Are you new to Instagram? Then you may be wondering ‘How to find contacts on Instagram?’. Don’t fret here you will find the answer to your question. Using an in-built feature on Instagram you can search for your Facebook friends. You can also find information about people from your smartphone’s contact list.
How To Find Contacts On Instagram on Your Smartphone (iPhone & Android) Using The “Discover People” Feature?
The “Discover People” feature on Instagram is used by newcomers to find friends. This feature syncs your Facebook account and phone’s contacts list with the Instagram server. Instagram then lists all of your active Instagram friends from your Facebook friends list and contacts list.
Finding Your Facebook Friends
Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc. has vested interests in Instagram. Due to this when you use the ‘Discover People’ feature of Instagram, you can search for your Facebook friends.
For this, you need to connect your Facebook account with your Instagram account. Follow the written step-by-step guideline and connect with your Facebook friends on Instagram.
- First, launch the Instagram app on your smartphone(iPhone & Android).
- Go to your Profile page by tapping on the Profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Tap on the ‘Three horizontal lines’ icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Tap on the “Discover People” option.
- Select the “Connect” button beside the “Connect to Facebook” option.
- Now you will be directed to the Facebook page. You need to log in to your Facebook account.
- Tap ‘Allow’ to start synching your Facebook and Instagram Name, photos and other information.
- Now you will see a list of your Facebook friends who are active on Instagram. If you want to follow all of your Facebook friends, then tap the “Follow All” button. If you want to follow a selective number of friends then tap on the Follow button individually beside your Friend’s name.
Syncing Your Contact List
Finding Instagram friends through syncing your contacts list is another option. This works by allowing Instagram access to your phone or tablet contacts. Doing so, it will periodically sync your Contacts information with the Instagram servers. Instagram will parse the information in your Contacts. Then list all of your active Instagram friends.
- First, launch the Instagram app on your smartphone(iPhone & Android).
- Go to your Profile page by tapping on the Profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Tap on the ‘Three horizontal lines’ icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Tap on the “Discover People” option.
- Tap on the button “Connect” beside the option “Connect Contacts”.
- Here you will be prompted “Allow Instagram to access your Contacts”. Tap on “Allow access”.
- Note- If you haven’t synched your Facebook friends list with your Instagram. Then under the option “Connect to Facebook”, you will find Instagram friend suggestions. These suggestions are found in your Contact list.
- Note- If you already synced your Facebook with your Instagram account. Then the friend suggestion in the “Discover People” section will be shown from both the Facebook and Contacts list without distinction.
Now if you don’t want to sync your smartphone’s contact with your Instagram account. Follow the steps written below and disable with function.
- First, launch the Instagram app on your smartphone(iPhone & Android).
- Go to your Profile page by tapping on the Profile icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Tap on the ‘Three horizontal lines’ icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Navigate to Settings-> Account.
- Here tap on the “Contacts synching” option.
- Now you will see the “Connect contacts” option with an On/Off button beside it. Toggle Off the button.
- You will be prompted with the options “Disconnect” and “Cancel”. Tap on “Disconnect”.
- This will stop Instagram from synching your Contacts with the server.
How To Find Instagram Contacts On Windows, Mac, Or Chromebook?
The “Discover People” feature isn’t available on platforms other than the Instagram app. So if you want to find your friends on Windows & Mac Instagram website, manually search their names or email address, or phone number.
- Visit the Instagram website.
- Log in to your Instagram account.
- Select the “Compass” icon from the top bar of the screen.
- In the search box, type in your friend’s name or email address or phone number.
- Scroll down the search result and find your friend’s profile info.
Adding Contacts Through Instagram Search Bar
If you are unable to find your friends using the above methods. Then you can try to manually search their name or username. First, tap or select the ‘Magnifying glass’ icon on top of the screen on the Instagram page.
Type in or insert the name or username of your friend(s) then press the Enter key. Scroll down the search result and select the profile that matches your friend(s).
Note that sometimes your friend(s) may not use their real name or use a pseudonym to operate their Instagram profile. This will make it more difficult to find them on Instagram. So, either you search profile by profile or simply ask your friend about their Instagram details.
- Hashtags
A hashtag is a word that is added to the content on Instagram. For example, if a take a selfie with the “Statue of Liberty” as the background. Then you can apply hashtags such as “statueofliberty” or “newyork”, etc.
So if you know that your friend has posted an image with a particular hashtag, you can potentially find them by searching for the right hashtag.
- Launch the Instagram app.
- Tap on the search “Magnifying glass” icon.
- Insert the hashtag name in the search box. Then tap on the “Tag” section from the top of the search list. (Note- Don’t need to insert ‘#’ before the hashtag name.)
- Search for the content tagged with the hashtag and pick out the one which you might think is your Friend’s content.
Using “hashtag” searching you can find your Friend’s profile if he/she is dedicated to this hashtag. However, in some cases searching through ‘Hashtags’ is very troublesome.
E.g., if your search hashtags are related to travel, then the search result will be enormous. This will make it very difficult to find your friend’s content from this bulky search pile.
- Places
This is another tricky method to search for your Friend’s profile. This is used to search a particular place where your friend(s) visits and posts content regularly. Examples of such places such as “xx Garden” or “xx Restaurant” or “xx Cafe-Coffee-Day”, etc.
However, keep in mind that the place name has to be micro-specific. Don’t just search for a place with a huge area such as “Brooklyn, Newyork”. Doing so will lead to all contents that have been posted in entirely all of ‘Brooklyn’.
- Launch the Instagram app on your phone.
- Tap on the search “magnifying glass” icon.
- Insert the name of the place you want to search in the search box.
- Tap on the Place section, from the top of the search result page.
- Find the Content which may have been posted by your friend. If not continue to search until you find it.
Conclusion
Operating an Instagram account, posting day-to-day images, and sharing stories are trends. Many social celebrities have made their name through Instagram. It has allowed them to gain massive followers and fame.
Want to find your friends on Instagram or amass your followers? It’s very simple. Instagram’s Discover People feature makes it easier to find your Friends in just a few clicks.
Bind or sync your Facebook account and your phone’s Contact list with the Instagram server. And Instagram will list all of your friends’ profiles that are active on Instagram.
However, if you’re unable to find your desired friend’s profile then you may opt for other methods of search. These methods include manual search through real name or username, ‘Instagram tags’ and ‘places’. Although these methods are more labor-intensive and time-consuming.
