How to switch to an Instagram professional account

Is this your situation?

The short answer

Before you start

• Decide Creator or Business Business suits retailers and brands.Verify: Check which description matches your account's purpose.
• Check your privacy setting A private personal account becomes public once you switch to professional.Verify: Check your current privacy setting before switching.
• Check pending follow requests Pending follow requests are automatically accepted when the account goes public.Verify: Check your Follow Requests list before switching.
• Have an account ready You need an Instagram account to set up a professional account.Verify: Check you're logged into the right account.

How Instagram handles this

• A personal account can be changed to a business or creator account.
• Setting up a professional account gives access to features to grow the account, monetize, create ads, understand growth, and manage messages.
• A professional account can be switched back to a personal account at any time.
• Connecting to a Facebook Page during setup is optional.

Step by step

1. Open account type options Start from your profile to find the switch option.Where: Settings → Account type and tools → Switch to professional accountConfirm: Check for Account type and tools below For professionals.
2. Select account type and tools Below For professionals, tapping Account type and tools leads to Switch to professional account.Where: For professionals → Account type and toolsConfirm: Check for Switch to professional account on the screen.
3. Begin the switch Tapping Switch to professional account continues the setup process.Where: Account type and tools → Switch to professional accountConfirm: Check that a category selection screen appears.
4. Choose a category The category you choose does not determine business or creator account.Where: Category label → below profile imageConfirm: Check the selected category is highlighted.
5. Choose Creator or Business Choose Creator for a creator account or Business for a business account.Where: Profile → More → Account type and tools → Account type → Switch account type → SwitchConfirm: Check that the chosen type is shown on screen.
6. Skip optional profile steps Optional creator profile steps can be skipped by tapping X.Where: Profile setup → X (top right corner)Confirm: Check that the next setup screen appears.
7. Skip contact details Contact details can be skipped by tapping Don't use my contact info.Where: Contact info setup → Don't use my contact infoConfirm: Check that setup moves to the next screen.
8. Connect a Facebook Page (optional) Tapping Login to Facebook connects the account to an existing Facebook Page.Where: Setup screen → Login to FacebookConfirm: Check for a confirmation that the Page is connected.If this fails: You can leave this step for now.
9. Review the professional dashboard After setup, the professional dashboard shows insights and monetization eligibility.Where: Profile → Professional dashboardConfirm: Check that insights and tools appear on the dashboard.

Before you change who is in control

• Expecting to stay private A private personal account becomes public after switching to professional.Why it happens: The switch changes visibility as part of setup.Already happened: If control has already changed hands — Instagram Account Recovery
• Assuming category sets account type The category chosen does not determine business or creator type.Why it happens: Category and account type are selected in separate steps.
• Switching back without checking losses Switching to personal loses access to ads and possibly other tools.Why it happens: Personal accounts lack the professional feature set.Already happened: If you already switched back, see switching back to personal.
• Losing a connected Page unexpectedly Any Facebook Page connected to the account is disconnected if the account is switched to personal.Why it happens: The professional-to-personal switch removes the Page connection.

Roles at a glance

Keeping track of who has access