Changed your Instagram username? What happens to your website feed

The short answer

Your feed keeps working. Your posts, new and old, keep appearing, and the links on each post keep pointing to the right place on Instagram. Your profile picture and post count also stay current.

What does not update by itself is the username saved when you connected the account. The @name in the feed’s header, the Follow button and the @name at the top of the lightbox keep using the old username until you connect the account again. The Follow button matters most, because it links to a profile address built from that old name.

Why the feed keeps working

When you connect Instagram to Social Feed, Instagram issues an access token for your account. According to Meta’s documentation, the token is tied to the app user’s Instagram user ID, a number that identifies the account. Your username is not part of that link.

Social Feed reads your posts with that token. Changing your username does not change your account’s ID or invalidate the token, so Instagram keeps answering with your posts as before. Social Feed also recognizes your account by that ID, not by its name, which matters later when you reconnect.

A username change is different from a password change. A new password can end existing connections, and then the feed stops showing posts. That situation is covered in Instagram access token expired. If you changed both on the same day, check that article too.

What updates on its own and what does not

Each part of the feed gets its information from one of two places: live from Instagram, or from what Social Feed saved when you connected the account.

On the Free plan, posts, the profile picture and the post count are refreshed once a day, so a new profile picture can take up to 24 hours to appear. On paid plans they are read from Instagram on every page load. The saved username behaves the same on every plan: it changes only when you connect the account again.

Post links keep working because Instagram gives each post a permanent link of its own. Meta’s API reference describes the permalink field as the permanent URL to the media. Social Feed uses that link for the click action and for “View on Instagram”, not an address built from your username.

How to see which username Social Feed has saved

The dashboard shows the saved username in two places: next to the Instagram icon on the account row in the widget list, and under the name of each widget card, followed by the account type. If these still show your old @name after a username change, the header and Follow button on your website show it too.

The same name is used by the “View on Instagram ↗” link at the top of the settings screen. Clicking it is a quick test: if it does not open your current profile, the saved username is out of date.

Why the Follow button needs attention

Your Instagram profile address contains your username. The Follow button is a link to that address, built from the saved username. After a username change, the button points to an address that belongs to your old name, not your new one.

What visitors find at that old address is up to Instagram. Instagram’s help page on changing your username does not say what happens to an old username afterwards, so do not assume the old link will forward visitors to your profile. Treat the Follow button as broken until you update it. It is usually the most important link in the feed, so update it soon after the change.

Plan the change in the right order

If you have not changed your username yet, a little planning keeps your website consistent. The order matters, because the Social Feed side can only pick up a username that Instagram has already accepted.

1. Choose a quiet time. Avoid the middle of a launch or a campaign that sends people to your Instagram profile.
2. Check which option you can use. Open the Social Feed dashboard and see whether “+ Connect Instagram account” is active. If it is, updating later takes a minute. If it is not, note your widget settings and embed code locations now, while you have time.
3. Change the username on Instagram and wait until the change is final.
4. Update the saved username in Social Feed right away, so the Follow button does not point to the old address for long.
5. Update your other links to your profile, listed further down.

Doing it in this order means the Follow button on your website points to an outdated address for minutes, not weeks.

How to change your username on Instagram

If you have not changed your username yet, here is how Instagram’s help page describes it. On the web, you can do it from Accounts Center:

1. Click More in the bottom left, then Settings.
2. Click See more in Accounts Center, then Profiles.
3. Choose the profile you want to update.
4. Click the username, make your change, and click Done.

You can also go to your profile and choose Edit profile. Instagram notes two things worth knowing before you change:

1. A review may be needed. If your account reaches a lot of people, your username change may need to be reviewed, and Instagram notifies you when the review is complete. If no review is needed, the username changes immediately, as long as it is available.
2. Followers may be notified of your username change.

If your change is under review, wait until Instagram confirms the new username before you update your website feed. Otherwise you may save a name that is not final.

Your username and your name are separate fields on Instagram. The name is the display name on your profile; the username is the @handle in your profile address. The feed header shows only the @username, not the display name, so changing just the name has no effect on your website feed.

Option 1: connect the same account again, keeping your widgets

This is the cleanest way, and it keeps your widgets, settings and embed codes. It is available when the “+ Connect Instagram account” button in the dashboard is active, which is the case when your plan has room for another widget.

1. Make sure you are signed in to Instagram, in the same browser, with the account whose username you changed.
2. In the Social Feed dashboard, click “+ Connect Instagram account”.
3. Sign in with Instagram if asked, and approve the connection.
4. Back in the dashboard, check that the account row now shows the new @username.

Social Feed recognizes the account by its Instagram ID, so this does not create a second connection. It updates the existing one with the current username and a fresh access token. Your widgets keep their settings and their embed codes, so there is nothing to change on your website. The header, Follow button and lightbox show the new username on the next page load.

The button is inactive on the Free plan, which allows one widget, and on paid plans when you have already created as many widgets as your plan allows. In that case, use option 2, or email us first if you would rather keep your current widgets.

One exception: if the preview shows the red message “Your Instagram connection has expired”, for example because you also changed your password, use the “Reconnect Instagram account” button below that message. It runs the same sign-in on every plan, including Free, and updates the saved username along with the token. That button appears only while the connection has expired; for a working connection, use the steps above.

Option 2: disconnect and connect again

This always works, but it starts the widgets from scratch. The confirmation dialog says “Disconnect this account? All of its widgets and embed codes will also be deleted, and this cannot be undone.” Disconnecting removes the account together with all of its widgets, and their embed codes stop showing anything.

1. Note your settings. Open each widget in “Settings & preview” and write down or screenshot the layout, columns, number of posts, spacing, width, click and hover actions, filters, and the Follow button text and color.
2. Note where each embed code is used on your website.
3. Disconnect. Click “Disconnect this account” on the account row in the widget list and confirm. (The “Delete widget” button inside a widget’s settings screen deletes only that widget and leaves the connection, so it does not update the username.)
4. Connect again with “+ Connect Instagram account” and approve the connection. A new widget is created for the account.
5. Set up the widget from your notes and press “Save settings”. Add more widgets with “+ Add widget” if you had several.
6. Replace the embed code on your website with the new code from “Add the embed code to your website”.
7. Clear your site’s cache if you use a caching plugin, CDN or hosting cache, and check the page in a private window.

If you need help pasting the code, see the guides for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow or plain HTML.

A quick fix while you wait

Sometimes you cannot reconnect right away: the username change is still under review, or the person who can sign in to Instagram is away. Until then, you can hide the parts that show the old name. In “Settings & preview”:

1. To hide only the @name, keep “Show account info” on and uncheck “Username”. The profile picture, post count and Follow button stay. The Follow button still links to the old address, so this is only half a fix.
2. To hide the @name and the Follow button, turn off “Show account info”. This hides the whole header: profile picture, @name, post count and Follow button. Your posts stay, and so do their links.

Press “Save settings”, and the change appears on your website on the next page load. Once you have reconnected, turn the header back on. The @name at the top of the lightbox is not affected by these settings; it updates when you reconnect.

Check your Follow button text

The Follow button’s text is a setting of each widget. By default it simply says “Follow”, but many people change it to something like “Follow @yourname on Instagram”. Reconnecting updates the link behind the button, not text you typed yourself.

If your button text contains your old username, open the widget in “Settings & preview”, edit “Follow button text”, and press “Save settings”. Do this for each widget; every widget has its own button text. If you use option 2, the new widget starts with the default text, so set it again with the new name.

If someone else manages your website

Often the person who changes the Instagram username is not the person who set up the website feed. A business owner renames the account; an agency, a freelancer or a colleague manages the site and the Social Feed dashboard.

Updating the saved username takes both kinds of access: someone has to be signed in to the Social Feed dashboard and, in the same browser, be able to sign in to the Instagram account and approve the connection. If those are two different people, plan a short call or share the steps, so that one person can sign in to Instagram while the other works in the dashboard.

If you look after websites for clients, it is worth adding one line to your handover notes: “If you change your Instagram username, tell us, so we can update the Follow button on your website.” The posts keep working without it, so nobody notices the outdated button until a visitor clicks it.

Other places to update after a username change

The website feed is only one place where your old username may appear. While you are at it, check the places you control:

1. Social icons in your website header or footer, which often link to your Instagram profile address.
2. Text on your pages, such as “Follow us @oldname” above the feed. Social Feed does not change text you wrote around the widget.
3. Captions of your own Instagram posts that mention your old username. They appear in the lightbox exactly as written on Instagram.
4. Email signatures, printed materials and QR codes that point to your profile address.
5. Other tools that store your username rather than reading it from Instagram.

Checklist after changing your username

1. Wait until Instagram has confirmed the new username, if a review was needed.
2. Open your website and check that posts still appear. They should.
3. Update the saved username with option 1, or option 2 if option 1 is not available.
4. Click the Follow button on your website and make sure it opens your new profile.
5. Open a post in the lightbox and check the @name at the top.
6. If you used option 2, confirm that every page now has the new embed code.
7. Update social icons, page text and other links to your profile.

Frequently asked questions

Will my feed disappear when I change my username? No. The connection is tied to your account, not its name, so your posts keep appearing.

Do I need a new embed code? Not with option 1. The embed code identifies the widget, not your Instagram account, and it stays the same. With option 2, the widgets are deleted, so you need the new widget’s code.

How long until the header shows the new username? It changes on the next page load after you connect the account again, on every plan. It does not change on its own, no matter how long you wait.

My profile picture changed but the @name did not. Why? The profile picture is read from Instagram (on the Free plan, once a day), while the @name is the one saved when you connected. Reconnecting updates the name.

I changed only my display name, not my username. Nothing changes in your feed. The header shows the @username, not the display name.

Does the dashboard show the old name too? Yes, until you reconnect. The account row, the widget cards and the “View on Instagram” link in the settings screen use the saved username. Widget names are separate: a widget created at connection is named after the username at that time, and you can rename it in its settings.

Will my view counts reset? Not with option 1, because the widgets are kept. With option 2, the widgets are deleted, and the new widget counts views from zero.

Does a username change affect my Social Feed plan or view limits? No. Your plan, its widget and view limits, and your view counts belong to your Social Feed account, not to your Instagram username.

I am on the Free plan. Does the once-a-day refresh delay the new name? No. The once-a-day refresh applies to your posts, profile picture and post count. The saved username is not part of that copy, so after you reconnect, the new name appears on the next page load.

Can I type the new username into the dashboard? No. There is no field for it. The username comes from Instagram when you connect the account, which makes sure it matches the account the feed is reading. The “Widget name” field is only a label for telling your widgets apart in the dashboard.

Do I need to reconnect after changing my profile picture? No. The profile picture is read from Instagram, so it updates by itself: on the next page load on paid plans, within a day on the Free plan.

I moved to a completely different Instagram account. That is not a username change, but a different account with a different ID. Connect the new account as a new connection. On the Free plan, which allows one widget, disconnect the old account first. Remember that only professional accounts can be connected; see Instagram professional accounts.

Will Instagram’s old link forward to my new profile? Instagram’s help page does not say, so we cannot promise it. Updating the saved username is the reliable fix.

Questions about your setup? Email us at info@grip-space.co.jp with your new username and the page where your feed appears.

Related reading

If your feed went empty around the same time, read Instagram access token expired and Instagram feed not showing on your website. For a feed that shows old posts, see Instagram feed not updating. New to Social Feed? Learn what Social Feed by grip space is, compare plans and pricing, or sign up for free.

Sources

1. Instagram Help Center, “How to change your Instagram profile information”: https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/583107688369069
2. Meta for Developers, “Get Started” (Instagram API with Instagram Login): https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/instagram-api-with-instagram-login/get-started
3. Meta for Developers, “IG Media” reference: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/reference/instagram-media