How to Find Someone on Instagram Using 11 Methods

Instagram has over a billion users globally, which means chances are that your friends are on it. However, finding them can be a little bit tricky if you don’t know how. That is why we have put together this extensive guide for how to find someone on Instagram to make your search for your friends easier. 

Here are all of the ways you can find someone on IG:

Find Someone By Their Username

The quickest way to find someone on Instagram is to search for their username, if you know it. 

Here is how you can do that:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap on the magnifying glass icon in the menu at the bottom of the screen
3. Type in the username of the person you are looking for within the search bar
4. Select the account by tapping on it to go to its profile page

Find Someone Using Their Name

Another method to find people on IG is to look up their first and last name. If you know their name, you can easily find everyone with that name (unless they got married and changed it). This, however, can bring up quite a few accounts, so knowing which one your friend is could take some effort in certain situations.

Here are the steps to finding someone on IG using their name:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap on the magnifying glass icon in the menu at the bottom of the screen
3. Type in the first and last names of the user you are looking for
4. Review all of the results and do your best to select the person you are looking for

Note: This method will not always work effectively due to some people not using their legal names in their profiles. 

Find Someone By Their Location

You can also look for IG profiles by their location. 

Take the following steps if you want to find someone using this method:

1. Open the Instagram App
2. Tap on the magnifying glass icon in the menu at the bottom of the screen
3. Type in the name of the city where the person you are searching for lives
4. Tap on Places in the menu just below the search bar and select the correct location

Once you have done this, you will see all of the Top and Recent photos and videos tagged with that location.

If you know that the user is a big name, they should be easier to search for in the Top section of the location-based content. If not, you may have better luck in the Recent tab, unless the location is a major metropolitan area. 

This isn’t the easiest method to find someone on Instagram, but if other methods fail to help you, this one may be worth pursuing.

Find Someone Through Hashtags

Hashtags are a popular tool for helping content be found on Instagram. Users will often use several hashtags in their posts to expand the reach of their posts. This means that you may be able to find someone via hashtags they use. 

Here are the instructions for this method:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap on the magnifying glass search icon at the bottom of the screen
3. In the search field, type in the hashtag you want to find someone through
4. Tap on the Tags option in the menu just below the search box and select the hashtag again
5. Find content that looks like it was posted by the person you are looking for

This method is also not a guaranteed way to find someone, especially if the hashtag has millions of posts. However, if it is a small hashtag with not that many posts, you may have a surprisingly effective way to find the person you have been looking for.

Find Someone By Finding Their Connections

If you know someone the person you are looking for is connected to, this may be a very easy way to find them. Perhaps you know a friend, relative, or partner of theirs. They may be following the person you are searching for.

Here is how to use this method:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Head to the profile page of the person you believe is connected with the person you are looking for
3. Tap on Followers to see who is following them, and if you cannot find them in that list then tap on Following to view the other list of usernames
4. Scroll through the lists until you come across the profile, using the profile photos, usernames, and full names to identify the person

Protip: If you are close enough with the person you already know on Instagram, you can simplify your search process by sending a DM to them and asking if they know the username of the person you are looking for. 

Note: If the person you believe is connected to your friend has a private profile, you will be unable to view their Followers or Following lists, making this method ineffective in that case.

Find Someone By Their Phone Number

Most Instagram users today are signing up with their phone numbers, which may make your search for someone easier if you know their number.

Here is how to find someone on IG using their phone number:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap on your profile picture at the bottom-right of the screen
3. Tap on the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-right of the screen
4. Tap on Settings and privacy
5. Search for Upload contacts in the search box and tap on it
6. Select your Instagram account and toggle on Connect contacts
7. Confirm the changes so that Instagram has access to the phone numbers in your phone
8. Go back to hamburger menu and tap on Discover People

If you have followed the previous steps, you should see Instagram accounts of people in your phone’s contacts

Protip: If you don’t see the person you’re searching for right away, you may find them further down the list within the Recommendations section.

Note: This method only works if they signed up with a phone number. If they used an email address, this way will not work.

Find Someone Using Their Photo

This is a more unconventional method of finding someone on Instagram, but it can sometimes work. 

If you have a photo of the person you are looking for, you could use the following services:

• Google Images
• TinEye

To find someone using Google Images, do the following:

1. Tap on the camera icon next to the search field
2. Upload an image or drop a link to the photo
3. Wait for the search process to complete

If successful, you will see all of the websites where that photo is currently visible. 

Note: While the websites that come up will not include Instagram, you may be able to find identifying information on those websites that help you find their Instagram profile page.

To find someone using the reverse image search engine TinEye, take the following steps:

1. Upload a photo or enter the URL of a photo of the person you are looking for
2. Review the image results and follow the same process as for Google Images

Find Someone By Synchronizing Facebook

Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, which means the two platforms have become increasingly intertwined. If you are having trouble finding someone, this could spell good news for your search efforts.

Here is how to find people by syncing your Facebook:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right of the screen
3. Tap the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right of the screen
4. Tap on Discover people
5. Tap on the Connect button next to Connect to Facebook
6. Tap Continue when you get prompted that Instagram wants to use facebook.com to Sign in

Once signed in, you will see your Facebook friends within the corresponding area of your Instagram. From here, you should be able to find the person you are looking for if you’re lucky. 

Find Someone Using a Search Engine

You can also use another option external to Instagram that is the search engine route. 

You can head to Google, Bing, or another search engine and search for someone’s first and last name, username, or phone number. Their Instagram page may come up or a site that has their personal details that may include their Instagram page. 

Protip: If you have trouble finding anything on one search engine, hop over to another search engine and try your luck there. 

Find Someone Through Reposts

There is also the chance of you finding someone through an Instagram report by someone else. If this is the case, then all you need to do is tap on the report to get back to the original post. 

Note: If it is just a picture of a report, you can search for their IG username within it and go to their profile that way by typing into the search bar.

Find Someone Using Other Social Media Platforms

If you are still having trouble finding your friend, you could switch over to searching on other social networks. There are many today that they may be on, including the major platforms like:

1. Facebook
2. TikTok
3. YouTube
4. Snapchat

If you manage to find them on another platform, see if they have a link to their Instagram page.

Conclusion

With 11 methods available for you to leverage, it should be possible to find virtually anyone, as long as they actually have an Instagram account.

Some methods we shared are much easier to find someone through than others. However, there are situations where you do not have the information handy that would make the search for someone quick and simple. For those situations, you will have to employ more unconventional strategies and search methods. 

Whether it is a long lost relative, a friend you lost contact with, or someone else, finding them could be a major challenge. However, you now know several methods and techniques you can use to find and reconnect with them. 

If you have the determination to find someone on IG, we are confident you have a high likelihood of finding them using one of the methods shared in this article.