Vista Social

How to Unlink Facebook And Instagram: Easy Steps [2024]

Updated on October 4, 2024

13 min to read

Content Writer

Published January 31, 2024

How to Unlink Facebook And Instagram: Easy Steps [2024]
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Your clients don’t always want all of their FB posts to appear on their IG feeds (and vice versa).

There are several reasons for this…

For example, syndicating your Facebook posts to your Instagram feed can:

  • Hurt your hashtag strategy
  • Create content relevance issues
  • Cause content formatting problems

The solution?

You need to learn how to unlink Facebook and Instagram.

Meta allows users to sync Instagram and Facebook accounts, making accessing both and cross-promote content easier.

But if your clients don’t want this, they can easily disconnect their Facebook and Instagram accounts—and you can help them do this with the steps outlined in this guide.

via GIPHY

Table of contents

What You Will Learn 

  • How linked Facebook and Instagram accounts work
  • Why unlink Facebook and Instagram?
  • 4 Ways to unlink Facebook and Instagram
  • How to remove automatically shared posts via linked Facebook and Instagram accounts
  • When not to unlink Facebook and Instagram
  • Content types you can publish simultaneously on Instagram and Facebook 
  • What to remember when unlinking Facebook and Instagram
  • Manage Facebook and Instagram profiles efficiently with Vista Social
  • Additional resources
  • Frequently asked questions about unlinking Facebook and Instagram
  • Unlink Facebook and Instagram easily

How Linked Facebook and Instagram Accounts Work

When your accounts are linked, your Instagram posts are automatically shared on your clients’ Facebook feeds.

This way, your clients won’t have to manually post the content if they want to share it on both platforms.

While this is extremely convenient, linking Facebook and Instagram allows Instagram to access account details, including profile photos, names, and email addresses (and vice versa).

(Must read: How to Get More Instagram Views this 2024)

Why Unlink Facebook and Instagram?

Your clients may want to keep their Facebook and Instagram accounts separate for the following reasons:

  • Tailor content to each platform. Unlinking allows your clients to tailor content to each platform. Instagram audiences can also have different interests and needs than Facebook followers. For instance, your clients can create a Facebook poll that isn’t likely to appeal to their Instagram audiences. It’s better to unlink their accounts so the Facebook poll doesn’t automatically publish on Instagram.
  • Winning the algorithm’s approval. Facebook’s algorithm will likely rank content differently than Instagram’s algorithm, which means the content that works on Facebook may not be as popular on Instagram. Unlinking Facebook and Instagram keeps your clients from sharing the same content on both platforms. They can tailor their posts to each platform, increasing the chances of your clients’ content getting noticed and featured by each platform’s algorithms.
  • Protect Facebook and Instagram accounts better. When your accounts are linked, it creates a vulnerability. If hackers compromise one account, they gain access to the other. Separating these accounts can enhance security by preventing such crossover access.

[Must read: Instagram Subscription: What Is It? How Does It Work?]

via GIPHY

4 Ways to Unlink Facebook and Instagram

Here are four ways to unlink your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts.

1. How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram on a Mac or PC via Instagram

Follow the steps below to unlink your client’s Facebook and Instagram accounts (from Instagram) on a Mac or PC desktop.

  • Go on the Instagram website and use your client’s credentials to log into their account.
  • Click on the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the bottom left corner.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram1
  • Select Settings, then the See more in Account Settings option under Accounts Center.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram2
  • Click Accounts on the left side menu. Select the Remove button beside the Facebook account you want to unlink.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram3
  • Click Continue to confirm that you want to unlink the Facebook account.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram4

And with that, your client’s Facebook is now unlinked to their Instagram account. 

2. How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram on a Mac or PC via Facebook

Unlink your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts from Facebook using a Mac or PC browser. 

  • Go to the Facebook website and log into your client’s account.
  • Click on the profile photo icon in the upper right corner and select Settings & privacy.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram5
  • Click Settings.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram6
  • Select the See more in Account Settings option under the Meta Accounts Center section.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram7
  • Click Accounts and remove the Instagram account your client no longer wants to be linked to their Facebook account. 

Click Continue to confirm removing the account in your client’s account center, and voila! Your client’s Instagram is unlinked from their Facebook account.

3. How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram via the IG Mobile App

You can unlink your client’s Facebook and Instagram accounts through the Insta mobile app.

Follow these steps:

  • Open the Instagram mobile app on your smartphone and log into your client’s account. 
  • Tap the profile icon on the bottom right corner.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram8
  • Select the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) at the top-right corner of your screen and tap Accounts Center.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram9
  • Tap Account on the Accounts Center page.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram10
  • Select the Facebook profile your client wants to disconnect from their Instagram account by tapping the Remove button.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram11
  • Confirm that you want to remove the account from your client’s Instagram Accounts Center by tapping Remove account > Continue.
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  • Follow the prompts and select your preferred options. After you tap the Yes, remove (Instagram username) option, Instagram should unlink your client’s Facebook account.

4. How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram via the FB Mobile App

Another option is to unlink your clients’ Instagram accounts from Facebook via the FB mobile app.

  • Open the Facebook mobile app and log into your client’s account. 
  • Tap your client’s profile icon to open the menu. 
  • Select the gear icon at the top. You can also select the Settings & privacy option that you’ll see when you scroll down.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram13
  • Select Settings and tap See more in Accounts Center under the Meta Accounts Center section.
How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram14
  • Tap on Accounts and select the Remove button beside the Instagram account your client wants to unlink from Facebook. 
  • Follow the prompts to confirm and select Continue until you reach the Yes, remove (Instagram username) option. This should completely unlink your client’s Instagram from their Facebook account.

(Must read: 150+ CLEVER Instagram Bio Ideas for 2024 [Copy & Paste])

How to Remove Automatically Shared Posts via Linked Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Removing posts that were automatically shared because of linked Facebook and Instagram accounts is pretty straightforward.

Simply go to the Facebook or Instagram posts and delete them from your clients’ feeds.

You can also archive the posts if you don’t want to remove them from your clients’ pages completely.

Remember to unlink your Facebook and Instagram accounts to stop automatically sharing posts across both platforms.

When Not to Unlink Facebook and Instagram

While there are good and necessary reasons to unlink Facebook from Instagram, keeping both pages linked also offers a few perks.

Below are several instances when your clients are better off linking their Facebook and Instagram accounts.

1. When Your Clients’ Target Audiences Overlap

If your clients’ Facebook and Instagram audiences are similar and you have an overarching content or campaign goal, sharing the same post on both platforms won’t be a big deal.

You can save time and effort creating posts for each platform while maximizing your clients’ reach and engagement.

For example, if you’re running an Instagram contest and want to announce it on Facebook, automatically sharing it on both platforms should be okay (as long as you provide clear instructions and details).

2. During Events or Big Campaigns

Consider holding off on unlinking your client’s Facebook account from Instagram accounts if they have current or upcoming major events or campaigns.

Keeping both social networks linked can give your clients’ promotions that extra boost. It helps your clients reach more eyeballs and drum up extra buzz without your team manually uploading announcements and posts to each platform.

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It also helps simplify your workflow while saving precious time and effort.

3. When Testing and Experimenting With New Content Strategies

Are you rolling out new content types or a brand-new strategy?

Consider keeping your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts linked for now.

It can make tracking results easier, allowing you to see how new content types and strategies perform on both platforms.

4. If You Rely Heavily on Facebook’s Tools

If your clients’ social media strategies rely on Facebook’s ads manager, analytics, and other features, think twice before cutting the cord with Instagram.

After all, keeping your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts linked ensures you have the tools and data to extract valuable insights into target audiences, content performance, engagement rates, overall social media presence, and more.

5. During Algorithm Changes

The Facebook and Instagram algorithms are ever-elusive and constantly changing their little formulas.

While the algorithms can sort through and rank content differently on each platform, it’s best to keep your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts linked, especially if they’ve had significant success.

This way, you can adapt your clients’ Facebook and Instagram marketing efforts to the algorithm changes slowly, gradually apply the app settings or preferences for unlinking, and keep their strategies on point.

6. You Want to Ensure Consistency

Sure, you can keep things consistent on your clients’ Facebook and Instagram pages without linking the two platforms.

But this can take time and effort, eating into your productivity.

If you have a winning formula that’s worked amazingly for your clients’ linked Facebook and Instagram accounts and strategies, why rock the boat?

Keep that connection intact to ensure consistency in your clients’ Facebook and Instagram marketing efforts.

7. During Influencer Collaborations and Brand Partnerships

Brand or influencer collaborations have higher chances of succeeding when they reach more people.

Keeping your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts linked helps amplify the impact of your clients’ collaborations.

It allows them to reach wider audiences with one post across both platforms, saving you time and effort.

[Must read: How to Find Contacts on Instagram: Quickly And Easily]

8. When Building a Community

Unlinking Facebook and Instagram can fragment the community around your clients’ brands.

Keeping that Facebook and Instagram link helps ensure a seamless flow of conversation between your clients’ audiences across both platforms.

It can foster a sense of unity, connectedness, and belonging among your clients’ Insta and FB followers.

Content Types You Can Publish Simultaneously on Instagram and Facebook

Tailoring your clients’ content to each platform is crucial to ensure they resonate with target audiences. 

However, there are content types you can publish on Facebook and Instagram simultaneously, including the following. 

  • Throwback Thursday posts. Share throwback screenshots or images of your clients’ iconic Instagram or Facebook posts and campaigns from the past. Include light-hearted captions that reminisce about the good ol’ days. For example, you can share a photo of your client’s first-ever Facebook or Instagram post and write “Blast from the past” in the captions and hashtags. It’s a great way to highlight how far your clients have come while evoking emotions from viewers with a bit of nostalgia.
  • Pet parades. Share photos and videos of your clients’ pets to inject fun and cuteness into their Facebook and Instagram content. For instance, you can post a picture of your client’s cat sitting on their keyboard and add a caption that says, “Meet our new social media manager. He’s a bit of a Meow-cro manager.” You can also encourage Instagram and Facebook friends to join in the fun by sharing their pets’ photos, which helps boost engagement and expand your clients’ online presence.  
  • Emoji story challenge. Facebook and Instagram share a common language: emojis. Use emojis to create fun challenges, such as asking audiences to guess a movie or song title with just emojis. It’s a great way to entice Facebook and Instagram audiences to participate and even share their own emoji challenges. To reward their efforts, you can offer a prize or give bragging rights to the winner. 
  • Caption this contest. Another ‘neutral’ content that can work for both Instagram and Facebook audiences is a Caption This contest. Post a photo related to your client’s brand or niche and ask followers to come up with clever or funny captions. Encourage audiences to get creative and have fun with their entries. Pick a winner and feature their captions with the post. You can also offer a reward like a discount code or a giveaway. 
  • Quirky quizzes. Engage Instagram and Facebook followers with fun quizzes. For instance, you can quiz your clients’ audiences about the meaning of popular social media terms and share the answers in a follow-up post. 
  • Playlist collaborations. To encourage more interactions, ask your clients’ Facebook and Instagram followers for song recommendations for a playlist. You can create a Spotify playlist and ask audiences about the top songs they listen to when working out, going on a road trip, hunkering down at work, and other activities. You can also create a poll, add the top song choices in the playlist, and share a link to the playlist on your clients’ Facebook and Instagram feeds. 
  • Memes and GIFs. Share memes and GIFs about trending or fun topics on Instagram and Facebook. For example, you can kick off the weekend with a TGIF meme to share the excitement of the end of the week with your clients’ followers. You can also encourage your clients’ followers to share their favorite memes and GIFs in the comments section, fostering a lively and interactive atmosphere. 

What to Remember When Unlinking Facebook and Instagram

Consider the following factors before breaking the chain between your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts.

  • Get explicit consent from your clients before unlinking their Facebook and Instagram accounts. This way, you the potential issues and confusion that come with unlinking the two accounts down the road. 
  • Backup your clients’ data. Unlinking your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts won’t impact their data on both platforms. However, it’s still a good idea to back up important content and other data. Better to be safe than sorry. 
  • Update your Instagram and Facebook apps before unlinking. The chances of losing Facebook and Instagram data while unlinking are low but never zero. Technical glitches, errors, bugs, and other issues can potentially cause your clients to lose some data after unlinking, so be sure to update your Facebook and Instagram apps before severing ties between the two. 
  • Think ahead and reconnect strategically. Develop a strategy before reconnecting your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts in the future. After all, your clients unlinked them for a reason, so you need a good purpose and solid strategy to reconnect their Facebook and Instagram accounts. 
  • Review any third-party apps connected to your clients’ Facebook and Instagram accounts before unlinking them. This will help you and your clients avoid workflow disruptions. 
  • Stay updated. Keep an eye out for Facebook and Instagram updates or policy changes that can affect your clients’ decision to unlink or reconnect their accounts.

Manage Facebook and Instagram Profiles Efficiently With Vista Social

Managing your clients’ multiple Facebook, Instagram, and other social media profiles and content can be a pain — but not with Vista Social.

The social media management (SMM) platform’s modern features simplify and streamline your tasks, from scheduling content for auto-posting to managing audience engagement efficiently.

How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram15

The platform lets you schedule an Instagram Story collage, Reel, Story, Carousel post, Facebook video, image, and more.

The platform’s AI-based hashtag generator even provides instant hashtag suggestions, saving you time and effort.

How to Unlink Facebook and Instagram16

Vista Social is packed with more robust SMM features, from a centralized content calendar and social listening tools to reliable content performance reports and analytics, including Instagram Reels analytics.

Vista Social’s other AI-driven features include a username generator and an AI Assistant powered by ChatGPT.

[Must read: How to Change Name on Instagram (And Username)]

Write your prompt (what you want from the tool) and the AI Assistant can instantly generate captions, descriptions, and taglines for your clients’ Instagram, Facebook, and other social media posts.

Talk about a huge time-saver.

Another handy feature is Vista Social’s new link in bio tool.

Vista Social’s link in bio tool comes with Vista Page, a fully customizable landing page that houses your clients’ relevant links, product and brand information, and other marketing and conversion-related materials and elements.

The tool can help your clients drive traffic from their social networks, generate and capture leads, collect payments, track clicks, and get customer appointments.

What’s more, you can use Vista Social’s Publisher to schedule content to auto-publish content on your clients’ Vista Page micro websites.

[Must read: How to Put a Link in Instagram Bio: Step-by-Step Guide]

Vista Social is packed with more robust SMM features, from a centralized content calendar and social listening tools to reliable content performance reports and analytics, including Instagram Reels analytics.

Additional Resources

Get more Instagram and Facebook marketing and audience engagement tips from these related articles.

FAQs On Unlinking Facebook and Instagram

Below are the common questions about unlinking Facebook and Instagram accounts.

1. Will deleting your Facebook account affect your linked Instagram account? 

No.

While permanently deleting a Facebook account removes all the previously shared content, including videos, photos, posts, and Messenger chats, it won’t impact the linked Instagram account in any way.

The same applies when deactivating a Facebook account.

Also, deleting or deactivating your Instagram won’t impact your linked Facebook account.

2. Can you change the Facebook account linked to your Instagram? 

Yes, by following these steps:

  • Navigate to the account’s Instagram profile.
  • Tap Menu (☰) > Settings and Privacy > Accounts Center.
  • Under Account settings, select Accounts. 
  • Remove the previously linked Facebook account. 
  • Select Add accounts and follow the prompts to add the new Facebook account you want to connect to Instagram. 

If you can’t change the linked accounts, go to the Facebook or Instagram Help Center for troubleshooting tips and further assistance.

3. Can you stop sharing individual posts with linked Facebook and Instagram accounts?

You can stop sharing your Instagram posts to Facebook automatically by switching off the Share to Facebook settings or preferences to unlink before posting. 

For example, when sharing an Instagram Story, create the post, go to Sharing options, and switch off the Share to Facebook Story option. 

Another method is to change the sharing settings on the Accounts Center page. 

Go to Profile > Menu (☰) > Settings and Privacy> Accounts Center > Connected Experiences > Sharing across profiles.

Then, swipe on or off the automatic sharing options accordingly.

You can also change the cross-platform sharing options using your Facebook account.

Tap the Facebook profile icon > Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center > Sharing across profiles under Connected Experiences.

[Must read: Instagram Profile Tips: How to Optimize Your Instagram Bio]

4. Can you link your Instagram and Whatsapp accounts?

Yes, but the feature is only available in select countries for creator and business accounts on Instagram.

If the feature is available for your clients, you can connect their Instagram and WhatsApp accounts and their WhatsApp numbers will display as contact options on their Insta creator or business profiles. 

When someone taps on the contact option, they can send a message directly to your clients on WhatsApp. 

You can also:

  • Link WhatsApp Business with Facebook and Instagram
  • Add a WhatsApp Business account to an Instagram Profile
  • Add a WhatsApp Business account to a Facebook Page

Take your Facebook and Instagram Marketing Campaigns to The Next Level

Put your Facebook and Instagram marketing campaigns on steroids.

Use Vista Social to streamline and scale your marketing initiatives with the platform’s advanced, robust features.

Vista Social allows you to:

  • Use AI to generate content
  • Plan content in advance
  • Delegate work with team management
  • Create highly customizable reports
  • Etc.

Create your Vista Social account now.

About the Author

Content Writer

Jimmy Rodela is a social media and content marketing consultant with over 9 years of experience, with work appearing on sites such as Business.com, Yahoo, SEMRush, and SearchEnginePeople. He specializes in social media, content marketing, SaaS, small business strategy, marketing automation, and content development.

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