How to Change Your Instagram Username.

The short answer

To change your Instagram username, open your profile, tap Edit profile, tap the Username field, type the new handle and tap Done. On the web, the same field sits in Meta’s Accounts Centre. For a brand, change nothing until every printed and linked mention is ready to update, because a released handle can be claimed by anyone.

Why a handle change is an operations job

For a person, a new handle is a quick edit. For a brand, it is a migration. The handle is printed on packaging, linked from the website, written into email signatures and tagged in other people’s posts, and none of those update themselves.

That is why we treat it as an Operations task with an owner, a date and a checklist, the same way a team would run a rebrand. The mechanics on Instagram take a minute. The preparation is where the work is, and where most of the risk sits.

If your team already runs changes through a social media approval process, a handle change belongs in it, with sign-off from whoever owns the brand name.

Username or display name: which one you are changing

Instagram has two names on every profile, and they follow different rules.

• The username is the handle. It sits at the top of the profile and at the end of the profile URL, and it must be unique.
• The display name is the name shown on the profile itself. It does not need to be unique and can include spaces, emojis and special characters.

A username can be up to 30 characters and uses only letters, numbers, periods and underscores. No spaces, no capitals, no emojis.

If all you want is a different name on the profile, change the display name and leave the handle, and everything that points to it, as it is.

How to change your Instagram username in the app

In the Instagram app, on iPhone or Android:

1. Open Instagram and tap your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Tap Edit profile.
3. Tap the Username field and delete the old handle.
4. Type the new one. It has to be a handle nobody else holds.
5. Tap Done, or the checkmark, to save.

Menu labels shift between app versions, so if a step looks different, look for the Username field inside Edit profile or inside Accounts Centre.

How to change it on the web

On a computer, the username sits in Meta’s Accounts Centre:

1. Go to instagram.com and log in.
2. Click your profile picture, then Edit profile.
3. Choose See more in Accounts Centre.
4. Select the Instagram profile you want to update.
5. Select Username and type the new handle.
6. Click Done.

How often you can change it

This is the part published guides disagree on. Several say the display name can be changed twice within 14 days, and that the username can be changed as often as you like, as long as the new handle is available. At least one guide puts the twice in 14 days limit on the username instead.

We would not plan around either reading. Plan for one change, made once, on a day you chose. A brand that changes its handle, dislikes it and changes it again has confused its audience twice and released two handles to anyone watching.

The review a large account can trigger

Instagram may review a username change on an account with a wide audience reach, and sends a notification when the review is done.

For a large brand account, that means the switch may not be instant. Do not schedule it in the same hour as a launch announcement that depends on it, and leave room between the change and anything printed with the new handle.

What happens to the old handle

Once a username is removed, it is available for anyone to use. If you change your mind later, you may not get it back if someone else has claimed it.

In 2019, Fortune reported that Instagram was testing a feature that held an old handle for 14 days after a change, to stop bots grabbing released handles and reselling them. Guides since then describe a 14-day window in which you can switch back. They also warn that the old name may already be taken by then.

Our advice is to treat any window as something you cannot rely on. Assume the old handle is public property the moment you press Done.

What breaks when the handle changes

The profile link changes with the handle, so anything built on the old username no longer leads to the account. That covers more than most teams expect:

• links in bios on other platforms
• the website header, footer and contact page
• email signatures and newsletter templates
• printed packaging, menus, posters and business cards
• QR codes that point to the old profile URL

Tags are split. Comments that tagged the old username lead to a page saying the user was not found. Tagged photos stay connected to your account and show the new name. Followers are not affected: they still follow the account.

Picture a café that prints its handle on every cup. If someone else takes the old handle, every cup still in circulation points at a stranger.

The migration checklist

Run the change in this order:

1. List every place the current handle appears, printed and digital. An audit of your social channels is a good time to build this list if you do not have one.
2. Check the new handle is free on Instagram and on every other platform you use, so the brand stays consistent.
3. Get sign-off from whoever owns the brand name.
4. Prepare the updates: new links, new artwork, new signatures, ready to go live.
5. Pick a quiet day, away from launches and campaigns.
6. Change the handle, then secure the old one straight away.
7. Push every prepared update the same day.
8. Tell the audience in a post or Story that the handle has changed.
9. Check the old link a week later to see who, if anyone, holds it.

Protecting the old handle

Because a released handle is open to anyone, the safest place for it is an account you control. The sequence matters: change the main account first, then claim the old handle on a second account the brand owns before anyone else does.

Keep that holding account simple. A profile picture, a one-line bio pointing to the new handle and nothing else. It catches stray traffic from old print and old links, and it stops someone else using your former name to look like you.

What good looks like

A good handle change is boring. The audience barely notices, because every link they follow still lands somewhere sensible and every printed mention points at an account the brand owns.

Behind that sits a team that knew where the handle lived before it touched it, had one person accountable for the switch, and treated the old name as an asset to protect rather than something to throw away. That is the difference between running social as a set of edits and running social media like a system.

Next step

If your team is planning a rebrand and is not sure how many places your social handles live, NBK can help map them and build the workflow behind the change.