There are plenty of reasons why you may want to create an additional Instagram account – which is why some people have quite a few!
Whether you want to separate out your feed or simply make an alt account as a backup, creating a second Instagram account is easy.
But how many Instagram accounts are you allowed to have, and is there anyway to bypass Instagram’s limit?
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know – including some tips on how to keep your new account hidden from others should you wish to do so!
How Many Instagram Accounts Can You Have?
Currently, Instagram allows you to have up to 5 accounts on one device. While you are allowed to create more Instagram accounts than this, you’re only able to switch between five at any time on one device, without requiring you to log out and back in.
Instagram knows that people have multiple accounts, and have taken steps to make it easy to switch between them.
As long as you are logged into each one of them, all you have to do is visit your profile page on the Instagram app, tap on your Instagram username, and select the new account that you’d like to log into.
Again, this section only stores up to five accounts. Therefore, once you reach the limit you’ll need to remove one of the old accounts before you can add a new one.
This limitation is perfectly reasonable, and covers most people’s use-cases. With five accounts, you grant yourself the ability to switch between several that you own, and even remain logged into your company’s or employer’s account if you also use Instagram for work.
Therefore, it is more than enough for most people’s situations.
Why You Might Want To Make Secondary Accounts
Now that we know what Instagram’s account limitations are, you may be wondering – what are the benefits to creating a separate account.
Perhaps the most common reason is that it allows you to maintain a separate feed. If you have multiple interests, you can follow different pages on each one of your accounts. This will ensure that your feed primarily consists of topics that interest you at that moment.
Secondly, an additional account can give you more privacy. Even if you maintain an account for your family and friends to follow, it’s possible to create a secondary account that other people don’t know about. This allows you to privately follow any account you wish and engage with any post you’d like, without having to worry about someone you know finding out about it.
The same holds true for posting – if you’d like to post your own content and try to build a following, a separate account will let you do that without there being any overlap in followers.
Finally, Instagram’s account-switching functionality makes it easy to manage social media pages for work as well. Since some employers let their staff post on their brand social media page, you can utilize this feature to switch between your work and personal accounts quite easily.
Note: If you are caught breaking Instagram’s rules on one account, they may end up suspending, shadowbanning or banning all of your accounts as well. So, you should avoid making new accounts in order to try and circumvent any bans.
How To Create More Than 5 Instagram Accounts
If 5 Instagram accounts still isn’t enough, there are fortunately some steps you can take to create even more.
First, each account will need its own email address. This can be a little difficult to manage, but since email addresses are free it shouldn’t be much of a problem. You may wish to keep a spreadsheet outlining which email addresses belong to each email account in order to keep things more organized.
From there, you can just register them as normal. However, remember that only five can be added to a device at a single time. You can make things easier for yourself by logging into excess accounts on a separate device, such as tablet or cheap unlocked phone.
Alternatively, you can manage a larger number of accounts using a dedicated social media management tool like HootSuite, Later, or SproutSocial. While you may not be able to browse your feed using these tools, you can still manage your account, create posts and engage with the community. So, they make an excellent option if you’re a social media manager, or are utilizing multiple Instagram accounts for business purposes.
Can Other People Find Your Other Instagram Accounts?
After creating a second Instagram account, you may be wondering – are they linked? Is there any way to find out who made an Instagram account, and can you find all of the accounts that belong to a person?
Thankfully, Instagram doesn’t make this information public, so someone could only find out if you gave them clues.
Therefore, you need to be deliberate about how you set up your page. If you want to remain completely anonymous to your friends and family, avoid using similar usernames, uploading any of the same photos, or even following the exact same people. For maximum anonymity, make your account private and don’t accept follow requests from people that you know.
All of these can give clues as to who is behind an Instagram account. So, the less clues that you provide, the harder it will be for people to find out who is behind the account.
Conclusion
Instagram does not have any limits to how many accounts you can create, but you can only be logged into 5 on one device.
If you’d like to utilize more, you will need to log out of one account before logging into another.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about Instagram, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister