Do you want to find someone on Instagram but you do not know their username?
If you are looking for someone on Instagram, it is not necessary that you know their username.
Usually, when you want to contact someone you ask for their username and you do it in person so you can follow them.
The problem occurs when you do not get a chance to ask for their username
In this guide, I am going to share how to find someone on Instagram without their username.
1. Search for their name
The first step is to find someone on Instagram is to use the search engine of Instagram using their name.
It is the first and easiest way to find someone on Instagram if you do not know their username.
You can find someone without knowing their username by putting their first or full name in the search bar on Instagram
If the user’s name is not common like common names, it will be an easy task to locate them due to the lack of search results.
Additionally, if the name of the person is common, it will be a hard nut to crack to find the user you are looking for.
It is also possible that the search results are dominated by the verified users of Instagram.
Furthermore, the number of search results is also limited by the platform.
So, if you are putting generic name in the search bar, it is possible that the results may not contain the person you are trying to locate.
In a nutshell, when you are searching for someone on Instagram, it comes with limitations.
Here are some steps to follow, they will tell you how you can find someone without knowing their username using Instagram search:
- First of all, open Instagram and go to the search tab/bar.
- Types the person’s first name in search, and find a profile that has a picture of that person.
- If you are unable to find him/her, type the full name of the person in the search and search.
Unluckily, this method will work if the person you are trying to find has his/her full name on the profile.
Most of the people use their full names on their profiles unless they want to keep their identity secret.
So, this step will definitely work if the person you are searching for has full name on their profile.
Bonus tip: Use Google Search engine and search for the name of the person using quotation marks.
This tip can also be helpful, you need to search for the person’s name on Google by using quotation marks.
Google will bring the exact match results for the keyword you are searching for, I hope you know that.
For instance, if you’re searching for someone named Arsalan Rauf, you can search for “Arsalan Rauf” on Google.
Hit enter and Google will come up with results that contain Arsalan Rauf on it.
Hence, if the person has added his/her full name on Instagram, this method will also work for Instagram and Google might bring the profile of that user with Instagram link.
However, if the person you are looking for didn’t add their name on their profile, the next methods can help you to find them.
2. Find mutual followers/following
This is another method to find someone on Instagram without knowing their username with the help of mutual followers.
Instagram has a feature that allows you to check mutual followers under the profile of a person using the “Followed by” list.
You can use the “Followed by” list to find people on the platform that you might know.
Lets discuss it in detail. For example, you are finding someone named y.
Suppose you are following someone named x and x and y are closed friend with one another, it also increases the chance that they may follow one another.
To confirm it, visit the y’s profile and look at the “Followed by” feature under their bio.
If x is following y, there’ll be a statement that says, “Followed by x” under y’s profile.
If the followed by list is too long for instance, followed by x and 40 others, the expand option is still open for you, you just need to tap on it to find the mutuals.
Here is a step by step guide on how to find someone using mutual followers:
- Firstly, go to the profile of a close friend of that person that you’re trying to find on Instagram.
- Now go through their follower/following list.
- The next step is to search the name of the person you are trying to find whether he/she is available on the followers list or not.
Most of the time, it is easy to find the person you are looking for by going through the profiles of their close friends.
It is because there is a great chance that they are following each other right?
So, this “Followed by” feature comes handy when it comes to finding someone without knowing their username.
It can be done if you are following one of their close friends on Instagram where you can go through their followers list.
However, if the person you are trying to find does not have his/her name on the profile, it will be impossible for you to find him/her.
Then you will have to scroll down the followers list unless you find a profile picture of that person.
Still if you are unable to find them because they did not add their name or profile picture, you will have to visit various profiles to find them.
Furthermore, you can check their feed to find out whether they have added their photos there or not, and also find the number of mutuals using the “Followed by” feature of Instagram.
If someone has more mutual followers then there is a great chance they are related to you.
Usually, the higher number of people present in the “Followed by” feature, there is a great chance that the person is related to you.
Hence, if you are looking for someone on Instagram and does not know their username, you can opt for “Followed by” feature of the profile to find them.
Related: View Private Instagram without Following
3. Connect your contact list
The next way to find people on Instagram is to connect your contact list to Instagram.
It will allow Instagram to get access to the phone numbers of the people you have added by connecting to the contact list.
Connecting the contact list will help Instagram to find your contacts who are available on Instagram.
This information will help the platform to find all your contacts that are registered on Instagram.
They are easily accessible using the “Discover People” tab available on the menu.
Here’s step by step guide on how to connect your contact list to Instagram:
- Firstly, visit your profile and tap on the menu icon on the top-right hand corner of the screen
- Now tap on “Discover people”
- Select “Connect” next to “Connect contacts” and you are good to go
By using this method of connecting contact list, you can find and follow people you know on Instagram without knowing their username on Instagram how cool is that?
The process is very helpful if your contact list is very large and you want to connect with everyone on Instagram.
Additionally, you can also remove the contact list from Instagram too, it can be done easily by tapping on “Disconnect”.
The only condition for this method to work is to have someone’s phone number on your contact list.
If you have the phone number, sync it to Instagram and find the contact you want to follow with ease.
4. Use Instagram Discover
You can use this option to find them that is, Instagram Discover and it will provide a list of suggestions.
This method is also accessible from the menu tab like the previous method.
Instagram Discover method helps you to find people that you may know keeping in view the mutuals.
It is an unconventional method yet very effective in terms of finding people you may want to follow.
In this method, the algorithm of Instagram helps you and pull the people that have mutual following/followers on the platform.
Here’s step by step guide on how to access the feature:
- Firstly, visit your profile and tap on the menu icon on the top-right hand corner of the screen
- Tap on “Discover people” feature
- Scroll down to “All suggestions” where you will see people you may want to follow
In “All Suggestions” the algorithm will show the people that are followed by one or more people that you are following.
With the help of Instagram algorithm, it comes up with a list of people that you might know based on the followers.
In a nutshell, if you are following a user and another person is following the same user, there is a high chance that it will be available in suggestions.
The “All suggestions” tab also adds people to the list people who are new to Instagram.
However, in order to list in the All Suggestions, the person should have created the account recently and it will be tagged as “new to Instagram”.
Furthermore, the person should be followed by one or should have more than one followers too.
If the account is over 30 days old, the tag of “new to Instagram” will be removed automatically.
Hence, if you want to find someone on Instagram but you do not have any idea about their username this feature “All suggestions” can be used to do it.
There is a high chance that you will find that person in the list.
5. Check the likes of their close friend
The final method to find someone is to check the likes of their friends.
This method is also preferred if you are still unable to find the person with the help of previous given methods.
If you know a close friend of the person you are finding then there is a high chance that you can find them by going through likes.
So the person you are looking for is guaranteed that he/she is already following one or more close friends on Instagram.
So, you need to find the close friends of them and their Instagram username and then find your desired person through their likes.
Here’s a step by step guide on how you can do this:
- First of all, visit the Instagram profile of one of that person’s close friends
- Now check all the likes on their recent posts (tap on liked by a and z others).
- Now find the name of the person on the list of likes and if the person is there, you have accomplished the task
This method needs additional work as there is no guarantee that the person might not have liked all of the posts.
So, if you want to find them, you need to read various posts and the rest depends on the name of the person.
However, if the person has not used the real name on Instagram profile, you can also visit the profile pictures and posts to find them, you can do it if the profile is set to public.
I personally preferred this method of checking the list of the post of a friend. It will be the ideal method to find people you might want to follow on Instagram.
Final Words
It is a hard nut to crack to find someone on Instagram if you do not know their username.
But if you follow our discussed steps in the post, you can find the person with ease.
You need to follow these points to get the job done:
- If you know the friend of that person on Instagram
- Search for the full name of that person
- Find the mutual followers
If you are able to do that, you can find anyone on Instagram without knowing their username.
Arsalan Rauf is an entrepreneur, freelancer, creative writer, and also a fountainhead of Green Hat Expert. Additionally, he is also an eminent researcher of Blogging, SEO, Internet Marketing, Social Media, premium accounts tips and tricks, etc.
