How to Find Someone on Instagram in 2025?

How to find someone on Instagram is one of the first questions that comes to mind when you join the platform. Generally, being on social media means that you should be sociable and connect with other people. 

Clearly, after signing up on Instagram, users would like to find someone on Instagram, such as their family members, friends, colleagues, etc. So, you’ll want to explore ways to discover and follow them. Today, we are going to mention several ways to help you find anyone on Instagram.

How to Find Someone on Instagram?

At first glance, it may seem challenging to find someone on Instagram among 500 million daily active users. But don’t get disappointed! There are several ways to find someone on Instagram and follow them.

1. How to Find Someone on Instagram by Username?

The easiest and most common way to find someone on Instagram is through a search bar. This way, you should enter any related username that comes to your mind and help you find someone you are looking for.

Since many users set their usernames based on their first and last name, you would have the chance to find someone by searching their first and last name as their username. 

• Tap the search bar and type a username.
• Scroll through the search results and see if the person shows up. To make it easier, switch to the “Accounts” tab at the top so you only see profiles (not audio or tags).

If you share mutual friends, their profile will usually appear higher in the list. Under their name, you might see something like “Followed by (username) + (number) more.”

Once you tap on the search bar, you will see several filters such as Top, People, Tags, and Places.

• Top: shows profiles in terms of popularity and engagement rate.
• People: only show people on the search results.
• Tags: show posts based on hashtags.
• Places: show the accounts that are near your location.

2. How to Find Someone on Instagram by Location?

If you are looking for someone who lives near your location or in your city, the easiest way is to search their account using the “Places” tab on the search bar. Keep in mind, this only works for public accounts. If their account is private, you won’t see their posts here.

Tap the location you searched for and scroll through the posts. If they posted recently, switch to the “Recent” tab for the newest uploads. Otherwise, check the “Top posts” to see if they appear there.

Read More: How to Find Someone on Instagram by Location?

3. How to Find Someone on Instagram by Hashtags?

By searching hashtags under the “Tags” section, you can find any post with the hashtag you searched for. For example, if you are looking for a popular fashion influencer, you should search the Instagram fashion hashtag, such as #fashionstyle in the search bar.

Then you’ll see all the posts that use that hashtag.

Scroll through the posts to find who we were looking for.

4. Find Someone on Instagram through Your Friends’ Accounts

If you are looking for an old friend or someone your friends might know about, looking at their following or follower list may help you find someone you were looking for. Here’s a guide on how to find someone on Instagram through your friends’ accounts:

• Tap the Search icon and type a mutual friend’s name or username in the search bar at the top. 

• Tap their name and open their profile.
• Tap Followers or Following to find who they follow or who follows them.
• Use the search bar again to look for their name or username to find the person you want 

Besides, you can send a direct message to your friend and ask them about the person you are looking for.

5. How to Find Someone on Instagram Through Suggested Users?

You might have noticed that Instagram suggests people you might know to help you increase the number of your followers and followings. To know about Instagram’s suggested users, follow the steps below:

1. First of all, open the Instagram app.
2. Tap on the “heart icon” at the top right corner of your page.

3. Scroll down to find a list of “Suggested” accounts for you. 

6. How to Find Your Contacts on Instagram?

Another easy way to add someone on your Instagram account without knowing their names is through phone contacts. Follow the steps below to learn how to find someone on instagram by phone number:

1. Go to your profile, tap the menu icon (three lines), and select Account Center.

2. In “Account Center”, choose “Your information and permissions”, 

3. Then tap “Upload contacts”.

4. Pick your Instagram account, turn on the sync toggle, and allow access to your contacts when asked.

5. If your phone asks for Instagram access to the contacts, tap on “Allow.”

6. Then the list of contacts will show up.

7. Finally, you can tap “Follow All” or just choose some specific contacts.

7. How to Find Someone on Instagram by Facebook Contacts?

Connect your Facebook to your Instagram account to follow your Facebook followers on Instagram as well by doing the following steps:

1. Open Instagram and Tab on the “heart” icon on the top right corner of the homepage.
2. Scroll down and go to “Suggested for you”, then, choose “See all”.
3. Now you can see an option to “Connect to Facebook”, tab on it.

4. Next, tap on “Continue” to allow the app and website to share information about you.
5. Now, log in to your Facebook account and press “Continue” to authorize Facebook access to Instagram.

6. At last, you can follow all or some of your followers on this page

Why Can’t You Find Someone on Instagram?

If you have done the mentioned ways to find someone on Instagram and couldn’t find the person you were looking for, there might be some reasons mentioned below.

• The user might have blocked you.
• They might have deactivated their account
• You may have entered the miss-spelled name on the search bar
• It might be an Instagram bug. You can also run the details of your friend on a public records search tool and see if you can find their social media profiles that way.

The Last Words

After trying the mentioned ways, you can find people you were looking for on Instagram. You can search by username, location, hashtags, friends’ accounts, suggested users, or your contacts to discover the person you’re looking for.

What other ways come to your mind for finding someone on Instagram? We would be happy to hear your recommendations and experiences.

FAQs

1. How to Find Someone on Instagram by Picture?

You can’t directly search for someone on Instagram using only their picture inside the app. But here are two ways that might help:

• Use a reverse image search tool: You can upload the picture to Google Lens or a similar service. If the photo appears online, you might find links to their Instagram profile in the results.
  
• Check suggested friends: You can also connect your contacts in Instagram’s settings. Sometimes, Instagram suggests people you may know, which could help you find the person.

2. How to Find Someone on Instagram Without Knowing Anything About Them?

If you don’t know someone’s Instagram handle, you can try searching for their real name instead. Many people include their first and last names in their profile name or bio. Simply go to the “Search” tab on Instagram and type their name into the search bar.

If you don’t know their name and have only seen them, you can also check the “Suggested People” section. Scroll through the profiles there. You might recognize their photo or bio and find the right account.

3. How to Find Someone on Instagram Without Their Username?

When you’re not sure of someone’s Instagram username, try searching with their real name instead. A lot of users add their first and last names to their display name or bio. All you need to do is choose the “Search” tab and type in their name.