Changing Instagram Username, then Reusing the Old Name, Possible? ‍♂️

fxmanaged

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We have a client with a page (@ page1) in the same niche as one of our back-up pages (@ page2).

Is it possible to change the handle of our @ page2 to that of the client page @ page1 through various steps?

The reason we want to do this is that we're entering into a partnership with our client and they basically just launched their @ page1, so it has very little followers.

Our @ page 2 already has 30k followers, so we wanted to announce the partnership in a press release, which included the details of @ page2 becoming their new page.

I know that they can change the username of their @ page1 to something else, but at least in the past, Instagram wouldn't make the @ page1 username immediately available for use and would take like a year to do so.

Any thoughts?
 
From my experience, IG usually takes 2-3 weeks to make the username that has been used, available again for using.
 
From my experience, IG usually takes 2-3 weeks to make the username that has been used, available again for using.

Yeah, I don't find any info from Instagram specifying the period of time the name is tied up. I wish that this would be disclosed, but know it's just wishful thinking.

Another unknown is know how IG will react to the multi-name change, if they're going to think shadow ban the resulting page (30k page) once they change their username to a pre-existing one. Who the f*ck knows what Zuck would do about that.
 
Well, I had this name availability situation recently, and I had to wait 16 days and the name was available again to use on other account. Hope this helps
 
Well, I had this name availability situation recently, and I had to wait 16 days and the name was available again to use on other account. Hope this helps

Cool, and did you use it on the other account after 16 without any notice of engagement decrease or follower growth reduction?
 
Dont know the rules now but i have done this a year back and the username was instantly available after the change. so just give it a try with any 2 spam accounts and see if its possible.
 
Well, I had this name availability situation recently, and I had to wait 16 days and the name was available again to use on other account. Hope this helps

I have reused names that I used for an account when clients bough accounts from me and changed the name immediately, right away with no trouble.
The problem could be that someone takes the name you used before you reuse it again.
Haven't done that between two of my accounts (2 accounts exchange names to exchange them again in the future).
I don't believe there is a definitive answer to op's question.
.
 
Dont know the rules now but i have done this a year back and the username was instantly available after the change. so just give it a try with any 2 spam accounts and see if its possible.

Yeah, right away would be awesome. I'm going to try it with some empty accounts that we created a while back, but haven't used.
 
Yeah, right away would be awesome. I'm going to try it with some empty accounts that we created a while back, but haven't used.

I just tried this by changing the username on one account, logging out and trying to change the username on another account to the former name and IG doesn't allow me to. A "This username isn't available" message comes up. That means that surrendered names are not available immediately.
 
Surrendered usernames are not available immediately because the old name holder might change their mind.
 
Surrendered usernames are not available immediately because the old name holder might change their mind.

This is not something that IG discloses anywhere.
 
I don’t have problem reusing old usernames

There's obviously no problem reusing old usernames. What we're discussing here is how long does it take for a username to become available after a page with that username changes. Instagram doesn't disclose that anywhere and based on our test today, it is not immediate.
 
Only real reason they would. Most social medias and such have the same thing implemented.

Well, it makes sense for them to disclose their policy to release unused names and how long it takes for them to become available. That helps both existing pages that may want to recover their old names if t hey made a mistake, as well as other users who may be interested in unused names.
 
Well, it's been around 36 hours already and Instagram is still coming back with the "This username isn't available" message.
 
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