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Make old Instagram posts visible again with our in-depth guide
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Usually when you delete something, it's gone. Instagram, however, stores all your content for 30 days after you delete it. If it's been fewer than 30 days since you deleted a post, you may be able to recover it. This wikiHow article will show you how to recover deleted Instagram posts using several methods.
Qiuick Steps
- Open Instagram and tap your profile picture.
- Tap ☰.
- Tap Your activity .
- Tap Recently deleted .
- Tap the content you want to restore.
- Tap Restore/Restore to profile .
Steps
-
Tap your profile image or the silhouette icon. This is in the lower right corner of the Instagram app. Your profile page will open.- This method will only work for posts that have been deleted for less than 30 days.
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Tap ☰ . This three-line menu button is in the top right corner of your screen.Advertisement -
Tap Your activity . It's under the "How you use Instagram" header. -
Tap Recently Deleted . You'll find it under the "Removed and archived content" header. -
Tap the thumbnail that you want to restore. You'll see all your photos, Stories, reels, IGTV videos, and video posts here. -
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Tap your profile image or the silhouette. This is in the lower right of your screen. Your profile page will open.
- Since its introduction in 2017, the archive feature has been the default action for removing/hiding posts instead of deleting them. You might be able to find your old content here.
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Tap ☰ . A menu will slide out. -
Tap Archive . A list of your archived Stories will appear. -
Tap the Stories Archive drop-down. A menu will drop down, and you can choose Stories Archive or Posts Archive . -
Tap Posts Archive . This displays the posts in your archive. -
Tap a post to view it. You'll see a list of all the content you've archived, and tapping one will open it with more details and options.- Your post and all its original comments will load. [2] X Research source
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Tap â‹® . You'll see this at the top of the post. -
Tap Show on Profile to unarchive the post. It will appear back in your Instagram timeline where it originally was.
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Open My Files. This app icon looks like a folder; you'll most likely find this on one of your Home screens, in the app drawer, or by searching.- You'll only find an Instagram album if you enabled the feature in Instagram to save your posts locally. [3] X Research source
- You'll only find the videos/photos you took with the Instagram app camera, not the entire post you created. You also will not find pictures you uploaded from your default camera roll into Instagram here. But this might be your best option if you're looking for posts older than 30 days.
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Tap Internal Storage . You'll see this listed below "Recent files" and "Categories." -
Tap Pictures . You might have to scroll down to see this. -
Tap Instagram . You'll see all the pictures you took from the Instagram app.
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Open Photos. This app icon looks like a multicolored flower. You can find this app on your home screen or by searching.- You'll only find an Instagram album if you enabled the feature in Instagram to save your posts locally. [4] X Research source
- You'll only find the videos/photos you took with the Instagram app camera, not the entire post you created. You also will not find pictures you uploaded from your default camera roll into Instagram here. But if you're looking for pictures older than 30 days, this might be your best option.
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Tap the albums icon at the bottom of your screen. It's usually the second from the right icon next to "Search." [5] X Research source -
Tap the Instagram album. You'll see all the pictures and videos you took from the Instagram app, but you won't find a copy of the entire post.
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Tips
- You can also try viewing your Instagram profile using the Wayback Machine at https://archive.org/web/ . You'll need to enter your Instagram profile URL into the text box at the top of the page to continue to pick a date to view from the calendar. The Wayback Machine does not have the URL of every Instagram account archived, so you might not see your profile.Thanks
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About This Article
Article Summary
X
1. Open Instagram.
2. Tap your profile image or silhouette.
3. Tap the three-line menu
icon.
4. Tap Archive
.
5. Tap the Stories Archive
drop-down and select either Stories Archive
or Posts Archive
.
6. Tap an image to view it.
7. Tap the three-dot menu
icon.
8. Tap Show on Profile
.
Did this summary help you?
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 349,206 times.
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