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How to Find Someone on Instagram Without Knowing Their Username

Are you looking for someone on Instagram but you don’t know their username?

If you’re trying to find someone on Instagram, you might not always know their username.

Typically, you’ll have to ask someone for their username in person if you want to follow them.

But what if you don’t have the chance to ask them for their username?

In this article, you’ll learn how to find someone on Instagram without knowing their username.

Table of Contents

  1. Search for their name
  2. Find mutual followers/following
  3. Connect your contact list
  4. Use Instagram Discover
  5. Check the likes of their close friend

1. Search for their name

Instagram search

The first way to find someone is to search for their name on Instagram.

This is the most straightforward way to find someone on Instagram without knowing their username.

You can find someone without knowing their username by searching for the first name or full name on Instagram

If the person’s name is uncommon, it’ll be easier to find them as there wouldn’t be as many search results.

On the other hand, if the person’s name is common, it’ll be harder to find them as the search results will be dominated by verified users.

In addition, the Instagram search results are limited to a certain number of results.

So, if you’re searching for a generic name, the search results might not even contain the person that you’re trying to find.

Hence, there are limitations when you’re searching for someone on Instagram.

Nevertheless, here’s how you can find someone (without knowing their username) via Instagram search:

  1. Open Instagram and go to the search tab.
  2. Search for the person’s first name, and find a profile that has a picture of themself.
  3. If you still can’t find them, search for the person’s full name instead.

Unfortunately, in order for this to work, the person that you’re trying to find has to have their name or full name on their profile.

That being said, most people have their names on their profile, unless they are really secretive.

So, this method is proven to work well, especially if the person has added their full name on their profile.

Bonus tip: Search for the person’s name on Google using quotation marks.

As a bonus tip, you can search for the person’s name on Google using quotation marks.

Using quotation marks on Google will show an exact match of the keyword you’re searching for.

For example, if you’re searching for someone named Jane Doe, you can search for “Jane Doe” on Google.

When you hit search, Google only displays results that have Jane Doe on it.

Hence, if someone added their full name on Instagram, searching for their full name on Google might bring up their Instagram.

However, if the person didn’t include their name on their profile, you can use the next methods to find them.

2. Find mutual followers/following

Instagram followed by

You can find someone on Instagram without knowing their username through mutual followers.

Instagram has a feature where you can check mutual followers under a person’s profile via the “Followed by” list.

You can use the “Followed by” list to find people that you might know on Instagram.

Let me explain this in detail. Let’s say you’re trying to find someone named x.

Suppose that you’re following someone named y, who is close friends with x—there’s a high chance that they’re following each other.

To validate this, go to x’s profile and look at the “Followed by” feature under their bio.

If y is following x, there’ll be a statement that says, “Followed by y” under x’s profile.

If the “Followed by” list is too long (e.g. Followed by y and 20 others), you can tap to expand it and scroll to find more mutuals.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can find someone via mutual followers:

  1. Visit the profile of a close friend of the person that you’re trying to find.
  2. Go to their followers/following list.
  3. Search the name of the person that you’re trying to find on their followers/following list.

Most of the time, you’ll be able to find the person you’re looking for from one of their close friend’s profiles.

This is because they’re most likely following each other.

The “Followed by” feature is very helpful in finding someone without knowing their username.

This is especially so if you’re following one of their close friends where you can look into their followers/following list.

However, if the person that you’re trying to find didn’t put their name on their profile, it’ll be harder for you to find them.

If that’s the case, you’ll have to scroll down their friend’s followers/following list until you find a profile picture of them.

But, if the person doesn’t have a profile picture, and didn’t include their name, you’ll have to rely on visiting multiple profiles.

Check their feed (whether it consists of photos of themself), and the number of mutuals from the “Followed by” feature.

The more mutual followers someone has, the more likely that they are related to you.

Generally, the higher number of people that appear in the “Followed by” feature, the more likely that they are related to you.

Hence, if you’re trying to find someone you don’t know the username of, the “Followed by” feature on the person’s profile is really helpful.

3. Connect your contact list

Instagram connect contacts

Next, connecting your contact list to Instagram is a great way to find people you know to follow.

Connecting your contact list allows Instagram to access the phone numbers of people you’ve added.

Connect your contact list to allow Instagram to discover your contacts who are on Instagram.

With this information, Instagram is able to show you your contacts who are on Instagram.

You can access this via the “Discover people” tab on the menu.

Here’s how you can connect your contact list to Instagram:

  1. Go to your profile and tap on the menu icon on the top-right hand corner of the screen.
  2. Tap on “Discover people”.
  3. Select “Connect” next to “Connect contacts”.

By connecting your contact list, you can now find and follow people you know without knowing their username on Instagram.

This is especially helpful if you have a large contact list and you want to connect with them on Instagram.

If you want to remove your contact list from Instagram, you can do so by tapping on “Disconnect”.

Fundamentally, the only prerequisite that you need for this method is to have someone’s phone number on your contact list.

Once you do, you can sync it to Instagram and find contacts to follow.

4. Use Instagram Discover

The fourth method is to use Instagram Discover and go through your list of suggestions.

Similar to the previous method, you can access it from the menu tab.

Instagram Discover allows you to find people that you might know to follow based on their mutuals.

Instagram Discover is an unconventional yet highly effective way you can find people you might know to follow.

This is because the algorithm pulls out people that have mutual followers/following.

Here’s how you can access the feature:

  1. Go to your profile and tap on the menu icon on the top-right hand corner of the screen.
  2. Tap on “Discover people”.
  3. Scroll down to “All suggestions” where you can find people you might know to follow.

“All suggestions” is list of people that are followed by one or more people that you are following.

The Instagram suggestions algorithm lists people that you might know based on their followers.

In other words, if a user is followed by someone that you’re following, they have a high chance of being suggested to you.

The “All suggestions” tab also lists people who are new to Instagram.

However, in order for the person to show up as “new to Instagram”, they must have created their account recently.

In addition, they must be followed by one or more people that you’re following as well.

Once the account is over 30 days old, the “new to Instagram” tagged will be removed.

Hence, if you want to find someone on Instagram but you don’t know their username, you can check the users under “All suggestions”.

There’s a good chance that the person that you’re trying to find will be listed there.

5. Check the likes of their close friend

Instagram liked by

The last method is to check the likes of a friend of the person that you’re trying to find.

You should use this method if you are still unable to find the person using the previous methods.

If you have the Instagram of a close friend of the person that you’re finding, you may be able to find them through likes.

Here’s the idea—the person you’re finding has a high chance of already following one or more of their close friends on Instagram.

So, if you are able to find one of their close friends’ Instagram, you’ll be able to find them through likes.

Here’s how you can do this:

  1. Go to the profile of one of the person’s close friends.
  2. View all the likes of their recent posts (tap on liked by x and x others).
  3. Search for the name of the person that you’re finding on the list of likes.

This method requires additional work as the person might not have liked all of their friend’s posts.

In order for you to find them, you’re going to have to go through multiple posts. Moreover, it relies heavily on the person’s name.

However, if the person didn’t add their real name on their profile, you need to check their profile picture or posts (if their profile is set to public) to detect them.

Fundamentally, checking the likes of a friend’s post is ideal if you want to find people that you might know to follow.

Conclusion

If you don’t know someone’s Instagram username, it can be quite hard to find them.

But if you use the 5 steps mentioned in this article, you should be able to find the person you’re looking for.

After all, it comes down to these main points:

  • Knowing one of the person’s friends on Instagram
  • Searching for their full name
  • Looking at mutual followers/following

Once you’re able to fulfill these points, you can find just about anyone on Instagram without knowing their username.

Further Reading

> How to Find Inactive Instagram Followers (And Remove Them)

> How to Unfollow Someone on Instagram Without Them Knowing

> 12 Reasons Why You’re Getting Less Likes on Instagram

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About the author

Lim How Wei

Lim How Wei is the founder of followchain.org, with 8+ years of experience in Social Media Marketing and 4+ years of experience as an active investor in stocks and cryptocurrencies. He has researched, tested, and written thousands of articles ranging from social media platforms to messaging apps.

Lim has been quoted and referenced by major publications and media companies like WikiHow, Fast Company, HuffPost, Vice, New York Post, The Conversation, and many others. One of his articles about the gig economy was quoted by Joe Rogan who hosts The Joe Rogan Experience (arguably the most popular podcast in the world), in the This Past Weekend podcast by Theo Von.

In his free time, Lim plays multiple games like Genshin Impact, League of Legends, Counter-Strike, Hearthstone, RuneScape, and many others. He creates guides, walkthroughs, solutions, and more on games that he plays to help other players with their progression.