If you're looking for ways to download Instagram photos, the good news is it's fairly simple. Whether you want to back up your photos or download Reels and videos, this guide will show how to easily save your content to a PC, Mac or phone. In this guide, we'll take you through a few options, breaking them down step by step to make archiving your precious memories as easy as possible.
There are plenty of options to suit your needs, whether you want to download your entire Instagram history or simply save individual images (although some options may involve using handy third-party apps). If you're looking to spice up your profile, check out our Instagram Reels tutorial and take a look at our guide on how to change the font in your Instagram bio.
How to automatically download Instagram photos
You might want to download your own Instagram photos to keep an archive of your precious memories, or just to keep a copy. If you want to automatically download pictures from your Instagram page there's a nifty feature in your settings that makes saving your posts easier than ever.
Once you've enabled this setting, all of your Instagram posts (including your stories) will be automatically saved to your phone's camera roll. As you'll see in this guide, saving Instagram photos isn't the easiest task, so enabling auto-save is the best method for hassle-free photo downloading.
First, log into your Instagram account and click on the profile icon. Once you're on your profile, click the three lines in the top right corner of your phone screen. This should bring up a selection of profile options.
Once you've opened the option menu, select the first option titled Settings and Privacy. This will open a new page where you can customise the settings on your account.
After you've opened your settings and privacy options you'll need to scroll down until you reach a section titled "Your app and media". Under this section, you'll find an option called "achieving and downloading". Click on this section to manage your automatic downloads.
To enable auto save on your posts an stories, make sure that the options underneath the "saving to Camera Roll" section are toggled to the right. Once you have "save original pictures" and "save story to Camera Roll" enabled, your posts will automatically be saved in your device's photo library.
How to download Instagram photos to a PC or Mac
If you download Instagram photos, please respect image ownership. Some of the methods below will allow you to download Instagram photos from other people's accounts. You should always ask permission and give credit where due.
There is no native method to download Instagram photos from your account one by one. The one option Instagram has is to let you to download your account’s entire history in one massive package. That includes all the photos and videos that you’ve uploaded as posts or stories as well as a lot of other things you might not want, such as details of your comments and likes.
This “official” way to download your stuff was introduced due to privacy concerns following controversies at parent company Facebook (now Meta) to give people more ownership of their data. It might not be very practical if you just one to download one image that you uploaded recently, but it's not a bad option if you want to save a whole load of old photos that you've accidentally deleted from your phone. To get started you'll need to request a download link either via the Instagram website or the app.
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Go to the Instagram website, log in, then click the gear icon to the right of where it says Edit Profile. Choose Privacy and Security from the list of options.
02. Request download
This will lead you to the Account Privacy page. Scroll down to where it says 'Data Download' and click 'Request Download'.
Enter your email and password again, confirming the email address where you'll receive the download link, then click 'next'. Instagram will start bundling your data into a downloadable package, and then send you the link by email. The platform says this can take up to 48 hours, but the email tends to come through within an hour or two. The link's only valid for four days, so keep an eye out for it or you’ll have to start all over again.
Once you receive the email, click 'Download Data'. You’ll be taken to the Instagram site to sign in and start the download. The package comes in the form of a zip file that contains every post you've ever made as well as details of every message and everything you've searched for, liked or commented on. Depending on how long you've had an Instagram account and how much you use it, this could mean a ton of data, so extract the file to a new folder of its own to keep the many subfolders and files in one place.
You can also request this sizable download package through the app. Go to your profile, tap the menu icon in the upper right-hand corner and choose 'Settings'. Select 'Security', 'Download Data', type in your email and password, then tap 'Request Download'.
How to download Instagram photos individually using the source code
If you don’t want the hassle of wading through your entire Instagram history to find the one specific photo you wanted to download, or if you need an image from someone else’s feed after having received their permission to use it, you can download Instagram photos individually by turning to the source code.
How you do this will depend on your browser. On Internet Explorer, you can click on the photo you want to download to view the full image, then right-click on the image and select 'View Source'.
Scroll through the code and find the meta property information (hit control+f or command+f and search for 'meta property'). You'll want to copy the URL that appears in double inverted commas in the line beginning: '
03. Save the image
Paste the link into your browser, hit 'Enter', and you’ll be taken the photo you want to download. Now, simply right-click or control-click on the image and choose 'Save Image As'. The default name will be a long stream of numbers so you’ll probably want to change it to something more recognisable. The process may also work for videos depending on your browser.
On Google Chrome, you can look for the source image by clicking 'Inspect', then looking for the 'V' folder under the sources tab.
How to save images on Instagram
If you simply want to be able to find an image on Instagram again rather than use it on another device, you might find it’s enough to save it within the platform. Instagram allows users to bookmark any post in order to be able to find it again later, whether it's from an account you follow or not. You can organise saved posts into folders to make them easier to find, for example by creating folders for design inspiration, wish lists, or dream holiday destinations – don’t worry, no one else can see your bookmarks!
Tap the bookmark icon below any Instagram post and it will turn black to show the post has been saved. For the Marie Condo approach to bookmarks, tap the 'Save to Collection' message that pops up then click the + icon to choose an existing collection or create a collection with a new name.
To view or edit your bookmarked images in the Instagram app, go to your profile, tap the menu icon at the top right, then 'Saved'. In a browser, you’ll find the 'Saved' tab above your own feed. From here, you can tap the plus icon to add new collections or to move a previously saved photo to a collection.
How to download Instagram photos using third-party apps
If you definitely need to download photos from Instagram rather than save them in the app but find the first two options above to be too fiddly or time-consuming, there are many third-party apps that offer workarounds. Bear in mind that some of these require access to your account data, while others rely on heavy advertising to make their money. Where possible we’d advise using the previous solutions, but if you want the convenience of a quick fix, there are a range of options available.
Download Instagram photos using DownloadGram
The most convenient way to download Instagram photos and download Instagram videos using a third-party app is by using a browser-based option since these don't require you to install any software on your device (something that could raise security concerns).
There are now many web apps online that can download Instagram videos and photos. DownloadGram is one of the ones that has been around the longest. It can be used on both computers and mobiles to download Instagram videos, Reels and Photos, including individual photos in carousel posts.
On a desktop computer, go to the Instagram website, find the picture you want, click on the three dots at the top right above the image and choose 'Go to Post'.
Copy the photo’s URL from your address bar then go to DownloadGram’s website and paste the URL into the box. Click the Download button, then the Download image button to save your image.
On a mobile device, open the Instagram app and find the photo you want, tap the three dots icon and choose 'copy link'. From there, follow the process as above.
Other options include FastSave for Instagram, which offers a faster app-based option for downloading individual images to an Android phone with no copying or pasting needed, but you need to grant the app access to your data, and the ads can be annoying.
How to Download Instagram photos in bulk
If you want to download more than one image from Instagram at a time, you’re limited to using third-party software. Two of the most popular options are 4K Stogram and Save-o-gram.
Download Instagram photos: 4K Stogram
4K Stogram allows you to download Instagram images in bulk (Image credit: 4K Stogram)
4K Stogram allows you to subscribe to a username, hashtag or even a location to mass download every public image that it finds under that tag with no need to sign in to Instagram. However, while it’s free to subscribe to a couple of feeds, you’ll need to pay $10 for a licence for unlimited use. Chances are you’ll also find yourself downloading a ton of images that don’t interest you.
Download and install 4K Stogram on your computer, open the programme then type an Instagram username, hashtag, or location into the search bar. Click Subscribe, then the programme will search and automatically start downloading everything it finds. You’ll find the images piling up in the 4K Stogram folder on your computer in subfolders for each search you entered.
Download Instagram photos: Save-o-gram
Save-o-gram lets you be more selective with your downloads (Image credit: Save-o-gram)
If you need to be more selective, Save-o-gram allows selected images to be downloaded all at once as a zip file or individually. It charges a one-off fee of $9 after a seven-day trial.
How to download Instagram Reels
Instagram is rolling out an option to download Instagram Reels in the app (Image credit: Instagram)
You can download Instagram Reels and videos using some of the same methods mentioned above. You could download them with the rest of your Instagram history, or you could use one of various third party web apps available. However, if you want to download Instagram Reels from a public account, it could now be easier than that since Instagram is adding the option to simply click and download Instagram Reels in the platform itself.
At the time of writing the ability to download Instagram Reels was only being rolled out in the US, but it is likely to be expanded to other countries. All you need to do is press the share icon on a Reel in the Instagram mobile app and then press the new Download option. Users can turn off the option if they do not want people to be able to download their Reels.
How to download Instagram Stories
Instagram makes it much easier to download your own stories – the image or video including any stickers or text you’ve applied. Just click on the three vertical dots at the bottom right of the story and choose 'Save photo'. You can find old stories by going to your profile, clicking on the menu icon and selecting 'Archive'. (See our guide to Instagram Stories here.)
If you want a Story from someone else’s account – and some photographers specifically share pictures for use as wallpaper by this means – you can save it by simply taking a screenshot. The trick is to hold down one finger on the screen while you do so in order to remove the Instagram UI and get a clean shot.
Just tap and hold anywhere on the screen so that the UI overlay fades away. This also pauses the story, giving you time to take the screenshot. With a bit of finger contortion, keep your finger on the screen while you take the screenshot, whether that’s by pressing the side button and volume up on an iPhone to the power and volume down buttons on a Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel.
Again, bear in mind potential copyright issues when taking screenshots of someone else’s work.
Is it necessary to download Instagram photos to repost an image?
In the past the only ways to repost to Instagram were to download photos from the platform and then post them on your own feed or to use a third-party app, which could be risky, and often meant having an ugly logo in the corner of the image if you used the free version of the software.
This is no longer necessary because Instagram has introduced its own repost option (just look for the arrow and 'repost' below an image). The option is only available if a user has enabled it. You can also share posts as a Story.
Why can't you save pictures from Instagram?
Instagram has strict copyright policies that prevent users from downloading your content. When you upload to Instagram you own the copyright to the post, so to mitigate any infringement Instagram prevents you from directly downloading other user's content.
While there are ways around this, like downloading the image via its source code or through third-party apps, this is the easiest way for Instagram to protect its users from copyright infringement. If you are going to download someone else's content, always make sure torespect image ownership, ask permission and give credit where it's due.
Want an outside perspective on your carefully curated Instagram profile? Check out the AI tool that roasts your Instagram account (be warned, it gets quite sassy). If you're looking to expand your social media presence, take a look at Cara, the Instagram alternative favoured by artists that gained 600k users in a week.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
