How to Find Someone on Instagram

Social media connects us with friends, family, and even potential business partners. Often, you might have someone’s phone number but not their Instagram handle and end up looking for a way to find Instagram by phone number. While Instagram doesn’t offer a direct search by phone number, there are secure methods you can explore. In this article, we will cover all the methods out there ways to find people on Instagram so you can choose the approach that works best for your situation.

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Find Instagram Accounts by Phone Number

You can find someone on Instagram by phone number if you s

Finding people from a telephone number via the Find People You Know Feature

Using phone numbers to find a person’s account is pretty easy. One prerequisite is to give permission to IG (Instagram) on your phone. You’ll do this by:

1. First, add the contact information to your phone.
2. Go to your phone’s settings.
3. Find the Instagram app. 
4. Turn on Contacts.

5. Open your Instagram app.
6. Tap on the profile image on the bottom right, which will take you to your Instagram profile.
7. Find the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner of the screen.
8. Tap Settings and Privacy.
   
   
9. Tap Accounts Center.
   
   
10. Tap Your Information and Permissions.
    
    
11. Tap Upload Contacts.
    
    
12. Make sure Connect Contacts is toggled on.
13. Now, go to your profile, and near the top right is the icon of a person with a + symbol; tap on it, and Instagram will now show suggestions based on your phone’s contact list.

If you already have active contact syncing, you should be able to find Instagram by phone number without going through most of the steps we mentioned above. You only need to perform the step 13. Keep in mind, for this method, the people you’re looking for must have their Instagram accounts connected via phone number. Considering concerns with privacy and cybersecurity, many people won’t use this option. Luckily, there are other ways to find friends.

Using Third-Party Tools 

There are third-party tools that gather people’s data, such as name and family, phone numbers and social media accounts. Some of these tools provide ways to search by phone number. So, if you’re looking for a method that explains how to find someone on Instagram by phone number or name and family, this method is for you.

• PeopleLooker: This searches online databases for information that will help you find the person you’re looking for, such as a publicly listed phone number.
• Spokeo: Works the same way as PeopleLooker, by searching publicly available data to provide you with information about a phone number or the person attached to it. It also has reverse phone lookup functions.
• BeenVerified: A highly comprehensive site that lets you look up someone’s personal information, even property records and caller identification.
• USPhoneSearch: This free service requires you to know the phone number first. From there, they can try to connect the number accurately to the user, utilizing information that is publicly available, such as through social media or even their family member’s data.

Note that when it comes to using websites or apps related to privacy, always make sure to use trusted websites like the ones we mentioned above and have your antivirus and malware enabled. Some tools could have adware, spyware, or other gotchas that you could miss. Look for pre-ticked boxes when you’re getting these apps, as sometimes the default is you agreeing to something you’re not paying attention to. Also, many of these are pay-to-use, so keep in mind if the fees are really worth it.

Find people through your Facebook account

Another tactic is through your Facebook account contact list. Here’s how:

1. Open your IG app.
2. Go to your Instagram profile image on the bottom right.
3. Go to the hamburger menu on the top right.
4. Tap Settings and Privacy.
   
   
5. Select Accounts Center.
6. Tap Sharing Across Profiles.
   

7. Tap Add Accounts.
8. Tap Add Facebook Account.

Follow and invite friends feature

Here, you send a brief message to your friends or family, sharing your profile link so they can follow you. It’s particularly useful when both parties are trying to connect on Instagram, but are unable to find each other.

1. Open your Instagram app.
2. Go to your profile.
3. Go to the hamburger menu.
4. Scroll down until you see Follow and invite friends. 
5. From there you have the option to invite friends by email, SMS (text to their phone), or from your contacts list.

How to find Instagram accounts without a contact list

Sometimes, you don’t have someone’s contact information available, such as if you don’t know their full name or when you follow celebrities or influencers on Instagram. Here’s how to find these users.

Using the Search Option

You can use the search feature to try to look for the person by their real name, their Instagram username, or even their phone number. If you don’t know their username perfectly, you can usually come close and scroll through the results until you find what you’re looking for: 

1. Go to the Instagram app.
2. Tap on the search function (the magnifying glass icon).
3. Enter the username into the search bar.
4. Look through the results that appear.
5. Tap on the account you’re looking for.
6. Tap the follow button.

Using the Discover People Option

If you use the Discover People option on your account, it will suggest all kinds of people Instagram thinks you should be following. This could be friends from your contacts list or even celebrity accounts that might interest you. 

1. Open your Instagram.
2. Go to your profile. 
3. Tap on the Discover People option.

4. Look through the results that appear.
5. Tap on the account you’re looking for and follow them.

Finding Instagram profiles through hashtags

Hashtags are a way to increase coverage of Instagram posts and find a wider audience by subject matter. If you’re looking for someone who has used a specific hashtag, you can use this to discover people.

1. Open Instagram.
2. Go to the search function.
3. Enter # (hashtag) and whatever text you’re looking for.
   
4. Search the results to find the right account.

Try Their Other Social Media Usernames

It’s pretty common for people to use the same username or a similar variation on multiple platforms. If you already know their Twitter (X) handle or other social media username, you may try looking it up on Instagram, too. LinkedIn is another great platform to try, as people may be more prone to putting their phone number on their professional work account. 

Other ways to find related accounts

Here are a few more things to try when looking for accounts:

Contacts Syncing

Under the follow and invite section mentioned earlier, you’ll see you can send invites through email, text, and other social networks by allowing Instagram contacts syncing. With this method, you share your Instagram profile with that person, with a friendly message asking them to follow you. 

Search Engines

You can use search engines by putting their name, username, etc., and the word Instagram. If their account is set to public, and you have the correct information, it should pop up.

Suggested lists and web pages

Instagram will be fairly intuitive when suggesting relevant accounts through your network. Some of these might be mutual friends your contacts follow, popular accounts, or accounts with related subject matter. You might run across users through organic searches, such as finding a business’s Instagram link. 

Reasons You Can’t Find Someone on Instagram

• They might not be on Instagram.
• They may have their IG on private, which requires a follow request.
• Account could be deactivated.
• You may be blocked or banned by the user.
• You don’t have their correct account info.
• They don’t have their account linked to their phone number.
• They may be using a different phone number than the one you have for them.

Conclusion

If you want to find Instagram by phone number, you should first make sure that the Instagram app has access to your contact list. Then go to your profile and tap on the icon of a person with a + symbol to find them. Let’s go over the three options you have again:

Firstly, if you use your phone number with your Instagram account, it is helpful to know that this information is stored on Instagram. This also means that your IG account might be recommended to other users if they have your contact info on their phones. If anonymity is important to you, consider setting your account to Private, so they can’t look you up by your contact information. Also, considering Meta has been known to illegally collect user data, it may not be the best idea to have your phone number and your entire contact list exposed to Instagram.

Secondly, you can remove your phone number from your Instagram account, but you’ll need to disable Two-Factor Authentication. You’ll also need to link an email address to your account first so you have a backup way of accessing your account if you forget your password or lose access. If you remove your phone number before adding your email address as a backup, you are risking losing access to your account, so don’t skip that step. To add an email, go to your profile and the hamburger menu, select Account Center, then Personal Details, and finally, add your email address in the contact info section. For the 2FA, again go to the Account Center, select Password and Security, and tap Two-factor authentication; you can then toggle it off.

Lastly, if you are having a hard time finding someone, it could just be that they value their privacy and don’t want to be found. Can you find someone on Instagram by their phone number? Maybe. Should you? That depends on how well you know them and if you think they would rather remain anonymous. Respecting others’ boundaries is usually a good idea. Going to great lengths to find their phone number may wind you in trouble if they don’t want you to find them.