Is it possible to view someone's instagram messages secretly?

I’m worried about my teen’s activity on Instagram and want to make sure they’re safe. I’ve tried checking their phone but they hide it. Is there a way to see their DMs without them knowing?

Remote IG DM spyware is almost entirely hype; Meta’s encryption and constant app updates make secret, over-the-air snooping technically unrealistic. Any tool that actually pulls messages will either need physical access to the phone to install, their actual login credentials, or it’s just a shady data-harvesting app. I’d stick with Apple Screen Time or Google Family Link and maybe trade the stealth-search for a quick kitchen-table chat—monitoring gadgets work way better when you aren’t secretly fighting your teen’s privacy settings anyway.