How to Change Your Profile Picture on Instagram

This article explains how to change your Instagram profile picture through the phone app or a web browser.

How Do I Change My Profile Picture on Instagram?

Switching your profile picture through the Instagram app is a fairly straightforward process, much like changing your profile name—especially if you’re familiar with changing profile images on other social media platforms.

1. Tap the Profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen (it looks like an outline of head and shoulders of a person).

2. Tap Edit Profile underneath your account profile.

3. Tap Change profile photo beneath your current profile picture.

4. A pop-up menu will appear with options to Remove current photo, Import from Facebook, Take photo, or Choose from library.

5. Tap Take photo to take a new profile picture with your device’s camera. Tap the shutter button to take a photo and replace the current image.

6. Tap Choose from library to select an image that’s already saved to your photo library instead. Tap Done when you’ve selected the one you want.

7. After selecting a new photo you’ll return to the Edit profile menu. Select Done to save your new profile photo.

8. If you change your mind after selecting a new profile photo, tap Cancel instead of Done and then select Discard Changes to undo the image swap and revert to your original profile photo.

How Do I Change My Instagram Profile Picture in a Web Browser?

Changing your profile picture from the web browser version of Instagram is very similar to the app, though the icon and menu placement is a little different.

1. Log into the Instagram website and click your profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen, then click Profile.

2. Click Edit Profile next to your account name.

3. Click Change Profile Photo beneath your account name.

4. Click Upload Photo, then select the image you want from your computer. Click Open when finished.

5. To change your profile picture back, you’ll need to select and upload the previous image following the same steps as before (there is no “undo” option).

Why Can’t I Change My Profile Picture in Instagram?

There are a few different (but easily fixable) reasons that could result in an inability to change your profile picture:

• It could be a glitch on Instagram’s side of things, in which case try logging out and logging back into your account.
• You can also try uninstalling and re-installing the app if the problem persists.
• It’s possible your image might be the wrong format. For example, while standard image formats like .jpeg and .png work, animated files like .gif won’t for profile pictures.
• There could be interference from third-party apps (such as follow/unfollow trackers) as well, in which case you might need to delete them.
• Instagram itself might also be down for any number of reasons, in which case all you can really do is wait and try again later.