Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms. The platform is a great way to connect with your friends and people all around the globe.
With over two billion active users of Instagram, it makes sense that the platform would have multiple means of connecting with people. You can search for friends with their usernames; use hashtags, or even find users through people they follow. But what about finding people through their phone numbers?
Instagram allows people to link their phone numbers to their accounts, so you should be able to find accounts through their contact details, right? Well, it isn’t that simple.
Unlike usernames, you can’t type a phone number into a search box and get results. However, there are ways to go about it. We’ll get to them.
Finding Instagram Profiles With Phone Numbers
While Instagram doesn’t offer a search by phone number feature, it does have a Discover People feature that utilizes contacts saved on your device to find people you may know.
This approach isn’t the best because knowing which account is linked to that specific phone number may be difficult. Unfortunately, it’s the only way; plus, if you know what the person looks like, you may be able to know the account from their profile picture. That is assuming they used a picture of themselves there.
There are two steps to finding an account through the Discover People feature.
- Uploading Your Contacts to Instagram
- Using the Discover People Feature
Step One: Uploading Your Contacts to Instagram
The first step is to sync your contacts to Instagram’s servers. Here’s how to do it.
- Get to your profile: Open your Instagram app and tap on your photo at the bottom right of the screen.
- Settings and Activity: Tap the hamburger menu icon at the top right of the screen to open the “Settings and Activity” menu.
- Accounts Centre: Tap on “Accounts Centre” to open Meta’s dashboard to manage your accounts across their social media platforms.
- Information and Permissions: Tap “Your Information and Permissions” on the Accounts Centre home page.
- Upload contacts: Tap “Upload Contacts” on this menu, then tap on your Instagram account.
- Switch the toggle on: In this menu, tap on the “Connect Contacts” Toggle to switch it on. It should turn blue.
With these steps, you have successfully uploaded your contacts to Instagram. Restart the app so it takes effect.
Step Two: the Discover People Feature
Instagram’s Discover People feature lets you see people you may know based on the contacts you’ve just uploaded.
With Instagram’s constant UI overhauls, the Discover People feature tab is no longer in the settings menu. Before you begin ransacking your Instagram, we’ll show you where to find it.
- Get to your profile by tapping your photo at the bottom right of the screen.
- Tap on the icon that looks like a human with a plus beside it on the right side of your screen to enable the Discover People feature.
With these steps, you’ve activated the feature and can now find accounts through the phone numbers on your device. Enjoy it.
