Is Instagram’s account recovery workflow disappearing on some accounts and devices? We’ve had reports from readers and friends who’ve had hacked Instagrams with no success in using Instagram’s published docs to recover the account once the attacker’s email and phone number have changed.

Here’s a copy of the official Instagram post: I think my Instagram has been hacked.

(Update 12/6 – After testing for weeks over 40 times we can see the option on an Android but at the same time not on his iPhone following the same process. Another user reports the option appeared on an iPhone. We put in the attacker’s email, then see ‘Need more help?‘ but it has to be from a phone that’s logged in before and not a new device.)

 

 

 

 

The email doesn’t say ‘Revert Change‘ anymore as indicated in the Doc above:

‘I can’t access this email’ or phone number is no longer in the UI no matter how long you wait or many times you resend the codes:

Clicking ‘Secure your account here‘ brings you to a login page or the Help Center. No workflow triggers an account recovery of any kind, whether from a mobile or web browser:

Password reset emails offer no option to declare you’ve lost access to the email or phone number on the account:

(It usually says ‘Need more help?‘ but that option is missing on some devices)

Instagram mentions its new selfie function to recover accounts, but how? There’s no UI in any apps to trigger the Account Recovery options that lead to this outcome.

How does one recover once a hacker has changed the phone number and email address on the account?.