How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram
Unlink a Facebook and Instagram account connected in Accounts Center, what breaks when you do, and why some cross-app features stop working immediately.
Updated
Quick answer
Where to click
- Accounts Center
- your name/photo at the top
- Remove from Accounts Center
- Menu
- Settings & privacy
- Settings
- Accounts Center
- your name
- Remove from Accounts Center
Facebook renames these menus periodically. If a label does not match, read the screen you are on rather than forcing this exact wording.
Select the account you want to detach and confirm. Both accounts keep existing independently — unlinking is not deletion.
Before you unlink
Set a standalone Instagram password first if you log into Instagram with Facebook. Unlinking removes the ability to use Facebook Login for Instagram, and if you never set an Instagram-specific password, you will be locked out at the moment you unlink. Instagram → Settings → Accounts Center → Password and security lets you add one.
What breaks when you unlink
- Cross-app login. "Continue with Facebook" into Instagram stops working, and vice versa if you had it the other way.
- Cross-posting. Sharing a Facebook post directly to Instagram Stories, or the reverse, requires linked accounts.
- Combined notification and privacy management. Accounts Center's unified settings (like a shared "manage extra security" view) split back into two separate settings areas.
- Shared ad accounts, if any were set up through the linked accounts, need to be reconfigured independently.
What does not break
- Neither account's content, followers, friends, or history changes.
- Both accounts remain fully usable on their own — unlinking returns them to being ordinary separate accounts, which is how most Instagram and Facebook accounts exist by default.
- Neither account is closed, restricted, or flagged by the unlinking action itself.
If Accounts Center shows accounts you did not link
This surprises people: Meta has auto-suggested or auto-linked accounts in some cases based on shared device, phone number, or signup proximity — not only through a deliberate action. It is worth opening Accounts Center periodically even if you never intentionally connected anything, particularly if you manage multiple accounts and want to keep them fully separate.
After unlinking
Check both accounts' individual security settings — password, two-factor, recovery email — since they now operate independently rather than through Accounts Center's combined view. There is no phone support for account linking questions; the Accounts Center screens are self-service.
Official source
Meta's Accounts Center documentation covers current linking and unlinking behaviour. The screens on your own accounts are the final authority.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does unlinking delete either account?
- No. Unlinking only separates the connection in Accounts Center. Both accounts continue to exist independently with all their content intact.
- Will I lose my Instagram followers if I unlink?
- No. Followers, posts, and everything else on Instagram stay exactly as they are. Unlinking only affects shared settings and cross-posting, not content.
- Can I unlink if I use Facebook to log into Instagram?
- You need to set a separate Instagram password first, or you will be locked out of Instagram once the Facebook login connection is removed.
- Why would Accounts Center show accounts as linked that I never connected?
- Meta auto-links accounts that share a device, contact info, or were created close together in some cases. It is worth checking Accounts Center even if you do not remember linking anything.