Instagram is a social media platform that is the most famous one worldwide. Everyone is on it including your friends, family, and co-workers. If you use Instagram, and you are looking for someone you may know, you’ve almost certainly experienced the “user not found” error message. You could have noticed it when trying to access a friend’s profile. Perhaps you recently sent someone a direct message, but when you click on their profile, you get an error notice. Or maybe you tried to find someone on Instagram but couldn’t find their account. You could be looking for a coworker to follow them but found the error message.
If you click on a username, you may see an error message claiming that the user could not be found. You may first assume that you have been blocked by them, but there are a variety of alternative reasons why you have received that notification. In any event, there are various possible causes for the issue, and it does not always suggest that you are prohibited.
What does “User Not Found” mean?
So, you are looking for someone and you get the message ‘User Not Found. You are confused as to what this means and cannot do anything except type the user name again and again because you do not know the meaning of this error message.
Instagram, being one of the most popular social media platforms today, may be baffling and befuddling, with defects that we have no idea where they come from. Let’s assume you’ve logged into Instagram and are exploring the site when you click on someone’s username and get the error “user not found.” This means that you cannot find the person you were looking for. This only leads one to think that the user name the person has given them is wrong, or that they made a mistake while noting the user name. Most of the time the thought that the person has blocked you also comes to mind, but this is not always the case.
The message simply means that the user you have searched for is not available for you and you cannot contact them. There could be multiple reasons why you are seeing the ‘User Not Found’ error message. Here are a few of the most common and usual reasons:
1. You made a typing mistake while searching the user name
One of the most common reasons why you cannot find the person you are looking for is that you have made a mistake while typing their name in the search box. It could be that you are looking for this person for the first time and do not know their username properly, it could also be that the user name has a very difficult spelling, you could be confused between different kinds of English like American and British English that have a very minute difference in their spellings for the same thing, or it could be that the user name is in a different language and you are confused with the spelling. Since there are so many people on Instagram, there are a lot of people with the same username, with a mere letter or a sign as the difference.
Therefore, while looking for the person you want to connect with ensure that you type the correct spelling in the search box, also make sure that the signs used or emojis added are also correct. Do not just type whatever you think you have listened to, look at the user name clearly to cross-check the spellings so that the ‘user not found’ message is not displayed again.
2. The account could be disabled temporarily
Another common reason is that the person you are looking for has disabled their account temporarily. There could be a number of reasons why someone would want to disable their account for a short while. They may want to take a break from social media for a while, they may be focusing on something that requires that complete attention and may not want the distraction of social media, they may be avoiding someone or something. Whatever the reason may be, do not think that they have blocked you.
Now a very simple method to cross-check if someone has disabled their account is to check if their profile is visible in the DM. This only works if you have texted them before, but is a full-proof way of figuring out if this is the reason why you cannot find this person on Instagram.
If their profile is not visible in your DM, this means that they have temporarily disabled their account. What you can do now is wait for this person to rejoin the world of Instagram again to connect with them.
3. They have changed their username
Instagram is a social media platform that is not stingy with the user name. Even if you are never able to take the username that you want because someone already has that username, it also allows people to change their user name as many times as they want. Changing their username can be one of the many reasons why you cannot find a person on Instagram.
One changes a name for multiple reasons, they could be bored with their username, or they wanted to have something else as their username, and so on. So, if the user’s’ not found’ error message is shown on Instagram, it does not mean that they have blocked you, it could just mean that they have only changed their username. The only thing that you can do to connect with them on Instagram is to find the new user name.
4. They have deleted their account
Apart from temporarily disabling one’s account, Instagram like all other social media platforms also allows its users to delete their accounts permanently. Deleting one’s account means that all their traces on Instagram have been deleted, their photos, their posts, and everything else has permanently been deleted. While disabling one’s account is only temporary signaling that the user may come back to Instagram after a brief period. Thus, their posts and photos are not deleted in this instance.
Once someone has permanently deleted their account, their username is also available for use by other people. In case you are still not able to find anyone with the username, it only means that no one has picked up that user name yet. However, if you do find that user name after a long while, make sure to confirm if it is the same person you were looking for and not someone else who has merely used the same user name.
5. Instagram has banned their account
Not every reason why you cannot find someone on Instagram may be pleasant. Instagram, like all other social platforms, has some rules and policies to ensure public decency. If the person you are looking for has acted inappropriately, abused people, and engaged in any acts that are against the policies of Instagram, their accounts are banned and deleted by the platform itself.
There are several reasons why someone gets banned by Instagram, behaving inappropriately, performing hate speech, engaging in illegal behavior can be a few of them. People also get banned if more than enough users have reported them. Once a person is banned by the app, their profiles are restricted by Instagram and no one can use them. If you are looking for such a person who has been banned by Instagram, the ‘user not found’ message will show up. Thus, worry not, as being banned could be one of the reasons why you cannot find someone’s profile.
6. You have been blocked
A very disappointing and sad reason to be sure, but being blocked is one of the reasons why you cannot find a person on Instagram. Knowing that you have been blocked is sad indeed, but how will you know that you have been blocked on Instagram? Finding out if someone has blocked you on Instagram is very easy indeed. There are several ways to do this:
- The first way is to simply search their username on Instagram, if you are doing this on a computer and you come across the error message of ‘Sorry this page is not available, this means you have been blocked.
- If you were recently chatting with them on Instagram and sending them DMs and you suddenly can’t, you have been blocked.
- Another way to find out is if you have talked to them on Instagram before and their account is public, simply go to your DMs and view their profile, if you can see the number of friends they have, the number of their posts but cannot view them, you have been blocked.
- Another way to verify if you have been blocked or not is to look out for a mutual page that you both follow. You can look for their likes and comments on this page, if they have made any recent comments or have been active recently by liking or reacting to any of the posts but you are not able to view their profile, this also means that you have been blocked.
- You can view their profile from a friend’s account and if they are visible via that account but not via your own, it means that you have been blocked by the person in question.
- You can also create a fake account to find out if you have been blocked or not.
There are several reasons why you have been blocked by someone on Instagram, one of the main reasons could be that you have offended them in some way or manner. So even if you have been blocked by someone on Instagram, the only solution is to wait for them to unblock you or connect with them in some other way and on some other social media platform.
7. Instagram is not updated
This is a very rare but possible occurrence. Although it does not happen many times , people have not been able to find people because their app was not updated. Many times, what happens is that the app is facing some kind of a bug or glitch. The platform introduces an update to fix that bug or the glitch, but if you have not updated your app to the latest version, you may not be able to search as a result of that glitch.
It could also be possible that the person you are looking for has an updated app and is using the latest features on their profile, but you have not yet updated the app which has resulted in the error message being shown. So, to make certain that you can find the user you are looking for, try updating your app. Maybe this could be the reason why you were facing the difficulty.
When someone blocks you on Instagram does it say user not found?
If you suddenly visit someone’s Instagram profile and it says “user not found”, there are two things it could mean.
- Firstly, it could be that the user has either deleted their account or changed their username, which is why the current username isn’t in use any longer.
- Secondly, it could be that the user has blocked you. If it is this case, you won’t be able to see any of their posts or their profile image too.
So, if you have done something for the other person to block you, chances are that the “user not found” is a potential sign that’s what is happening.
Will someone know you removed them from Instagram?
Seeing the “user not found” is the only way someone might come to know that you have blocked them on Instagram.
If you are sitting there confused and wondering if someone will be notified when you remove them from Instagram, the answer is no. They won’t.
But, keep in mind that when they search your username and click on your profile, they might see the “user not found” or “no posts to see” kind of messages if you block them.
Few Final Thoughts
Instagram offers a slew of features that users may use and add to their accounts. Many of these features are added to help one navigate their online social life easily and with more fun. However, many features are also added for the protection of its users, their privacy, and their liberty. One of these reasons is seeking to block or even change the account’s name. If a person dislikes another user’s account, they may block it. If someone finds a better user name, or they want to get away from people, they can change their username so that people will have difficulty finding them.
Changing the user name will prevent the person from accessing Instagram, or a message would appear saying, “Instagram user not found.” However, there might be several reasons why you are unable to discover a certain Instagram account. The reasons mentioned above are the most typical reasons why people are unable to find an Instagram account. We hope that the reasons mentioned above have been helpful to you in finding out why you are encountering the error message of ‘user not found’ while looking for someone.