Back up your own Instagram account: every post, reel, story and highlight
Instagram's own "Download your information" takes days and gives you a zip of compressed files. This gives you your posts in full quality, in a folder, in a few minutes, and you can run it again whenever you post something new.
The largest photos and the best video streams, not the compressed export.
A few hundred posts come down while you make a coffee.
Run it again after posting; only the new items are fetched.
The steps
Install the extension
Add IG Mass Media Downloader to Chrome, Brave or Edge.
Open your own profile
Tap your avatar, or go to instagram.com/your.username. The panel appears at the bottom right.
Press Download all media
Leave Posts, Stories and Highlights ticked. Your current stories are saved too, before they expire.
Copy the folder somewhere safe
Downloads\your.username: put it on an external drive or in your cloud folder. That's the backup.
Why keep a backup
- Hacked or locked accounts happen every day, and appeals take weeks. A folder on your disk doesn't care.
- Your portfolio is your work. Carousels of process shots, reels of you working: they should exist somewhere other than Meta's servers.
- Switching accounts or leaving the platform is easy when you already have everything.
Good to know
- Your own profile counts as one of the three free profiles. That's all most people need.
- Captions and comments aren't saved; this is about the photos and videos. Use Instagram's export for the text.
- Stories are only saved while they're live. Highlights are permanent and all of them are saved.
Questions
Something else? Write to [email protected].
Is it safe for my account?
The extension makes the same requests the Instagram website makes when you scroll, at the pace of a fast scroll, and backs off when Instagram asks it to. Automated access is against Instagram's terms, so use it with your own account and keep the volume reasonable.
Which profiles can I save?
Only profiles your Instagram account can already see, the same as on the website. Private profiles you don't follow stay private.
What quality are the files?
Photos at the largest size Instagram serves. Videos from the highest-quality streams, with picture and sound merged, not re-encoded.
Does it need my password?
No. It uses the login already in your browser. Nothing you download, and none of your cookies, leave your computer. See the privacy policy.
How much does it cost?
Three profiles and every single post are free. For unlimited profiles there is a lifetime licence or a monthly plan; see pricing.