How to Find Contacts on Instagram in 4 Simple and Fast Steps

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One of the main reasons why people get an Instagram account is to connect with people, and one of the ways to do that is by finding your phone contacts on the app.

This can be easily done by contact syncing, so you can find contacts that you already have on your phone and have them as followers on Instagram.


How to Find Contacts on Instagram Mobile App?

  1. Sync contacts on Instagram – go to account settings and allow Instagram to access your contacts;
  2. Go to your account page and click “Discover people”;
  3. Click “See all” and then “Connect Contacts”;
  4. In the pop-up, tap on “Allow Access”;

Finding Contacts via Instagram Website

  1. Log in to your account on the Instagram website;
  2. On the homepage, go to the right and find Suggestions for You;
  3. Click “See all”

This can be done in just a few easy steps, so let’s get right into it!

Syncing Your Contacts

The main thing that needs to be done is to have your phone contacts sync with your Instagram profile.

Here’s how that’s done:

  • Open Instagram on your phone.
  • Go to your profile page.
go to profile page
  • Tap on the icon in the upper right corner to open the Settings section.
tap on the settings
  • Find and select the Follow and invite friends option.
follow and invite friends
  • You will now get a pop-up that will ask you to give permission for Instagram to have access to your contacts, so you should choose Allow Instagram to access your contacts.
allow contacts access to find people to follow
  • Instagram will then show you a list of all of your contacts and their Instagram accounts, so you can choose which ones you would like to follow.
  • After that is done, you can just go back to your home page and continue using the app.

How to find contacts on Instagram on iOS and Android?

On both iOS and Android, contacts can be found by using their phone number.

Of course, this requires that you already have their number saved in your contacts list, and you obviously need to be sure that they have an account, to begin with.

Here are the steps that you take:

  • Open the Instagram app and enter your profile page by tapping your profile icon.
  • Find the menu that’s on the top right corner of the screen and tap on it.
  • Find the Discover People option and tap on it.
click discover people
  • After that, tap on the See All option.
click see all in discover people tab
  • After that, tap on the Connect Contacts option that will be given to you.
connect contacts
  • A pop-up window will appear, asking you to allow Instagram to access your contacts, and you should tap on Allow.
allow instagram to access your contacts
  • A list of suggestions with people to follow will appear under the Suggested for you section.
  • Among these people, you will see people who you have saved in your contacts, so you will be able to find the specific person that you were looking for.

Managing Contacts on Instagram Website

The Discover People option is something that’s available only on the mobile app, so if you’re mainly using the website to access your Instagram, then you have to do something different.

When you log in, go to your Home page, and select the search bar. Or alternatively, you can go over to the right and click on See all under the section called Suggestions for you.

click see all

This way, you will see all the contacts on Instagram that are somehow close to you.

In case you want to delete the synced contacts and manage them that way from the website, all you need to do is follow this path:

  • Click on your Profile icon.
instagram profile icon
  • Go to Settings.
settings instagram
  • Then go to the option that’s called Manage Contacts.
manage contacts

In there, you will be able to delete things and manage them as you see fit.

Why I Don’t See Contacts on Instagram?

There are different reasons why contacts syncing on Instagram might not work, and depending on what that reason is, the solution might vary.

Here are the most common reasons why this happens:

  • You didn’t grant Instagram access to your contacts, and therefore the Instagram contacts can’t be synced.
  • Your Instagram app is outdated and can’t do this action.
  • If you can’t find a specific person, that means that they might not have an Instagram account, or they maybe set their settings to not show in other people’s contacts on Instagram.
  • The person you’re looking for has blocked you. Once you’re blocked by someone, you can’t see their account in any way, not even if you use their number.
  • You are currently offline, and in order for anything on Instagram to work, you have to be connected to the Internet.

Now, here are the solutions to these problems:

  • In case your permissions weren’t in check, here’s what you need to do. First, open your profile page by tapping on your profile icon, and then tap on the three lines in the upper right corner. From that menu, you should choose to go to Settings. At this moment, a pop-up menu will probably appear where you will be asked to allow Instagram to access your device’s contact list. Just tap on the Allow button and go back into the app, and that will be it.
instagram settings
  • Now, go to Follow and invite friends.
follow and invite friends
  • Then, tap on Follow contacts.
follow contacts

At this moment, a pop-up menu will probably appear where you will be asked to allow Instagram to access your device’s contact list. Just tap on the Allow button and go back into the app, and that will be it.

  • In case your app isn’t updated, all you need to do is update it. Maybe you have set your Play Store or App Store to not update apps automatically, so you have to do it manually. Just go to the Play Store, find the Instagram app, and tap on the green update button. After this, you’ll have all the features you need and have Instagram automatically sync contacts once you finish with it.
update instagram

In case the previous solution doesn’t fix things, then you have to uninstall and then reinstall Instagram, so you are sure that you’re getting the latest version. This way, you will be able to have synced contacts.

If you still can’t find that one specific person you’re looking for by going through the Discover people section, tries manually searching for them in the search bar. Just remember, they might not be using their real name as their Instagram name, and they maybe don’t use their own profile picture, so you don’t recognize them.

Finally, if nothing seems to work, then you’re left with the option of asking them directly what their username is, but since they are so hard to find, don’t be surprised if it turns out that they don’t wish to be followed by people they know.

Conclusion

Instagram has made it quite easy to both find new people and connect with the ones you already have a friendship with.

You can easily do this by making the most of the syncing contacts feature, that’s made to find people on Instagram directly from your contacts list.

You can easily do this on your mobile app after you grant Instagram permission to access your contacts, and then the contact process will begin.

While this can’t be done on the Instagram web, it’s still possible to discover people you might know there, so don’t worry if that’s your main form of access to Instagram.

FAQ

How do I find my contacts on Instagram in 2022?

If you wanted to find your contacts on Instagram, all you need to do is sync them.

To do this, you’ll have to go to your account’s Discover people section and then proceed to allow Instagram to access your contact list.

After this, Instagram will get the list of Instagram accounts of people who are in your contacts.

Can you find contacts on Instagram by phone number?

Yes, you can by syncing your contact list with Instagram through the Discover people section on your account.

Just make sure that you granted Instagram permission to access your contacts, and then it will find those people for you.

How do I find someone on Instagram without their username?

If you don’t know the username of someone exactly but want to find them, you can always try by typing their name into the search bar and hoše they’ve put their full name in.

In case they haven’t, you can try syncing your contacts on Instagram, but for that to work, you actually need to have their number saved.

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Mell

Mell is one of the Stream Mentor's co-founders and a versatile content writer. She's helping other streamers get their visuals right, set the right panel, use the right lighting, install overlays properly and boost the stream quality to a great extent.

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