What To Do if you Can’t Login to your Old Instagram Account

If you cannot log into your old Instagram account, you have options. If you know what email address you used, you could try to resurrect it. If you remember a username instead, you can get login help from Instagram themselves. If you don’t remember anything, you may need to start again.

Instagram is awesome and seems to be going from strength to strength. With competitors biting at its heels, the social network has had to embrace innovation to remain different and interesting in a world where choice is plenty.

For some, there’s nothing worse than receiving a login error. Whether it’s because the account is deactivated, you haven’t used it in a really long time, or you forgot your credentials, it’s important to know what you can do to get back into your account.

In this article, we’ll review some of your login options as well as some ways to avoid getting locked out in the future.

Forgot your Instagram password

Passwords are the bane of modern life. We need them for everything but cannot use the same one for multiple accounts otherwise we compromise each of them. Until something better comes along, we need password managers or a good memory. When the latter lets you down, password reminders come into their own.

Instagram has one.

1. Open the Instagram app on your device.
2. Select Get help signing in just below the login screen.
3. Select Use Username or Email, Send an SMS, or Log In with Facebook if you use Android.
4. Select Username or Phone if you use iOS.
5. Select Send Login Link.

Instagram will then send a link to your email address or phone as an SMS for you to reset your password. You will then need to verify the account through the link and generate a new password. You will then need to log into Instagram using that new password.

Forgot Your Entire Instagram login

If you have forgotten your entire Instagram login you can either try to get help from Instagram themselves or create a new account. Much depends on how much content you have and whether you can get your friends to link to your new account.

While Instagram cannot do much for you if you have forgotten your email, username, and password, they do at least try.

If you forget your username, you can use your email address instead. If you cannot remember your email address or username, try your phone number. You will need one or the other to identify your account for Instagram to help you or to trigger a password reminder.

How to Find Your Username

Depending on how long you’ve been locked out of your Instagram you may really struggle to remember any key details about the account. If you think it’s crazy to forget something like this, people often use special characters and numbers when they create their account making it more difficult to log in.

Here are some ways to get your username:

• Check your email accounts – Every email client has a search function. Visit each one and type in “Instagram.” Assuming you don’t delete emails regularly, you should have received a verification code or account setup email at some point. Clicking the link may give you the username to the account but worst-case scenario; you now have the email address to login.
• Ask your friends – If you’ve ever had friends on Instagram, they can likely pull you from their friends’ list. Ask a buddy to scroll through their list and give you your username.
• Try variations of your name – This one is a longshot but may be worth a try. Try adding numbers or special characters to your username that you would’ve used if you were setting up the account today. Sometimes this helps to refresh your memory giving you the option to get your account back.

Log Into Your Instagram Account Using Facebook

Because social networks love to share information and harvest lots of personal data, they like to link to each other in any way they can. Your account may be set to default login with Facebook because it is the parent company of Instagram.

If you need to log into your Instagram account but don’t have the password, you can elect to log in using a linked Facebook account. Make sure that you’re logged into Facebook on another tab in the same browser for this to work. Doing that makes the process slightly smoother as Instagram will auto-detect your Facebook credentials.

To log in with your Facebook credentials do this:

1. Go to Instagram’s website and click on the “Log in with Facebook” option
2. Verify your account if prompted.
3. Click on your Instagram Username

That’s all you need to do assuming your accounts are linked. If you still can’t log in, don’t give up just yet, try this:

To reset your login with Facebook credentials, try this:

1. Open the Instagram app and select the Forgot password option.
2. Select Reset Using Facebook.
3. Sign into Facebook if you aren’t already.
4. Select the Reset prompt that appears in the Facebook app.
5. Enter a new password into the box and select Done.
6. Log into Instagram using that new password.

This obviously only works if you have linked Facebook with Instagram. This will not prompt for a new username and only works on passwords. If you have forgotten all your details, you may have to create another Instagram account and be done with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get my Instagram account back?

Most of the time you can get your account back, but there are a few exceptions. Trying to reactivate an older account can get you into inactive account policy territory. Instagram makes a point to periodically dump inactive Instagram accounts. If you haven’t logged in for a while or posted anything, the company reserves the right to delete your account. If that’s the case, you won’t get your old account back but you may be able to create a new one with the same username assuming it’s still available.

If Instagram disabled your account for violation of community guidelines you may never regain access to your account. The company has the option to remove your account for any reason.

Lastly, if you have no information about your old account and it isn’t linked to any other social media websites, you’re not likely to get it back. Even Instagram Support won’t know what your account login is.

How can I make sure I can always get into my account?

So, forgotten passwords are a thing that happens to the best of us. If you want to keep your account forever, there are a few things you can do today to make sure you never lose it:

• Add and verify your phone number – You can regain access to an older Instagram account with just a phone number. This is one of those things you’ll likely have for years as well so that should make verifying your account in the future possible even if you change your email address.
• Keep your email up-to-date – Another really important step to keeping and maintaining your Instagram account is keeping your contact information up-to-date. Not only does this play a role in your account’s security, but it also helps you to log in and verify 2FA.
• Use a stronger password – One of the major issues with getting locked out of an Instagram account is hijacking. If someone takes over your account, changes the contact information, and uses it as their own, about the only thing you can do is report it as fraudulent. Use a strong password and 2FA.
• Log in often – As stated above, Instagram will delete your account if you don’t log in. Use the account often to avoid any risk that Instagram may close it.

Know of any other ways to login to your old Instagram account when you have forgotten the details? Tell us about them below if you do!