Want to find someone on Instagram by their phone number?
There are lots of reasons why you might want to.
Maybe they’re using an odd username you can’t figure out. Or perhaps they use their business name and you aren’t sure what it is.
Whatever the reason, there are a few different ways you can try to track down someone with their telephone number.
Let’s look at the best tricks!
1. How to find someone on IG by phone number
If you have the person’s phone number in your phone’s contact book, there’s one easy way to see if it’s connected to an Instagram profile.
It’s called ‘Discover People,’ and it’s a feature inside your Instagram application.
Here’s what you do:
1. Open the Instagram app and tap your profile icon to go to your profile.
2. Tap the hamburger menu icon in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Go down to the ‘Discover People’ section near the bottom of the screen.
4. Instagram will ask if it is allowed to access your mobile phone contacts. Click continue to do this.
There’s an option to ‘Connect Contacts’ near the top of the screen with your list of contacts on it.
If you haven’t already given the app permission, you’ll need to do so when you click the button, so it can access your phone contacts.
If the person you’re searching for has an Instagram account with their contact number on it, they will appear in the list of people below.
You should see many new contacts! See if you recognize the profile picture of the person’s profile you were looking for. Then you can follow them.
2. Find someone without Discover People
Don’t see Discover People? You may not have given IG the necessary permissions.
The first thing to do is to go to your phone Settings and change privacy to allow this on your device. Your method may depend on the type of phone you have.
On my iPhone, I went into the Settings app and scrolled down to the section that listed all my apps.
From that list, I tapped Instagram, then turned on Contacts.
When I relaunched IG, I still didn’t have Discover People!
An alternate way to access Contacts syncing is to then go into the app Settings within the IG app. You’ll find it at the top when you tap the hamburger icon.
Next tap Follow and Invite Friends.
Here you can choose Follow Contacts, then allow Instagram access to your contacts. Now you can invite friends to follow you via text message or email.
Note: After you’ve done this the first time, you’ll no longer see Follow Contacts.
3. Find an Instagram account via other social networks
You’ll also find your connected social media networks under Follow and Invite Friends, for even more ways to invite friends to follow you on Instagram. Just send them the link to your IG account from here (see image below).
Don’t want to ask them to follow you? Perhaps you’ll find your friend’s Messenger account, or see their social profile on WhatsApp. You can message them for a link to their IG account.
Or add them as a friend on Facebook and Instagram will likely send you a notification that “someone you may know is on Instagram”!
4. Use third party tools to find someone by phone number
The last way to find someone’s number on Instagram is to use third party tools.
There are a few, and you should always check into what information you are providing when signing up for one. You will most likely need the full name, including the last name, of the person you want to find on Instagram.
Three examples that many Instagram users recommend are:
1. BeenVerified: this provides a detailed report of verified information about users, and includes the ability to search by a phone number.
2. PeopleLooker: add information you have such as email address, phone number, or name, and see what other information is on social media.
3. Spokeo: phone number tracking tool that works to show what social media profiles are connected to what phone numbers.
Why can’t I find people by phone number on Instagram?
Sometimes, no matter what you try, you can’t find someone’s mobile number on Instagram. There are two main reasons for this.
They might not have listed it on IG
The most common reason is that they haven’t listed it.
Many businesses or business accounts might add a number if they have a dedicated business phone. But for influencers or private users, there’s less inclination to add their personal cell phone number.
Some people just don’t want their private numbers available online.
There’s no direct way to search one phone number
The other reason you sometimes can’t find the account is that there’s no direct search feature for this. And if you don’t know someone’s number, you can’t use the ‘Discover People’ function at all.
If the third party tools don’t find any information, you could be stuck.
You can search Facebook by phone number using the search bar. But Instagram profiles aren’t searchable by this easy process.
So you can sometimes find there’s just no way to get someone’s phone number. Or to find their profile with a number you already have!
Finding an Instagram account by phone number
Finding a person’s phone number on Instagram isn’t as straightforward as with other platforms.
Sometimes, you can find them if they’re on your contact list. But they must have their phone number on their Instagram account.
If they don’t, third party tools might help.
But the other option sometimes is just to reach out to them in another way – maybe through another social network, or mutual friends – and connect that way.
Let us know in a comment if you have more tips to find people on Instagram!
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