Want to change your Instagram username?
Of all the social media platforms, Instagram makes this the easiest.
Perhaps you’re changing your business direction, as I am. Or maybe you’re able to get a name that matches what you have on other platforms.
Is it all fun-and-games, done it two seconds?
Not hardly. Here’s what to consider before changing.
Please read to the end so you know what to expect before deciding!
You’ll Change Your Instagram Username in All These Places
First off, if you’ve had your Instagram account for any length of time, and you’re active in promoting it, you’ve got that link posted in a lot of places.
I ran a search of my blog posts and was surprised to find over a dozen links. I actually found a LOT over a dozen, but I had the same “howtographics” username on my Facebook page, so that showed up too. Changing your Facebook username is a whole ‘nother (and more complicated) story – read this post if you want to do that.
You’ve probably linked your Instagram account in at least one sidebar, header, or footer widget (I had 3).
If you’ve guest posted, consider whether you left links there, and how you can access them to make the change. The last thing you want is to impress your reader, then send them to a dead page!
If you’ve linked to Instagram from other social accounts, you’ll need to update those too. This used to be on my Google+ profile, but I don’t see it any more. You may have saved a Pin on Pinterest with a link to your Instagram profile – you can change the URL on the Pin (but it won’t populate to repins). And if you have a separate Instagram account, you might have dropped a link there. Or on your Twitter profile. Find ’em all!
Check your email signature, as well as any printed materials – business cards, brochures, anything else? These will need to be addressed (😆) first.
Timeline for Changing Your Instagram Username
Now that you’ve figured out where you’ve placed your old username, it’s time to prepare.
- Printed materials? Order new ones ASAP.
- Post a heads-up on your Instagram account that you’ll be changing your name. Explain why. (I received such a positive response!) You might do this a few times over as many days, at different times of day. You can remove these posts later if you like.
- Reach out to blogs where you’ve guest posted and request the change, if you don’t have admin privileges to do it yourself.
- Prepare an image to post on Instagram when you do the name change.
- Set aside one to several hours (depending on how much you need to change) to do steps 6 to 9 in quick succession.
- Open all the blog posts, widgets, and social media accounts that you need to change in separate tabs. Enter the change, but don’t save/update yet.
- Go into your Instagram profile and make the change. Post your prepared image and inform your followers.
- Save all changes waiting from previous step.
- Change your email signature.
- If desired, inform followers on your other social accounts, blog, and email list of your change.
Pin this checklist as a reminder! (Then read on…)
Here’s the Bummer You Didn’t Expect
I’m pretty sure that after I changed my username, Instagram somehow suppressed my posts. All I know is, my post likes dropped by more than 50%. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever posted a graphic with a cat on it that got less than 100 likes. The one I posted a few days after the name change? 36 likes. Boo!
Or maybe my new username of LouiseMcom isn’t as intriguing as my previous?
Hopefully things will change as my new name builds credibility. I’ll keep you posted.
UPDATE: No worries, my likes are back up and I’m regularly getting over 100 likes on many of my posts.
But There IS Some Good News…
All the @mentions of your old username will switch to the new one. If you’re still seeing the old username, Instagram says it’s a caching issue:
If you edit your username and continue to see your old username within the app, you’re likely experiencing a caching issue. We cache certain images and text to make the app run faster.
Keep in mind that you’re the only person seeing your old, cached username. Eventually, your old username will be completely cleared out of our system. If you’d like the old username to disappear immediately, however, you can uninstall and reinstall the app to clear your cache. source
Will YOU Change Your Instagram Username?
Sometimes, you gotta do it. I think I would have, even if I’d known about the drop in likes. My old name just didn’t fit any more. While I still DO provide graphics advice, it won’t be the focus of my business. I really wanted to move on – and changing that username was part of the process.
If you decide to do it, sooner is better than later. Just be prepared.
I’d love to hear if you’ve done it and what your results were! Please share any tips you’ve learned for changing your Instagram username.
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Hi Louise,
Helpful article. Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to know if one changes the instagram name if all previous links to pictures on facebook will automatically update or will they be lost?
Thanks!
That’s a great question. I don’t have a definite answer, because I changed the account that posts to my Facebook page, which doesn’t provide links back to IG. Only personal profiles do.
However, since the IG photo URLs don’t include a username, I suspect they’ll be fine.
When you change your username, can you delete old comments from the previous one? Or will they just be left there forever, people thinking that’s still you. Or does the username on those comments change with it?
In my experience, previous mentions of my username changed. But everything on social media is subject to change at any moment.
If you have comments you want to delete, you could do it before changing, because I don’t know if you can after. But it’s very rare that anyone will look at a post that’s more than a few days old, anyway.
Cheers for that, you’ve ticked every box here. I’m going through a transition myself, I was forced to start a music photography business prematurely, so just threw something together. Not happy with it so looking to rebuild, took down old non performing posts, might repost as TBTs. @tba_studios get on quick before I change it, no idea when that will be, can’t think of a good one. Help?
Thanks for your quick reply. I’ll keep you posted how this works out.
I’m curious Dustin, how did that work out?
I’ve noticed that changing your username somehow doesn’t update on google? As in, your new username won’t show up in search engines. At least for me?
But I’ve only recently (These past 1-2 weeks) changed it, so it may be too soon… I’m unsure.
It may take awhile for changes to be noted by Google.
Hi, will my old Instagram URL redirect to new URL?
Thanks
No, it will not. Your username inside Instagram will change (including old @mentions), but any URLs outside of the app will not redirect.
If they’re on your own website and social, follow my tips in the article. If others have linked to you, see if you can get them to update.
I have not found it to be true that old mentions change to your new username. I tried reinstalling the app, and it goes to a new account I created temporarily with the old username in attempt to redirect people to me new one. Does it take a certain amount of time?
If you’re seeing the old username, I believe it’s because you’re seeing a cached version of the posts. And I’ve noticed that Instagram’s caching has gotten extreme recently! As in, I don’t see recent comments in the feed, I have to click through as if making a comment.
Regarding the username issue though, you might see if you can get a friend who hasn’t looked at your posts to tell you which name they see.
If I change my name what happens to all my old posts? Will they appear under my new name? (Many of them no longer exist on my phone)
Everything in your account should stay the same, except for your name. I can still scroll back to my very first post over 2 years ago.
Hello, I have found using my IG account as both my personal and work are starting to become one. I think its time to separate them. I understand that I can change my profile name on IG that’s fine as those are all my personal pics. but I’m worried about the old name NOT becoming available immediately in order to use the old name for my business pics and profile name. I’d be upset if I lost the name. Do you have any info as how long IG turns over lost names?
My understanding is that previously-used user names are not ever made available again. Keep the name if you want it!
Hi, thank you for the great post. I want to change my username because I want a new one that could be easier to remember and more distinctive than the current one.
I recently started on instagram but I used an old username that I created a couple years ago and my account is growing more faster than I thought so, I want to change it in order to be more recognizable. I am afraid to lose my recent feedback and likes cause just a month ago I started to gain above 100 likes on each post. I dont want to lose that.
What do you suggest? Creating a new account or just following the instructions you mentioned before.
I (personally) wouldn’t create a new account because I’d have to build followers from scratch. It’s really your choice though.
Hi Louise,
I seem to have experienced the suppression after a name change. I have had an instagram account for a while but hardly used it (dj_fbus). Mid August, encouraged by photographer friends I started sharing my photographs and was typically getting 20-80 likes a post (which for a newbie I was very happy with). On Sept 1st I decided to change from dj_fbus to djfbus to align with my twitter username. Since then post likes have fell to almost zero 🙁 and also I no longer appear in hashtag searches (yet previous still posts do). Weird. I hope this is just a temporary suppression like you describe with your change. I’m holding off with posting better shots until it seems to work again, how long was the (apparent) suppressed period for you? thanks Paul
Hi Paul,
I can’t be sure if it actually happened or it was just what and when I was posting. Two days after my name change I had a post with 104 likes, which was good at that time. It was up and down a lot back then…
There are so many algorithms on IG now that it’s really hard to say what’s going on. I hope it gets fixed for you soon!
Hi Louise
I’d like to amend my NAME on Instagram by adding the words Interior Design after my name. I DON’T intend to change my USERNAME. Will this be OK and not mess up the links to my IG account that my professional web developers have set up?
thanks so much
Tanya
Hi Tanya,
Good call on changing the name in your bio. No, that doesn’t affect any links.
Thank you so much for this post. It was quite informative. I am a photographer and was looking to change my Instagram handle to better reflect my brandname. The answers on Quora site were quite confusing. And didn’t find much information the effects of changing username on Instagram portal too. I just changed it from @nishantlens (made in hurry years back) to @nishantratnakar (my name, as well as the brand name in photography business). Thanks louise!
I’m happy to hear it helped, Nishant!
Hello 🙂 its a great feed….Can you please let me know whether if current follower count gets affected or remains intact if i change user name ?
Your followers stay!
Anyone having recent trouble with this? I changed a client’s *new* account name from “official” to “band” about 2 weeks ago and there are now TWO separate accounts, each with different #s of who we follow and the followers. Can anyone help?
I’ve never heard of this… I’d suggest using the “Report a Problem” setting in both of the accounts.
I actually can’t get in the original account anymore, so that’s even odder! I’ll report the problem via the other. Thanks!!
Hi Louise!
Thanks for the really helpful post! There’s just one more thing I’m confused about. I was planning to claim my old username in another account so that I can redirect people who’ve seen my username outside of IG and are trying to find me. But from your answers on this post, it seems my old username won’t become available after I change? Can you clarify for me?
Thanks again for doing this post. I’ve been trying to find a comprehensive post about this for a while.
Hi Belle,
Well, I just tried and was able to pick up my old account name.
It might be just names from accounts Instagram has closed that are frozen. I sure can’t guarantee it though!
I changed my username after only a couple of posts in the app on my iphone. When I log on to Instagram from my laptop (to access additional photos) it has my old user name and no posts. When I go to edit my profile to my new name it says it is already taken. How can I fix this so I can post from either laptop or iPhone?
Thank you in advance!
I haven’t heard of this issue with two different usernames, so I don’t know how to fix it. However, you can’t post via instagram.com on desktop anyway. Stick with the phone app. It may be just a caching issue on the website that will fix itself shortly.
Thank you for this post! I really want to change my username to something shorter (and easier) but I’m so worried about the drop in likes. How long did it take for your likes to go back to normal?
Two to three weeks, but there was actually a high-like post 2 days after the name change. So it could have been the content!
While I don’t want to sway you one way or the other, I’d encourage you to think long-term.
If i change my instagram username will it automatically unlike previously liked posts?
No, it does not.
Hi Louise
I wish I had read this post earlier. My company was rebranded to a new name and in order to block all new name handles we created a new IG account in the new name. I was reading on how to transfer my existing posts and followers to this new handle and came across this post. Now that I own two separate IG handles registered under two separate email accounts, how do I merge them? Should I delete the ‘new name’s account entirely and then just edit the username on my old IG account? I wonder if you have come across such a problem
I haven’t heard of a way to merge IG accounts. I can’t guarantee that deleting the account with the name you want will make that name available again.
Sorry that I can’t help. I wish you luck!
Hi Louise!
My facebook app has 2 logged-in accounts, one’s mine and other is my fiance’s. I posted a pic on my account on Instagram and i purposely showed it to my Fiance’s fb page(so it’s understood that it’s his fb account that’s linked to my Ig).
But, just this morning I figured out that my Name (not username) was changed it his name. And my number as well from instagram private info. I thought it was changed by him, but he didn’t open my account so no one manually changed it (I was thinking).
On the other hand, is it possible that it was hacked or whatever? or It’s just that Facebook and Instagram purposely filled my name and contacts? (Because it was just blank before this happened)
Thank you if you respond! Great article btw <3
Hi Kyla,
I have to say I have no idea. I’ve never heard of this before. If the password wasn’t changed and nothing weird is going on (pictures deleted, new link and/or photos) then I doubt it was hacked.
If it was blank, it’s most likely FB was trying to help you out by adding a name.
Hi! Thanks for this article and all the helpful responses.
Wonder if you have an info on this scenario….
I currently have 7k follower on @account1.
I currently own and have no followers on @account2.
I want to switch name @account1 to @account2 – thus having 7k followers on @account2.
I don’t want to lose username @account1 – therefore want to switch this username to what was formerly @account2.
So,
> @account1 becomes @account2 (with original 7k followers)
> @account2 becomes @account1 (with original 0 followers)
Hope this makes sense!
Do you know if this is possible?
Thank you!
J.
I don’t know, Jenn. If you look at the recent comments, I recall someone saying they closed one account and used the name on another account. But the rules change all the time, and you run the risk of shutting the account whose name you want to use on another account, and having IG freeze the name.
It’s almost certain that you can’t switch names. No idea how you’d even attempt that.
Hi Lousie.
I want to change my instagram URL as I have some security issues. Some people have copied the link and I don’t wanna loose my account as I want them to never access my URL. Is it possible. I’d be grateful if u explain
You’re trying to have people that know your current URL not be able to see your account? The only way I know of to block people from your account is setting it as private. With a new name, they can always find you again.
I have changed my Instagram user to “drzenus_saleh” over 1 month ago. Still, my old account is showing when searching in Google. Any ideas on how long it needs for the cache to clear?
Sorry, I don’t know.
Hi Louise, thank you for this. I have a major issue. I want to rebrand my current Instagram name to a new name that I own (on Instagram). I have the name that I want, that’s not the problem. I need to change my existing name, to the other name on my inactive account. Since it is mine, there must be away for me to do it. If I close the account, the name will still not become available, correct? I need some sort of contact at Instagram to help me, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to put the dormant name I own to my existing and active account. Any leads for this?
The name might become available – the one I changed from eventually did, and I set up another account with it. But I can’t say if or when your name might become available, if you close that account. It’s a gamble. Always a chance someone else could take it before you do, too.
If you run ads, then you might have an ad manager who might be willing to help. Otherwise, there’s no incentive for them to help, even if you could figure out how to contact them. FB doesn’t like people changing account names, as they feel it may be done with an intent to mislead people. But at least they have an avenue to appeal for a name change – however you have to provide legal proof that your business name has changed.
I was thinking to change my insta username, but I ha no clue that what is going to happen to my account. Thank you for sharing this useful information.
I changed my instagram username about a year ago. However if I look at old pics that friends have of me from the past. My old username still appears in the caption of those posta. Does the username change only apply to comment mentions or photo captions as well? The tagged ones did change but not the @ within photo captions. I have asked other friends to look through their accounts and they too see my old username in older photo captions
That’s interesting! All I know is the info I included from IG, which doesn’t mention captions vs comments.
Hi Louise.. such a great and informative article. Thanks for sharing your insight.
I have a more strategic question. I have a simple private account with only 180 followers , how cute I know. And am just launching my own brand. Im unsure if I should just keep my private account private , and start all over with a different brand user \ profile name for my company, Or switch my profile name to my brand name, hence keeping my current followers…
also then my new brand account would still have some old posts from private life.. but I personally have no problem with that.
Any thoughts?
thanks so much!!!
Really up to you. I have a separate account for “fun” stuff. In my bio I direct people to my “biz” account and pick up a few followers that way.
I would only make the switch if you’re sure you won’t annoy your current followers. If they’re really only interested in your personal stuff, they’ll either unfollow or never interact. Either is bad for your account.
hey, this is kind of a weird question so I don’t know if you’ll be able to answer it but, if you change your Instagram username, will your account pop up if people search your old name?
My guess is no.
Actually yes it does.
I need to change my Instagram username bilal_danisha to Bilal01
hi, I wish to change my instagram username because I made it when I was young and no longer like it. BUT i do not want to lose my @tags photos that are under my profile. Would changing my under name get rid of all of the my previous tags in photos (that used my previous username) or would those tags within the photos change to the new username I created? Thanks!!
Mine moved over with me, but I can’t guarantee that’s still the case.
I’m thinking about changing my username for personal reasons but I’m wondering about the affects doing that will have on my account. Will changing my username delete any of my previous posts, or lose followers? And if someone tries to find me by my old username does instagram automatically send them to the new account? Lastly, if someone has mentioned me in comments, or tagged me in photos, will the username change? Or take them to the account with the new username? I’m not really concerned about any possible like drops though.
Thank you .
Delete posts? No
Lose followers? No (unless they don’t recognize you and unfollow)
Redirect to new account? No
Tags in comments? Mine changed. Read section “But There IS Some Good News…” in the article above.
Tagged photos stayed on my “Photos of You” page.
Hi Louise, I want to make sure the “Good news” section is true. From all my research and the link to your source, it doesn’t confirm that previous mentions of @oldname automatically switch to @newname. The source you linked to seems to suggest that once you change it, your account may not show it right away. But that has nothing to do with tags. Can you confirm that all previous mentions of @oldname switched to @newname? The more I research the more I see that people recommend signing up for a new account under @oldname (after you’ve switched) and putting a post that sends people to your @newname bc all mentions of @oldname will go to whoever picks up that handle next. Can you confirm? Much appreciated!
Hi Hillary,
It’s impossible to confirm anything when it comes to social media, as it’s constantly changing.
But certainly, NEW mentions of your old username should go to the person who picks up the username. They WON’T redirect.
What I said was that PREVIOUS mentions of the old username changed. This is what happened for me, and the source cited in the post is Instagram. But I can’t guarantee that this will happen today or at any time in the future.
If you can pick up your old username, you might do that. Just know that people will get notifications that “Hillary is on Instagram as @oldusername.” Some will follow without checking your profile. This is happening to me with my old name.
Hi Louise – great post, really thorough! I know you’ve just said this above in the comment but I wanted to clarify for certainty’s sake: for you the written @xxx mentions of your name in posts and comments etc by other people on the platform DID change? There’s such mixed information out there about it! But if it worked for you I don’t see why it would have been removed as a feature since.
There’s a lot of interlinking in the little community I have on Insta and it would be a pity to lose the history of that, but my name is no longer really relevant… decisions decisions!
(by which I mean historic mentions of course)
Mine did, but I think you should approach the decision by what’s best going forward – in case this doesn’t happen.
This article was awesome. I always thought Insta username cannot be changed!
Hi since I’ve changed my username on instagram my likes have dropped significantly, is this normal and why would changing my username affect it like this? Ive reported this issue to instagram and they have not bothered to reply.
If i knew changing my username would have an effect I wouldn’t have done changed it, I would appreciate some advice thanks.
Likes are dropping for everyone, so it may not be related.
Hi, thanks for the post! I am wondering-if drop of likes is obligatory think with change of username, does it takes time or count of posts to get back in track? I mean, does count of likes grows back with certain time or it take *X* posts…
I know you did had answer when wrote the post, but maybe someone else can say how long time and posts it took to be back.
Thanks!
I am using instagram for business and want to change the username in 6 months due to a business name change. I was told that if an account changes their username it will be forever excluded from instagram’s trending page. I just want to know if that is true before we decide to change our name?
That seems odd. Where did you hear this?
I’m changing/ rebranding from Honoree Tigrett “trinity_prep” to Crush it Like a Girl Boss. The change has been a change in focus- before I blogged about homeschooling and learned SEO, AdWords, Analytics and the Like for the purpose of blogging. Now I do freelance Digital Marketing and am known as an influencer under those subjects, Not homeschooling.
Thanks for the advice.
Best of luck Honoree!
Hi Louise!
Thank you for this article.
I recently changed my Instagram handle and I’m experimenting a huge drop in my posts likes… how long did it take for your number of likes to be back to normal?
Also, I used to get between 50 and 150 new followers each day. But since I changed my username, I barely get 10 new followers a day. Do you think it has something to do with the username change?
Thanks!
I think about a month or two – but it was so long ago, things may be different now. And likes and engagement are on decline regardless.
Both likes and follower declines could be related to name change, and/or to bots that targeted your previous username.
Hello Louise
Just searched your old username “howtographics” and noticed its still active and that there is a link in the bio to go to your new account “louisemcom. When you changed your Instagram name does it automatically create a new account for you and transfer over your followers or did you have to start from scratch reminding your followers to follow the new account?
I later opened a new account with the username “howtographics.” IG does not create another account, it only changes the name on the account – your followers, gallery, profile etc stay intact. You are only changing the name.
Hi Louise, how much later was it that you opened the account using your old name? Someone has very kindly deleted an account they hadn’t used for three years so that I could use their username for my business, and I’m wondering how long I might need to wait to see if the name has become available again.
I don’t remember, but their policy towards releasing previously used names could (and has) changed at any moment. It could also vary depending on how long the account was active or unused, how much it was used, and for what purposes. I suspect some account names are never released, because I’ve looked for accounts where a name is unavailable but no one is using it.
Thanks Louise, looks like I might have to wait and see. Thank you for a very useful article.
Just thought I would post an update to let you know that the username I wanted became available two weeks after the original owners deleted their account.
Awesome! Thanks for letting us know.
Thank you for posting this Louise! I need to make a change to using my own name to represent my art business, but in a way that makes sense for both existing and (hopefully) new followers. I now know how!
Great to hear, Sinclair.
Hi I changed my username but the instagram says that username dissent exist, the feed on my six site doesn’t acknowledge the new name which i changed over a month ago but will still post from the old but you don’t see any of the new posts?
Very confused?
Thanks
Paul
Yeah, I can’t quite figure out what’s going on here.
Hello Louise,
Thanks for this! I just changed my name on IG to reflect my real name, rather than a cute handle I had selected 7 years ago that now seems outdated.
I noticed the same thing that you mentioned: I typically get a lot of likes pretty quickly (more than 100) but right now it seems like nobody is seeing the image. I know it’s a quality image so it’s gotta be something to do with the system.
How long did it take you to recuperate your likes?
Thanks so much,
Megan
Probably a couple months.
Hello if I want to change my Instagram account name. Will it be free and accessible now for someone else to get it and use it if they like or would the old still belong to me? Thank you
The old name won’t belong to you. Whether and when it will be released is uncertain.
Hi Louise
thank you for your impressive comments and blog here.
what if you are a verified user on instagram, and then you decided to change your name, will instagram disqualify this verification or once youre verified it wont change even if you changed your instagram username ?
It’s so hard to get verified that I wouldn’t risk it. They don’t reveal why or why not an account could be verified so I doubt you’ll find a 100% certain answer to this.
Thank you for this article. If an influencer account with over 20k followers changes account name will the followers still see the new account? Is it not recommended to change. I’m thinkjng long term. How does name change affect an influencer account? Thank you
Sorry, I have no experience in changing influencer account names so I have no idea.
Sorry also if an influencer changes the account name and announce few days before that the name will be changing wouldn’t that give reason for someone to take the old name as it has value to it?
IG doesn’t always release names that have been used in the past.
What do you think about instagram bot?
I think they’re the scourge of Instagram. They break the terms of use and should never be used. If an account has left a spammy bot comment or DM on my account, I report them.
Of course, I removed the name of the one you probably hoped to draw attention to.
Hi, great tips! I saw your article while looking to redirect my old instagram url to he new one, now I know I can’t 🙁 I just changed my username yesterday and I ‘ve been seen down in likes, but I’m using my old username as a hashtag, I hope it helps.
If you used that hashtag before and your audience is aware of it (and especially if they use it themselves) then that should help.
Hello! I have a question about changing an IG name. I want to change my current account to my actual government name. However, I want to start a seperate IG page with my old IG name. When I change my current IG name to my government name, will i be able to access the old name to move to a new account? or is it lost?
There’s really no way to know if and when they might release a previously used name. Some seem to be never released. It would be better to start a new account with the new name.