Unlinking Two Instagram Accounts: The Full How-To

The short version: Unlinking two Instagram accounts means going into Accounts Centre (not the old Instagram settings menu, Meta moved it), removing the account from the shared profile group, and then checking your Facebook Page connection separately because that's a different link entirely. It takes about five minutes if you know where to look, but most people spend twenty minutes hunting because Meta buried the toggle three menus deep.

Why your Instagram accounts got linked in the first place

Nobody sets out to link two Instagram accounts on purpose, usually. It happens because you logged into a second account from the same app, or you added a business account and a personal one to the same Accounts Centre during setup, or you connected Instagram to a Facebook Business Page and ticked a box without reading it. Meta's whole push over the past few years has been to merge Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp identities into one "Accounts Centre", which sounds tidy until you're the small business owner who wants their client's brand account completely separate from their personal one.

Say you run a social media agency and you manage an Instagram account for a client, a boutique candle shop, alongside your own personal account. At some point you added both to the same Accounts Centre so switching between them was faster. Fine, until the client asks you to hand over full control and you realise your personal account is still tangled up with theirs in Meta's backend. That's the exact scenario this post is written for.

Step by step: unlinking through Accounts Centre

This is the method that works as of 2026, across both the Instagram app and a browser:

• Open Instagram and go to your profile, then tap the menu icon (three lines, top right)
• Tap "Accounts Centre"
• Tap "Accounts" to see every account currently linked under that umbrella
• Select the account you want to remove
• Tap "Remove from Accounts Centre"
• Confirm when Meta asks if you're sure, it will warn you about losing shared features like cross-posting and combined notifications, that's expected and fine

Once removed, that account becomes fully independent again. You'll need to log into it separately rather than switching between profiles with one tap. For most people trying to keep two brands or two identities apart, that's the entire point.

The Facebook Page connection is a separate problem

Here's where most guides stop, and where people get caught out. Removing an account from Accounts Centre does not automatically disconnect it from a linked Facebook Page. If your Instagram business account is still tied to a Facebook Business Page, you need to break that link too:

• Go to your Instagram profile, tap "Edit Profile"
• Scroll to "Page" under the public business information section
• Tap it, then tap "Unlink" or "Disconnect"

If you're planning to shut the Facebook Page down entirely rather than just disconnecting it, that's a different job with its own risks around losing ad history and reviews, which I've covered separately in how to close down a Facebook Business Page without losing data you'll want later.

What breaks when you unlink

Nobody tells you this part clearly enough: unlinking two accounts can quietly switch off features you were relying on. Cross-posting Stories and Reels stops. Combined inbox messaging in one app stops. If you were using Meta Business Suite to schedule content for both accounts from a single dashboard, you may need to re-add the account there separately after unlinking, because Business Suite often reads its permissions from the same Accounts Centre link you just removed.

For a solo founder juggling a personal brand and a product account, this is a real cost, not just an inconvenience. You go from one login and one notification badge to two of everything. Plenty of people link accounts specifically to avoid that hassle, then unlink years later for privacy or client-handover reasons and are surprised the convenience disappears instantly.

And the uncomfortable truth nobody selling "5 easy steps" content wants to admit: unlinking doesn't erase shared history. If both accounts ever auto-followed suggested people, shared ad account access, or were used to log into third-party tools (Canva, Buffer, Later, whatever you use), those third-party connections often survive the unlink and need manually revoking inside each tool's own settings. Meta's unlink button only cleans up Meta's side of the relationship.

A worked example with numbers

Say you're splitting a joint Instagram account that two co-founders built together, 14,000 followers, into one account that stays with the business and one new personal account for the founder who's leaving. The realistic process looks like this:

• Day 1: remove the departing founder's personal login from Accounts Centre (5 minutes)
• Day 1: disconnect the business account from the founder's personal Facebook Page (2 minutes)
• Day 1 to 2: revoke access in any connected scheduling tool, check settings for "connected accounts" in Canva, Later, Buffer, or Hootsuite (15 to 30 minutes depending on how many tools were connected)
• Day 2: change the password on the business account and remove the departing founder as an admin in Meta Business Suite if they had that role (5 minutes)
• Week 1: watch for any auto-posted content that still pulls from the old shared source, this usually surfaces within the first week if something was missed

Total active work is under an hour, spread over a couple of days so you can catch anything that slipped through.

When to get help instead of doing it yourself

If you're untangling a single personal account from a single business account, do it yourself, it's a five-minute job once you know the menu path above. Where it gets messier is when multiple ad accounts, a Meta Business Manager with several admins, and shared payment methods are all involved, which is common for agencies managing several client accounts under one roof. In that situation, a wrong click can cut off ad spend tracking or lock someone out of a Page they need for reviews and customer messages. If that's your situation, it's worth getting real hands-on help from someone who works in Meta's business tools daily rather than guessing your way through it on a client's live account.

Common mistakes people make

• Removing the wrong account from Accounts Centre because the list shows display names, not usernames, and they look similar
• Assuming unlinking also deletes shared ad campaign data, it doesn't, Meta keeps ad history tied to the Business Manager, not the personal account link
• Forgetting that WhatsApp Business can also be looped into the same Accounts Centre, so check that too if privacy is the goal
• Not telling followers or customers before switching login routines, leading to a confusing week of "why can't I log in" messages

Frequently asked questions

Will unlinking two Instagram accounts delete either one?

No. Unlinking only separates the accounts from Meta's Accounts Centre and, if applicable, from a connected Facebook Page. Both accounts, their followers, posts and history stay exactly as they were.

Can I unlink without losing my followers or posts?

Yes, follower counts and post history belong to the individual account, not to the link between accounts. Unlinking only removes the shortcut for switching between profiles and any cross-posting features.

Why does Instagram keep suggesting my other account to people?

That's usually leftover from Meta's contact and device matching, separate from the Accounts Centre link. Go into each account's settings under "How others can find you" and review contact syncing, since this often survives an unlink.

Do I need to unlink before closing a Facebook Business Page?

Yes, disconnect Instagram from the Page first, otherwise the Page closure process can leave the Instagram account in a strange state where business features stop working but the link isn't fully gone.