A new change on Instagram means you can now download all of your Instagram data in one go. Instagram now allows its users to download every single photo, video, messages, and other account data. Credit for this feature goes to new EU rules affecting Facebook, which also owns Instagram. The social service has now made it very easy to download your Instagram account data. We have a step-by-step guide for you.
The Instagram data download feature was announced in early April 2018, and it is now available on the desktop version of the social media service – means your computer’s web browser. The company will push the feature for iPhone, iPad, Android and other platforms soon.
When you choose to download your Instagram account data, the service creates a huge file containing all your Instagram photos, videos, stories, messages and other data and email you a link to download it. The data won’t include pictures you have deleted.
Want to download an archive of your Instagram account, including the photos, videos, Instagram Stories, instant messages, comments on your posts and other data? Thanks to Instagram for providing a convenient data-download tool. Follow the step by step instruction below.
How to download your Instagram data
If you have downloaded an archive of your Facebook data, you’ll feel at home while downloading your Instagram account data.
- Log into your Instagram account on any web browser and go to this URL: instagram.com/download/request. Or log into your account at instagram.com, click on your profile photo in the upper-right corner. Click the gear icon right next to your username, click Privacy & Security from the menu.Click the link Request Download right below the headline Data Download.
- Type in your email address where you’d want Instagram to send you the download link to your Instagram data archive and click Next.
- Enter your Instagram account password and click Request Download button.
- You will see a confirmation message stating that Instagram is creating a backup of everything you have shared on their platform and acknowledging that the system will send you a link to download your Instagram data to the provided email address. The service also states that it may take up to 40 hours to create an archive of your Instagram data and send you a download link via email.
- Check your inbox for any new message from Instagram containing the download link. When you get the email, click the Download Data link at the bottom.
- This will take you to a confirmation webpage. Click Download Data to download your Instagram account data. Please keep in mind that the data download link will expire after four days.
Once the download is completed, you will have a zip file with your username in the title. Unpack the contents of the archive, and you will see several subfolders and some files at the root level with JSON extension. You will find any photo, video, story, message, comments, on any data you shared on Instagram in these subfolders.
You can see separate JSON files for your comments, likes, connection, list of your followers, uploaded contacts, profile information, your searches, instant messages, Story captions, account settings, and more. You can open these JSON files in any text editor to view the contents.
You’re advised to keep the backup of your Instagram account to somewhere safe such as Time Machine, external hard or USB drive, or a cloud service such as DropBox, Google Drive, OnceDrive, or others.
Instagram data download feature becomes very helpful when you want to leave Instagram for a similar service and close the account. It is a good idea to educate yourself about Instagram’s data retention policy to learn what happens to your data when you permanently close your account.
For now, the data download tool is available for the web users only. We will update this guide for other platforms such as iOS when the company releases the feature for it as well.
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