How to see old deleted messages on instagram

We aren't mind readers, but if you are reading this, then chances are you want to know how to recover deleted messages on Instagram.

Table of Contents Show

How To Recover Deleted Messages On Instagram
An Alternate Way To Recover Deleted Messages On Instagram
How to Recover Deleted Direct Messages (DMs) from Instagram?
Additional: Open the Downloaded Messages

Have you ever deleted an Instagram chat and then regretted it later? It could be worse, your Instagram account might have been deleted. We know it is possible to see deleted messages on Discord, but can you do the same on Instagram?

Luckily, there are some ways to recover deleted messages on Instagram, and in this post, we are going to show them to you. Keep reading to find out!

How To Recover Deleted Messages On Instagram

All the chats that you have deleted on Instagram will be available on the Instagram server - except the "unsend" messages. And there is an official way to retrieve them. If you delete a chat by mistake, then you can view or restore it by requesting your data.

Here are the steps to view and recover deleted messages on Instagram:

On your browser, navigate to https://www.instagram.com, then sign in to your account.
Right-click your profile icon located in the top right corner of the screen, then select Settings from the menu.
Choose the Privacy and Security option from the menu on the left of the screen.
Scroll down and click on the Request Download option under the Data Download header.
Now choose HTML as your download format, then click Next.
Verify your identity by entering your password, then click Request Download.
Instagram will email a link to a file with your requested information. It can take up to 14 days to collect this data and send it to you. However, in most cases, you will get them within 30 minutes.
Once you receive the email from Instagram, click on the Download information button to download. You will be asked to log in to your Instagram account.
You will now be able to download the data by clicking Download information. The file will start to download.
Once downloaded, unzip the folder and go to “messages > inbox > [named folder],” then open the “chats.html" file.
Just scour through the file and you will find all the persons you have chatted with. Tap on their names to read the conversation.

Note that your file doesn't include messages that you've unsent from your Instagram account. It is also worth mentioning that the link sent to you in the email expires 4 days after you receive it. So, if you open the link after four days of receiving the email, it won’t work, and you’ll need to request data again - after 14 days.

Read More: How To Turn Off Suggested Posts On Instagram

An Alternate Way To Recover Deleted Messages On Instagram

Since the official method may take up to 14 days, you can use another way to recover deleted messages on Instagram - if you are really desperate.

You can recover deleted Instagram messages using third-party data recovery software. FoneLab is one of the commonly used tools to view and recover deleted messages on Instagram and other data ( like contacts, notes, calendars, photos, music, movies, etc.)

The tool work by accessing the cache files on your iOS or Android device to retrieve the deleted messages. You can find detailed instructions on how to recover deleted messages on Instagram via FoneLab on this website. However, this is a third-party application, so we'd recommend caution about using any unofficial products.

Instagram is a famous social media application used for photos, videos, and direct messages. Users can send messages from their accounts to other users by using the direct message feature on Instagram. However, some users delete their messages by mistake or intentionally and look for a method to recover them. In this article, we will show you how to recover deleted Instagram messages and is it possible or not.

Recovering Instagram deleted messages

How to Recover Deleted Direct Messages (DMs) from Instagram?

Direct messages on Instagram has the same feature as other online chatting applications. Users can send and unsend messages in DMs, it also has an option to delete the whole conversation. Deleting the full conversation will only delete it from your side and not the other user, while unsending will remove it for both parties. There are many types of third-party applications which are there on the market for recovering Instagram messages. We do not recommend any third-party application that is not trusted for your security. The only working and proved method is to use the Instagram download data feature to recover the deleted messages as shown below:

Open the Instagram application on your device and login to your account. Tap on your profile icon, then tap on the menu icon and choose the Settings option.
Opening Instagram Security Settings
Choose the Security option in the list and then tap on Download Data. Provide the email address where you want to receive the data and tap the Request Download button.
Requesting Download Data.
Enter the Instagram password to confirm the action for downloading data and tap on Next, then tap on Done.
Providing the Instagram account password.
You will successfully receive an email with the account information including the messages within 48 hours. Once you get the email, open it and click the Download Data button in the email.
Open the email and click the Download Data button in the email.
It will open the browser with the Instagram login page. Sign in to your Instagram account and you will get the Download data button again, press that and your data will be downloaded.
Finally, download the Instagram data for your account.

Additional: Open the Downloaded Messages

You cannot open the data for messages you get in the email directly. The file will be in ‘JSON’ format and needs a JSON editor to open it. You need to download a third-party application that can open JSON files for you. Follow the below steps to open the file that you got in email for messages:

The downloaded data will be in a zip format, so extract it to any of the folders in your File Manager.
Note: You can use the default extract feature or use the third-party application to unzip it.
Extracting the zip file.
Go to Google Play Store, search for JSON Genie application and download it.
Downloading the JSON Genie application.
Open the JSON Genie application and tap on the menu button on the left top corner. Choose the option Open JSON File.
Selecting the Open JSON file option.
Check the recent files or tap the menu button again to search in File Manager. Select the ‘messages.json‘ file in your extracted folder and click OK.
Opening the messages JSON file.
You will find the conversation in the form of numbers; each number will have participants and conversation information. You can tap on the conversation to check all the messages.
Reading the deleted Instagram messages.

Kevin is a dynamic and self-motivated information technology professional, with a Thorough knowledge of all facets pertaining to network infrastructure design, implementation and administration. Superior record of delivering simultaneous large-scale mission critical projects on time and under budget.