What’s in Your Instagram Data Dump and How to Get It
All the cool services get data dumps – that little link that you click somewhere in the settings menu that starts the service to send you all the data it collects from you (and whatever you theoretically used it for).
After all the Facebook privacy bullshit this year, the company’s selfie engine creator, Instagram, decided to join the club and allow users to export their own data packets from the service. This is how you request it and what’s in it:
How to ask Instagram for all your data
Yes, this is Instagram – an application with which you will always stay connected with your mobile device. To request a data packet, you will start with the unorthodox step – put down your phone. The Instagram data export tool is not available for your smartphone or tablet, and it is unclear if it will ever appear and when it will.
Instead, open the Instagram website and sign in. Click the person icon in the upper right corner. Then click the gear-shaped icon to the right of the Edit Profile button. On the pop-up menu, click Privacy & Security. Scroll down a bit on the next page “Account Privacy” and you will see a header for data download followed by a “Download Request Link”. Click on this link.
On the next screen that appears, Instagram will ask you if you would like a copy of your “photos, comments, profile information, etc.” You do! Make sure your email address is correct and click Next.
Next, you’ll need to enter your Instagram password – which you’ve probably saved in a great password management app – and click on the Request Download link. Then you have to wait for Instagram to prepare this file, which can take up to 48 hours (it took me less than ten minutes).
Instagram will send you an email when your data dump is ready:
When you hit that big ‘Upload Data’ button, you’ll be taken back to the Instagram site and you’ll have to log in again – yes, that includes entering a custom text number that the service will send you if you’ve turned on two-factor authentication (wise step). Finally, you will reach a screen where you can download your data archive.
Oh yes, the download link is only available for four days after Instagram creates the archive. You can always ask for another archive if you do not reach it in time, but you will have to repeat the process again (including waiting).
What kind of Instagram dirt is on you?
When you unzip the Instagram data archive, you will see a folder full of a bunch of ugly JSON files. You can open them in a text editor to try and parse the raw information yourself, or you can copy and paste the content of any JSON file into a site like this that converts the data to CSV, which is a little easier to read. (This is all done in your browser , not the server side, so you are not sending your data to some unknown entity.)
JSON files cover a lot of data:
- Comments you left on your friends’ photos (or replies to comments they left on your photos)
- When did you start following other Instagram users and when other Instagram users started following you
- Who have you blocked on Instagram (and when)
- When you liked content from different users (rather than a list of specific content that you liked)
- When you posted content on Instagram (and what a witty caption you had)
- All messages that you sent to other users using the Instagram mobile apps.
- Your profile information
- Your searches
In the archive folders, you can also view most of the content you’ve uploaded to Instagram, including:
- What images have you sent to others in private messages
- All Instagram photos you uploaded
- Instagram Stories you’ve archived
- Videos you’ve posted on Instagram
I’ll admit, the Instagram data export tool hasn’t raised any security flags for me. Nothing in the files I received gave me the impression that Facebook was using my videos and images in some nefarious way, although the ad is still the name of the game on the service.
Anyway, Instagram’s tool made it much easier to get a backup of everything I uploaded to the service and never saved on my device (or anywhere else). And it also gave me the opportunity to take a quick trip down memory lane in search of all the old photo gems I had long forgotten about: