Instagram Can't Log In: How to Fix It
You type in your username and password, but Instagram keeps kicking you back to the login screen, says your details are wrong, or never gets past the loading spinner. Sometimes it's a simple typo; sometimes someone else has been in your account.
Try these in order
- Double-check what you're typing. Instagram lets you log in with your email, your phone number, or your username — and if you use a phone number, don't add any zeros before the country code or any symbols (Instagram Help Center).
- Try your Facebook login instead. If your Facebook and Instagram accounts are in the same Accounts Center and allowed to log into each other, you can enter your Facebook email or phone number and password right on the Instagram login screen (Instagram Help Center).
- Reset your password. On the login screen tap Forgot Password?, enter your username, email, or phone, tap Send login link, then Next, and follow the link Instagram sends you to set a new password (Instagram Help Center).
- Check your internet connection before blaming your password. Open any website in your phone's browser — if pages won't load, the connection is the problem, not Instagram, and switching between Wi-Fi and mobile data usually clears it (The Droid Guy).
- See whether Instagram itself is down. Check Downdetector's Instagram page; if there's a big spike in reports, plenty of other people can't get in either and you just need to wait it out (Downdetector).
- Remove a stale saved account from the login screen. Tap Settings at the top right of the login screen, tap your name, then tap Remove profile so you can sign in fresh with your full details (Instagram Help Center).
- If you suspect someone else got in, go straight to the hacked flow. If you can't log in because your account was accessed by someone else, visit instagram.com/hacked and enter your username, phone number, or email so Instagram can identify and secure your account (Instagram Support).
Still stuck? Instagram's Account Recovery and Login hub has dedicated paths for "I was hacked," "someone changed the email address for my account," and "I lost access to the email or phone number linked to my account" — start there rather than making a new account (Instagram Help Center).
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