How to Recover Deleted Instagram Photos using Archive feature

Through your negligence you may lose your best Instagram photos. Mostly they disappear when you delete or disable your profile. The sad part of it is that losing your account you also lose precious memories. If you’re reading this, it might be your case.

Can such an issue be resolved positively? It depends. We are going to look at all the ways to recover deleted Instagram photos which are known for now.

1. Instagram has no Recycle Bin / recovery features

The first thing to keep in mind is that Instagram doesn’t have any obvious recovery options. Unlike Google Photos, it has no Recycle Bin.

Photos and videos are stored on the Instagram server even after deletion for an indefinite term (legally, they have to), but according to the regulations,

Content removed from the Service may continue to be stored by Instagram, including, without limitation, in order to comply with certain legal obligations, but may not be retrievable without a valid court order.

source

Consequently, if you need a photo to provide in the court as evidence, you can turn to Instagram customer support:

Contact Instagram for Support

Yet, use it only as your last resource, because your requests filled with tears won’t convince Instagram customer support staff that they should send you the backup.

2. Check Instagram Archive feature

In 2017 a new feature was integrated into Instagram, which is Archive Posts. It’s great because:

• you can hide any photos and stories from being seen by anyone,
• any 'deleted' photo can be retrieved in two clicks.

Basically, Instagram Archive feature can be compared to a Recycle Bin – a location where your files are temporarily stored. Till you empty it, your photos will be available for quick recovery and share. Subsequently, as soon as you delete a photo from Instagram Archive, you lose guaranteed recovery of your content.

Tip: if you want to hide some of your posts, use Archive feature instead of simply removing photos. Even if a photo seems to have no meaning to you, you may need it back in a year.

3. How to see deleted Instagram pictures on your phone

It makes sense that photos can be stored on your phone both before and after you share them online (unless you’ve deleted them). The locations where you can search for copies and recover deleted instagram pictures are:

• Android Gallery
• DCIM/Camera folder
• Downloads folder
• other user catalogues you save your images to

For quick search use any file manager with convenient filtering and flexible search.

4. Use recovery soft to find deleted pics

Forget about the Instagram server. Say, you can’t get your deleted photos from there. There’s a universal method of local files recovery. To use it follow the steps:

1. Try to recall where your photo was stored (see above),
2. Install a recovery tool,
3. Scan the location for deleted files,
4. Save found images.

The detailed description of the process can be found here:

How to recover deleted
photos from Android Gallery

If photos were deleted from the phone’s internal memory, you have a chance to find them only if they have been deleted recently. DiskDigger utility for Android can help in less simple cases.

5. Recover photos using your Google account

Many Android users use Google Photos or Samsung service to store their photos and are not aware of that. So it makes sense checking if there is a backup copy in the cloud.

For this:

1. Navigate to Google Photos from your account,
2. Examine the content of all the published albums if you have any,
3. Check if the Recycle Bin contains any of your photos shared on Instagram.

Download Google Photos app

By the way, we’ve already told how to recover files from Google Photos, so you are welcome to have a look!

6. Look at Instagram using Internet Archive

Internet Archive service comes in handy when you need to see a previous version of a website and retrieve content “conserved” there. This method should work out with Instagram as well.

1. Go to the main page https://web.archive.org/
2. Type in your Instagram account address into the text box
3. In the calendar select the date of the snapshot you want to view

As to the year 2017, Internet Archive has had over 300 billion pages. However, this time machine isn’t available to any Instagram account. Most of the time you’ll see an empty page instead of your photos. Yet, there hasn’t been a better alternative to this service so far.

7. Make a backup copy of the most valuable photos

Abstract from Instagram Policy:

Consequently, Instagram encourages you to maintain your own backup of your Content.

Although it sounds like an excuse, this recommendation is worth following. Always make a backup copy of your most valuable files, Instagram photos included. There are two variants of backing up shots:

1. Install Backup and Sync app,
2. Enable synchronization of Gallery with Google Photos service.

It will take you 10 minutes to set up backing up and will secure you from problems. In future you won’t face any difficulties recovering photos from Instagram, Camera and other applications and services even if you lose access to them.

FAQ

I accidentally deleted 2 photos from Instagram. How can I recover them along with the left comments?

The recovery of a post is possible only under the condition that it has been put in the archive and is still there. Otherwise, both photos and comments are deleted. You can reach out to your audience in case someone has saved the photo on their phone.

My girlfriend and I have recently broken up. I got mad and deleted all our photos from my Instagram. Is there a way to recover those photos with likes and comments without reposting them?

Instagram doesn't have the Recycle Bin feature, therefore after you delete a photo, it disappears from the server. Technical support won't be of any help in this case. Try another method: install the DiskDigger app and use it to recover photos from the SD card or internal memory of your mobile device.

On my birthday, I published a post with a photo and text. I can't find it now since I probably have deleted it. Could you please help me to find and recover it?

Perhaps, your post was moved to the archive by mistake? Check out the stories archive too. If it isn't there, please go to the web-archive web.archive.org and specify the closest date on the timeline.

Instagram deleted my post with a photo because someone had complained about it just for fun or maybe to make me angry. But I didn't violate the community rules!

Log in to your account using the Instagram app. When you try to log in, you receive a message stating that your profile has been blocked, and “if there is an error, please let us know”. Click on the link and make a request to unblock your account. After a while, you should get back the access to it and you'll be able to retrieve the photo and other data.

I had deleted a bunch of photos from my Instagram account. a little over a month ago. Is there a way to get deleted instagram pictures back to the acct. with comments etc…? If so, can you please send me the best way to do so. I deleted them from my Apple iPhone SE

I deleted some posts I didn’t want to be deleted. I contacted Instagram and reported this and asked my account to be reset to April 27th (before the posts were deleted) will they make my Instagram posts and profile like it used to be?

this is ybezzy musician artist my Instagram was hacked today and I just got it back.. I wanna know is it away I can restore deleted instagram photos back on to my profile wit my comments and likes still the same ?

Dear Team,

My name is Darren and I wrote to you in deep sadness. Recently my wife and I had a silly argument. As we share Instagram passwords and accounts she was able to delete all the pictures she wanted too about two weeks ago. I have been trying to recover them but had no luck. The biggest killer for me is not having my marriage photo and date on my profile anymore. If you guys could help I really would be so so grateful.

[ Me and a picture of my girlfirend ]

Hey guys me and my girlfriends 2 years is coming up and there’s the this picture that we took from before we were dating and we lost it a while ago. It is very sentimental to her and I was trying to see if I could get it back. Is there anyway to get it back from about a year ago? Or am I out of luck. It was on instagram and my phone

[ Hacked & Deleted Instagram account]

Dear all, my account was most probably hacked & deleted (most probably by my ex girlfriend). Police department & Legal firm started investigation regarding the protection of his privacy and personality.

Do you have access or close contact to instagram. Our goal is to push investigation & come to final conclusion as soon as possible.

Thank you for your fast return. Appreciated.

A few hours ago, I was scrolling down my Instagram profile and I decided to delete some old pictures since I wanted to start an almost brand-new profile.

I deleted some pictures without knowing the existence of the Archive, and now that I know how to use it, I would like my pictures back to save them there.

Can you recover deleted instagram photos? Thanks!

[Instagram deleted my pictures]

Hi, Instgram deleted my pictures a few days ago except for one that they moved in my archived. Please if you could help me try to get them back as i’m trying to contact instagram and they’re not replying.

My archive was not activated or turned ON in saving Instagram post. I sent a few posts to archive. They are not there, can I retrieve them and get them back?

[Instagram photo deleted by mistake]

I wanted to delete a comment but I deleted the whole post on my Instagram, please tell me if I can I restore it back and can I still have all the likes? In the archive I think I have only videos, haven't seen photos though, how come? Thank you for your time!

[Stolen photos]

Someone hacked my Instagram account & changed name & password I was able to log back in with my email on Facebook and change password and get access to my original screen name But all the photos & followers are gone can u help

[Instagram deleted my all the pictures and videos]

Instagram deleted my all videos and pictures i can't understand what's wrong with instagram i am now helpless i need to retrieve deleted instagram photos please help

Sir/Madam Yesterday night i had disabled my instagram account Today morining when i logged in i didn't find any posts of mine.. There Were 55 posts.. i dont know suddenly how it got disappeared.. how can i get my back my photos. Please help me

I get verification code and I did it. Almost all my photos and highlights disappeared from my profile. Now I have only 3 posts from something like 132 and random highlights. What should I do to find deleted instagram pictures? I wrote to Instagram about my problem but nothing changed.

[Posts became zero after reactivating instagram account]

Yesterday i deactivated my account but after few hours i reactivated it, Everything else was normal except my posts which became zero when i reactivated it(all were very much important for me and my profession) , So I need to recover them as soon as possible.I reported it several times and refreshed it but everything was useless.

Hello, I temporarily deactivated my instagram account and when i logged in again a lot of my photos were deleted. I just want to know is there any chance for me to restore my disappeared instagram photos in my Instagram profile again?

I was having trouble uploading pictures and videos on Instagram. I uninstalled Instagram to reinstall it again, but lost all of my posts and pictures. Its like I have a whole new account. Everything is gone. How can I restore everything….friends…pictures….posts..etc.

[File is lost but thumbnails still appears, some no thumbnails at all]

All my instagram stories are saved in my internal memory, but recently something happened with the app so i had to repeatedly delete and download the app again. When i checked my gallery some of my saved stories has thumbnails but when i open it says that file cannot be found, and for some there's no thumbnail at all. Can i still restore all those files. I really need to restore it and transfer the files to my macbook. How do i do it.

I need to get into my old instagram to get my pictures off of there. The images are priceless, an can not be replaced. So i need a way to get back into my account. I don't remember what email or phone number i used for that account. So i need help.

I recently downloaded Instagram a few weeks ago. Two days ago, I went on a trip and used Instagram to take lots of pictures but didn't think to press the save button on the bottom and instead pressed the x button because I thought they would automatically save. Now, I cannot find/ access any of the photos I took previously. I tried looking for them in my files or archive, but nothing shows up. I don't have an sd card or anything, so nothing is saved on a backup file. Is there any other way to access my lost pictures from Instagram?

My boyfriend and I had a silly argument. I was truly angry and delete all the photos about me and him. I have been trying to recover them but had no luck. And I am truly regretted. I don’t have any extra backup at anywhere anymore. Me and my boyfriend are dating for nearly 6 years now and it was a bunch of photo that have been deleted around a year ago. It’s about the memory about us. If you guys could help I really would be so so grateful. It was on instagram and my phone

Me and my husband decided to make a new Instagram and deleted a lot of photos then deactivated the account 3 days ago. We would now like the same Instagram back with the photos is this possible please :(

I temporarily deactivated my instagram account and when i logged in again a lot of my photos were deleted. I just want to know is there any chance for me to restore my disappeared instagram photos in my Instagram profile again?

An ex bf got on my instagram and deleted a bunch of posts I didn't want gone. This happened about 3 weeks ago and I no longer have those pictures anywhere on my phone. Is there anyway to get these back?

[Instagram pictures deleted]

Recently checked my profile, pictures that is the posts in my profile got deleted like around 5 pictures. It's strange to see them got deleted, no idea how they got deleted without my knowledge. So I like to know do you have any idea how this happened? Is there anyway to recover those pics in my profile, yeah it's a stupid question but just curious about it. "

Someone logged into my Instagram and deleted a bunch of pictures of me and my fiancé. I would really love them back on my profile they’re very sentimental. How can I get them back?

Hello, I recently posted on instagram for my girlfriends graduation. It was two photos in one post, and I believe the post was on May 12, 2019. I checked my instagram account on May 29, and the post was gone. I never deleted the post myself, and it didn't violate any of instagram's policies. How do I get this post returned to my page?