While visiting someone’s profile on Instagram, you may have come across a “User Not Found” error quite often.
Maybe, you have searched for a profile, but the user is no longer found on Instagram. The “User Not Found” on Instagram may mean the user has deleted their account, blocked you, or has changed their username. The error may also occur if the user’s account on Instagram has been disabled or suspended. There can be multiple reasons for popping the “User Not Found” error on Instagram which are discussed below.
Various Reasons Of Getting “User Not Found” Error on Instagram
Below are the most common reasons for the error.
Mistyped Username
It’s obvious for humans to make mistakes and hence may mistype too. If a user tagged someone on an Instagram post with an incorrect username, clicking on it will give you an error.
For example, if someone tagged Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on their post with mistyped username @arigrande, clicking on @arigrande will lead to an error “User Not Found” as there is no user with such username on Instagram.
Change in Username
The change in the username of a user can be one of the major reasons for this error as their old username is no longer available on Instagram. Searching for someone on Instagram with an old username after they changed that username for a new one will lead to this error. So this error can be avoided by searching for a user with their new username.
If you have a prior chat history with that user, you can also try visiting their profile with their new username or try searching the same through a mutual friend.
You’re Blocked
Another reason for the “User Not Found” error can be that the user has blocked your account on Instagram. If you are blocked by someone on Instagram, you may not be able to find the user which may result in the same error.
To check out and make sure about being blocked, try a cross-check with another account, and if the error does not appear, you can be sure about being blocked by the user.
Permanent Deletion Of Account
The error may also appear if the user has permanently deleted their account on Instagram. Although it is not quite a common reason, it still can be a valid reason for the occurrence of the “User Not Found” error while searching for a user on Instagram. On permanent deletion of an account, every post, and everything associated with that account gets eliminated permanently which results in the error.
Searching for such a deleted account results in the appearance of an error on Instagram. To make sure that the user has deleted the account permanently, checking from other accounts can help to provide a light on the same. If the account still shows the error, it will mean that the user may have deleted their account permanently.
Suspended Account
Instagram has certain rules and regulations of its own and failing to follow the same leads to the suspension of the account. However, the application does not indicate any sign of such a suspended account, but a similar “User not Found” error will appear on searching for that account.
If a user violates the guidelines of the app, they get banned from the same, and until the period is over they can do nothing to recover the account.
Temporary Disabled Account
In this case, the users may hold their accounts temporarily, maybe just to take a break from Instagram. This is quite similar to permanent deletion of the account, as visiting or searching for such profiles shows the same error of “User Not Found”. The account will remain invisible until the user re-activated the account.
There are multiple reasons for “User Not Found” on Instagram as mentioned above. However, before coming to any conclusion try cross-checking the account on Instagram with other accounts and observe if the “User Not Found” error appears with the other account and remove all the confusion.
