Normally, when we delete content in a social network, either intentionally or by mistake, it is deleted forever . However, Instagram recently has a feature that allows you to recover your deleted posts . In this way, if you accidentally delete a publication because you have left your phone in your pocket without blocking or you simply regret having removed a photo from your feed , now you can recover it for a few days.
There are several methods to recover your Instagram posts.
Method 1: From the “trash” of Instagram
For a few months, Instagram has been integrating a kind of trash can that stores our deleted publications . Everything we delete will be stored in a hidden space for 30 days . Only we can see that space. Once we access it, we can choose whether to restore the publications or delete them permanently . To access, we will have to do the following steps:
- Open your Instagram app and tap on your profile thumbnail in the lower right corner.
- Access the hamburger menu (the icon with three horizontal lines) in the upper right corner.
- Go into Settings .
- Then go to Account .
- Swipe to the bottom of the list and locate an option titled “Recently Deleted .”
- A space will be opened where all the publications that we have deleted will appear.
- Tap on the publication that you are interested in recovering . It will open big.
- Tap on the 3 dots in the upper right corner .
- Select the Restore option. You will be shown a warning and afterwards, the publication will return to your profile.
You should know a few details about this native Instagram process to recover deleted posts .
- If the image, image set, or video you retrieved was on your grid, that is, in your feed, the post will revert to the same position it originally occupied before it was deleted.
- If, on the contrary, the publication was hidden , since it was in your personal archive, it will return to the same place without going through your feed .
- You have 30 days to recover a deleted post. Once that period has passed , you will never be able to access that content again, as it will be permanently removed from Instagram.
- You can speed up the removal process in the same panel, simply by clicking on the Remove option instead of Restore. If you do this, the image will also be imminently deleted and there will be no other way to restore it through Instagram.
- All the likes, comments , viewing statistics and the original text that you wrote in the publication will also be retrieved.
Can I retrieve Stories with this method?
Yes, although you have to differentiate two totally different cases.
- In the event that you have deleted a story just published or already stored in your feed, the publication will be stored in the Instagram recovery panel. You will also have 30 days of margin to recover the content if you wish.
- In case it is an already published Stories that you have forgotten to save in your Saved Stories panel, the procedure will be different. The story will appear in the same location, but you will only have 24 more hours to retrieve it before it is deleted forever.
My app does not show this option
This Instagram functionality is relatively new, so if your app is out of date, your smartphone may not be supported yet.
Make sure you have the latest version of the Instagram application by updating your app in the App Store (if you use an iPhone) or in the Play Store (if you use an Android mobile).
Method 2: From your file manager
If your time has passed and your publication has been completely deleted from Instagram, you can try your luck to recover the images through a file manager on your mobile. You will not recover the comments, the likes or even the text you wrote, but at least you can bring back the multimedia content with this method.
You can only recover your publications using this formula if you previously activated the option to save posts locally on Instagram. To activate this option, follow these steps:
- Open your Instagram app.
- Click on your profile (lower right corner).
- Tap up on the hamburger menu.
- Go to Settings .
- Access the option called Account .
- Near the bottom of the list, find and enter an option called Original Publications.
- Check the options Save original posts, Save published posts and Save published videos.
This option will make you consume much more space on the internal memory of your smartphone, but it will allow you to recover your deleted images, videos and reels using this second way that we will explain below.
On iPhone
The step to recover the images on your iOS device is as follows:
- Open the Photos app.
- Go to the bottom of the image and tap on Albums .
- Locate an album called Instagram .
- Inside you will find the publications you have made on Instagram. You can remember the route to reload the content on Instagram or select the photos and videos and make a Share on Instagram .
This method will fail if you have manually deleted the contents of that folder to save space on your mobile device. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can search your iCloud backup .
On Android
Open the “File Manager” application that comes by default on your device, that is, the app that comes by default to manage files on your Android. It is usually called “Files”, “File Explorer“, “My Files” or similar. If not, you can download an app of this style in the Google Play Store. Then do these steps :
- Go to Internal storage .
- Next, go to the Pictures or Pictures folder.
- Inside there will be a folder whose name is Instagram . Our publications will be in there, as long as we have not also deleted them from our phone.
If again, the information you are looking for is not here, there is one last possibility of recovering your information if you use an automatic backup of the roll of photos of your smartphone using the Google Photos service.
