Besides being a great app for sharing photos and videos with friends, family members and followers, Instagram offers several additional features to encourage communication and improve the functionality of the platform.
Among these features is the ability to send a Direct Message (DM) to other users in the app. DMs are a great way to keep in touch with your friends privately, but what happens when you send a message that you regret?
Deleting the DM may seem like the obvious solution, but what happens to the message once you delete it?
Let’s take a look at whether Instagram stores deleted messages or not.
Does Instagram Store Deleted Messages?
The messages you send and receive are transmitted by the network and are not stored on its servers. Whether this is comments or DMs, they are stored on your device and not anywhere else.
Photos are stored and can be used by Instagram for other things. They are treated differently because Instagram can monetize them. Therefore, when you join the network you sign the copyright and therefore they are treated differently from messages.
Recover Deleted Instagram Messages
Since Instagram messages are not stored by the network, any recovery should happen on your phone. If you back up your phone regularly, you can recover messages. If you don’t back up your phone, you won’t back it up. Not all backups save messages, though.
There are articles online that tell you to visit a website that will recover your Instagram messages. As far as I understand these are fake. Since Instagram does not store messages, there is nothing to recover. I believe these are just for collecting your account details and nothing more. If you know different, let us know.
How to Send Instagram Messages
You can repost an Instagram message if the other person hasn’t read it yet. If they do, it’s game over and you can’t remotely delete or send them back.
Open the message and long press on it. You should see a popup offering to send the message. Select Cancel Send to prevent the person from seeing the message.
Can You See Deleted Instagram Photos?
Deleting pictures from Instagram is a little different. Photos are handled differently by both Instagram and your phone. If you took the photo on your phone, it should still be in your camera or gallery. You should also check your Instagram Album on your phone as the picture might be there.
You can get a picture from Instagram Archive. Select the three-dot menu icon from another Instagram image post and select Archive. Browse the content to see if your photo is there.
Finally, if you’re using Android, you may want to check your Google Drive or Google Photos. If you have your phone set to sync to the cloud, your photos may already be backed up. This setting is enabled by default, so it’s worth checking if you don’t know you’ve already turned it off.
How to Find and Download Your Instagram Data
You can be sure that Instagram, as part of Facebook, collects a lot of data about you. Facebook is currently under global scrutiny for privacy and data collection, and Instagram has caught on to a lesser extent.
To find and download your Instagram data, follow these steps:
- Log into Instagram from a browser.
- Select the person icon and the gear next to your username.
- choose Privacy and security.
- choose Request Download under Data Download.
- Confirm your email on the next page and Next.
- Re-enter your Instagram password.
- choose Request Download.
The file can take up to 48 hours to generate and will be emailed to the address you just entered.
Have questions about Instagram or other social networks? Comment below or email us!
