Instagram can check your phone’s contact list and show you which of your contacts have an account. Turn on contact syncing in Accounts Center, under Your information and permissions and Upload contacts, and your contacts on Instagram appear in Discover people, where you can follow them. You can switch syncing off again at any time.
Connect your contacts
- Go to your profile, tap the menu (three lines) and open Accounts Center.
- Tap Your information and permissions.
- Tap Upload contacts and choose your Instagram account.
- Turn on Connect contacts, and allow access to your contacts when your phone asks (Social Champ).
Once your contact list is connected, Instagram shows you a list of your contacts who are on Instagram (Instagram Help).
See and follow your contacts
- On your profile, tap Discover people (the person icon with a +).
- Tap See all.
- Your contacts on Instagram appear in the list. Tap Follow next to the ones you want.
If an account is private, your follow becomes a request that the person has to approve. Instagram can also suggest Facebook friends who are on Instagram (Instagram Help).
Other ways to find people
- Search: type a name or username in Search and look at the accounts results (Instagram Help).
- Suggestions: Instagram suggests accounts in Discover people and in Suggested for you, and the follower lists of people you know are another place to look.
- Profile card: ask the person to share their profile. Share profile now opens a card with their bio, links and a QR code you can scan (NapoleonCat).
Can’t follow someone you found? See why you can’t follow someone on Instagram. To keep track of who follows you back, see how to check recent followers on Instagram.
Turn off syncing and delete uploaded contacts
- Go back to Accounts Center, Your information and permissions, Upload contacts.
- Turn off Connect contacts. Do it for each account and each phone you synced from.
Instagram says that when you disconnect contact syncing, the contacts you synced before are removed from its systems (Instagram Help). That help page still shows an older menu path, but the setting is the same. In Accounts Center on the web, Manage contacts shows the contacts you’ve uploaded (Vista Social).
What Instagram does with your contacts
Instagram’s App Store privacy label lists contacts as data linked to you. The purposes listed include app functionality, product personalization, analytics and advertising (App Store). If that bothers you, find people by search instead and leave syncing off.
FAQ
Why don’t my contacts show up?
Check that Connect contacts is on and that Instagram is allowed to access your contacts in your phone’s settings. People who aren’t on Instagram won’t appear.
Can I find someone by phone number?
Search works with names and usernames. The official way to use phone numbers is contact syncing, which uses the contacts saved on your phone.
Can I use contact syncing on a computer?
You can manage uploaded contacts in Accounts Center on the web. Guides only describe connecting contacts from the phone app.
How do I stop syncing contacts?
Turn off Connect contacts under Accounts Center, Your information and permissions, Upload contacts.