In this article, we’ll teach you how to find contacts from your phone and your Facebook friends and turn them into your Instagram followers.
How to Sync Your Phone Contacts on Instagram
Before you can find and follow people you know on Instagram, you need to connect your Instagram account with your phone’s contact list. Contacts Syncing is the feature that allows you to do that on the Instagram app. To switch contacts syncing on or off, you’ll need to learn how to use Instagram on your smartphone.
Here’s how to use it to allow Instagram to access your device’s contacts. The instructions are the same for iOS and Android.
Enabling the option allows Instagram to sync the contacts from your device with your Instagram profile and helps you find the people you already know on the platform. However, it won’t exactly show you their Instagram profiles. Instead, Instagram will give you suggestions on who to follow based on their contact information (names, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.).
When you sync your contacts, Instagram will also recommend your account to any of your contacts who are on Instagram and have their contacts synced.
If at any point you want to stop sharing your phone contacts information with Instagram, you can easily disconnect your contact list. Simply follow the steps from above, and switch off the option to connect contacts.
How to Use Discover People to Find Your Contacts on Instagram
Once you have your device’s contacts synced with your Instagram contacts, you can start using the Discover people feature to find the people you know on Instagram. This feature is available on mobile apps for both Android and iPhone users. Here’s how to use Discover people on your smartphone:
To use another way to find your contacts on Instagram, open the page with the people you follow and scroll down to the Suggestions for you section. When you select See all suggestions at the bottom of the page, you’ll land on a similar Discover people page. This list will display similar contacts based on your synced contacts, the accounts you already follow, and mutual friends. Only the contacts will be displayed in a different order.
Instagram used to show you a list of all your contacts with an Instagram account. Unfortunately, this option is no longer available, and you’ll have to spend a little longer to find friends on the platform. The good news is that the Discover people feature isn’t the only method you can use.
How to Find Your Facebook Friends on Instagram
If you’re someone who has a lot of Facebook friends but doesn’t have their phone numbers, you should try syncing your Facebook contacts with your Instagram contacts. To find your Facebook friends on Instagram, follow the steps below.
Once your Facebook and Instagram accounts are linked, Instagram will recommend you to follow your Facebook contacts who have an account on Instagram (and vice versa). You’ll find these suggestions in the Discover people section of the app. When you see one of your Facebook friends appear in the Discover people section, tap Follow to start following them. You’ll also start receiving these follower suggestions in your notifications on Instagram.
Find Your Contacts Using Instagram Search
Not all of your friends will appear on Instagram based on your synced contacts. For example, an old phone number or someone’s nickname won’t be useful to Instagram.
If this is the case, you can try finding your friend the old-fashioned way—using the search function on Instagram. To do that, follow the steps below. The steps are the same for mobile and web app versions.
You’ll then see a list of results with the same or similar name. The list’s based on the people you already follow, mutual friends, and your synced contacts. You should now be able to find your missing contacts.
Find Contacts on Instagram Web
While you can’t use the Discover people feature on the Instagram web, you can still use the search bar to find people, see suggested profiles to follow, and manage your synced contacts.
To see the full list of recommended profiles, go to the Instagram website, find Suggestions For You under your profile picture on the homepage, and select See All next to it.
To manage or delete your synced contacts, open Instagram web and follow the path Profile icon > Settings > Manage Contacts.
Time to Find the People You Know on Instagram
When trying to find someone you know online, knowing how to go about it is essential. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms have unique ways of locating your contacts.
