluesky?
They are not notified. But your follow was a public record, so a person who keeps snapshots of their follower list, or uses a tool that does, can see that you are gone.
Why did my Bluesky follower count go down?
Someone unfollowed you, or an account that followed you was deleted, deactivated or taken down. All of these remove the follower from your count, and only a before-and-after comparison tells you which accounts are gone.
Are Bluesky unfollower apps safe?
Be careful. Your follower list is public, so an unfollower tool does not need your password. Avoid any that ask for your main password; if a tool needs to sign in, use an app password you can revoke.
Followers in Skyscraper
Skyscraper does not track unfollowers. What it does show:
- Stats – your Newest Followers and Most Popular Followers, mutuals, and your follower ratio
- Followers Count and Latest Followers widgets – your count and newest followers on the Home Screen, for any account you choose
- Account Backups – the free follower snapshots used in the method above