- What Accounts Centre is for, in plain words
- The controls in one table
- Syncing your name, picture and username: the name goes first
- Sharing Instagram posts to Facebook from Accounts Centre
- Logins: what linking changes and what it doesn't
- The part of linking people scroll past
- What I'd link for a business, and what I'd keep apart
- Frequently asked questions
Accounts Centre is Meta's settings hub for the connected experiences across your Instagram, Facebook and other Meta accounts, such as logging in across accounts, syncing your name and picture, and sharing posts from Instagram to Facebook. The trade-off is that once accounts sit in the same Accounts Centre, Meta says it uses information across them to personalise your experience, including the ads you see and the accounts it suggests you follow.
Below are the bits that trip business owners up: what linking switches on, what syncing changes for good, and where the settings live as of Nov 2026.
What Accounts Centre is for, in plain words
Instagram Help describes Accounts Centre as a place to manage connected experiences, such as logging in across your accounts, for your Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Meta accounts. You can add Facebook, Instagram and Meta accounts to the same Accounts Centre. WhatsApp isn't available in Accounts Centre everywhere, and Facebook Help says it's not currently available in South Korea.
Facebook Help's version of the same article adds one useful line: Accounts Centre is also where you change account settings such as your contact information, ad preferences and payments across those accounts. So it isn't only a linking screen.
Don't be thrown by the name on your screen. Meta is gradually moving people to Meta Accounts, so as of Nov 2026 you may see either Accounts Centre or Meta Account settings as the place to manage this. Both Instagram Help and Facebook Help say so.
The controls in one table
Here's what you can manage from Accounts Centre, where the setting lives and the catch Help mentions for each one:
| What you can control | Where you'll find it | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Logging in across accounts | Phone: Profile, Menu, Accounts Centre, Logging in with accounts | An old single login can't take new Instagram accounts, and an account you remove from it can't be added back |
| Syncing your name, picture, username or avatar | Computer: More, Settings, Accounts Centre, then the profile under Profiles | You have to sync your name first, and you can't sync two profiles on the same app |
| Sharing Instagram posts to Facebook | Instagram app on Android or iPhone: Accounts Centre, Connected experiences, Sharing across profiles | The Facebook audience can differ from posts you make on Facebook |
| Contact info, ad preferences and payments | Accounts Centre (Facebook Help) | The change applies across the accounts you've added |
| Saved logins on a device | Phone: Profile, Menu, scroll down to Log in | Removing login info doesn't deactivate or delete the account |
Syncing your name, picture and username: the name goes first
Once your accounts are in the same Accounts Centre, Instagram Help says you can sync your name, profile picture, username and avatar across your Facebook, Instagram and Meta Horizon profiles. A change you make in one place then shows on every synced profile. Change your avatar on Instagram and it changes on Facebook too.
Syncing is optional. You don't have to sync anything to sign up for Facebook or Instagram, and you can unsync later. But there's an order to it. You must sync your name before you can sync your picture, username or avatar. That matters more than it sounds, because Help says a synced name means people can see and search for you by that name on each app you've synced, and they may see friend or follow suggestions tied to it.
A few other rules from the same Help article are worth knowing before you flip the toggle:
- Usernames: a synced username has to be available on each app.
- Avatars: you choose whether to use your Facebook or your Instagram avatar. The default is the one from the app you're using at the time.
- Removing an account: if you take an account out of Accounts Centre, its profile info stops syncing.
- Same-app profiles: you can't sync two Instagram profiles with each other, or two Facebook profiles. Syncing works between apps, not inside one.
Here's the catch most people miss. Instagram Help says your previous Instagram profile pictures haven't been saved. If you sync and use your Facebook picture on both accounts, then later turn syncing off, your old Instagram picture won't come back. Keep a copy of it before you start.
To sync on a computer, as of Nov 2026:
- Click More in the bottom left, then click Settings.
- On the left, click Accounts Centre.
- Below Profiles, click the Facebook or Instagram profile you want to sync, then click your profile's name again at the bottom.
- Click the toggle next to Sync profile info. If you have more than two profiles, choose which profile to sync with first.
- Click Manage your sync settings to sync just your name, or your name and profile picture. To use a different picture, click Profile picture, then Edit profile picture, pick the account and click Confirm.
- Click Sync profile info to finish.
If your brand has an avatar you want to use across apps, I've covered how the Instagram avatar works separately.
Sharing Instagram posts to Facebook from Accounts Centre
Facebook Help says that once your accounts are in Accounts Centre, you can share your Instagram posts to Facebook, either one post at a time or automatically. It only works in the Instagram app on Android or iPhone. To turn automatic sharing on or off:
- Tap Profile or your profile picture in the bottom right.
- Tap Menu in the top right.
- Tap Accounts Centre, then tap Connected experiences.
- Tap Sharing across profiles.
- Tap the account to Share from, then the account to Share to.
- Tap the toggle next to Your Instagram posts.
With that on, any post you share on Instagram also goes to Facebook, where it appears as a post in your Facebook Feed and profile. For a single post, scroll down before sharing, tap Also share on, turn on your Facebook Page and tap Share.
Watch the audience setting. Facebook Help says the audience for Instagram posts you share to Facebook may differ from the audience for posts you create on Facebook. If you choose to match your Facebook default audience, you can no longer change the Facebook audience from Instagram. You'd have to change your Facebook default instead. You can still change the audience of one post on Facebook after it's shared. And Help notes that content made on Instagram can only be seen in the Facebook app for iPhone and Android at this time.
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Logins: what linking changes and what it doesn't
Logging in across accounts is the connected experience people notice first. Instagram Help says accounts can show up on your login screen because they were recently used on that device, because they're in the same Accounts Centre and allowed to log in to each other, or, on Android, because they're tied to the Google account you're signed in to. Removing login info only takes the account off that device. It doesn't deactivate or delete it.
If you set up a single login for several Instagram accounts in the past, you can keep it through Accounts Centre, under Logging in with accounts. You can remove accounts from it at any time, but you can't add new ones, and Help is clear that a removed account can't go back in. Each account keeps its own password too. If you'd rather sign in through Facebook, here's how logging into Instagram with Facebook works, and if you just want to hop between profiles, see switching Instagram accounts without logging out.
The part of linking people scroll past
Instagram Help says that after you add accounts to the same Accounts Centre, Meta uses information across those accounts to give you a more personalised experience, such as personalised ads and suggested accounts to follow across Facebook, Instagram and Meta Horizon. That's Meta's own description, and it's the line I'd want every business owner to read before linking.
It also doesn't do what some people hope. Accounts Centre won't merge a brand Instagram with a personal one. Help says you can't sync two profiles on the same app, so two Instagram accounts stay two Instagram accounts, each with its own name, picture and followers.
What I'd link for a business, and what I'd keep apart
I'd start with the one connection that saves real time: sharing Instagram posts to a Facebook Page, if that Page's audience wants the same content. I'd check the audience setting on the first few shared posts rather than trusting it blind.
I'd skip syncing your name on a brand account unless the brand and the name on your personal Facebook are the same thing. Once it's synced, people can search for you by that name on each app, and the old Instagram picture won't come back if you change your mind. For a sole trader who is the brand, syncing can be tidy. For a company account run by a team, I'd keep profiles separate and only link what you'll use.
If you run several profiles for a business and want a clear plan for what to link and what to keep separate, that's the sort of social media guidance I give, alongside the AI side of things. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement and workflow automation, so the busywork runs itself and people get time back. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
What is Accounts Centre on Instagram?
It's Meta's settings hub for connected experiences across your Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Meta accounts, such as logging in across accounts, syncing profile details and sharing posts to Facebook.
Why does my app say Meta Account instead of Accounts Centre?
Meta is gradually updating people to Meta Accounts, so as of Nov 2026 you may see either Accounts Centre or Meta Account settings as the place to manage your settings.
Can I merge two Instagram accounts in Accounts Centre?
No. Instagram Help says you can't sync two profiles on the same app, so two Instagram accounts stay separate.
Does my name need to sync before my profile picture?
Yes. Instagram Help says you need to sync your name before you can sync your profile picture, username or avatar.
Does linking accounts affect the ads I see?
Yes. Instagram Help says Meta uses information across accounts in the same Accounts Centre for a more personalised experience, such as personalised ads and suggested accounts to follow.
