Instagram says my phone is an “unrecognized device” even though it’s the SAME phone I’ve always used. I’m locked out for 4 days.
I honestly don’t know what else to do at this point. I’ve been locked out of my Instagram account for 4 days because Instagram suddenly stopped recognizing my phone as a device I’ve used before. The crazy part is: THIS IS THE SAME PHONE I HAVE ALWAYS USED TO LOG INTO THIS ACCOUNT. I still have access to the phone number and email connected to the account. I know my login information. The account was also verified using my own ID and my face. I can prove that the account belongs to me. But every time I try to recover it, Instagram tells me that I need to use a device that has logged into the account before. I AM using that device. That’s literally the problem. I’ve already tried reinstalling Instagram, clearing everything, different login methods, browser, recovery options, etc. Nothing works. It just keeps sending me back into the same loop. I even subscribed to Meta Verified on my personal account just so I could speak to support about this. Today I finally got a human support agent. I sent them a screen recording and screenshot showing exactly what happens. After reviewing it, the agent told me the issue was outside of their scope and that they needed to transfer me to another specialist. So now I’m waiting again. Has anyone here had this exact problem, where Instagram suddenly stopped recognizing the SAME phone you’ve always used? If you managed to get your account back, please tell me what happened and how long it took. At this point I just want to know if there’s actually a way out of this loop.
Posted Sep 29, 2026, 2:32 AM UTC