How to Export Instagram Messages, and Only the Messages
Instagram lets you export messages alone from Accounts Centre by choosing Specific types of information. Here is the route Instagram documents, and the four day window.
To export Instagram messages, go to Accounts Centre, open Your information and permissions, tap Export your information and Create export, then choose Specific types of information so you can select messages alone. Instagram notifies you when the file is ready, and you have four days to download it.
Instagram has no download button inside a conversation. Your direct messages leave as part of a copy of your account information, and the useful decision is how much of that account you ask for. Everything below follows Instagram’s own help pages, in their order.
Messages are one category you can pull out of the whole account
Instagram’s page Information available to download from your Instagram profile says there are two options for how much you download. Available information is files that include information and activity for the accounts and profiles you selected, but won’t include data logs. Specific types of information includes all of those files as well as data logs, and it is the one that allows you to select only certain types of information for download, such as photos, messages or data logs.
That second option is the reason this export can be small. If what you want is your conversations, ticking messages and nothing else is a route Instagram documents. The main export page makes the size point itself: choosing to only download one type of information gives a smaller file, while high quality videos make it larger.
The taps, starting from your Instagram profile
Instagram’s iPhone and Android versions of Review and export a copy of your Instagram information give the same route for exporting to your device:
Tap Profile, then tap Menu.
Tap Accounts Centre, then Your information and permissions.
Tap Export your information.
Tap Create export.
Select the profile that you’d like to export information from.
Tap Next.
Select Export to device.
Choose the specific info to export, and select a date range, format, notification email address and media quality.
Once you have customised your export, tap Start export.
On a computer the page starts differently. Click More in the bottom left, then click Settings, then click Accounts Centre and Your information and permissions. From there the screens are the same: Export your information, Create export, choose the profile, Next, Export to device, then Start export.
The date range at step 8 is the other way to keep the archive down. If you only care about one stretch of a conversation, Portraitor can also analyse only part of a chat once it is uploaded.
Saving to the phone or sending to another service carries different things
Instagram is explicit that the two destinations are not interchangeable. To export to a device, the page says you need sufficient storage space, and it suggests checking what you have before deciding between the device and an external service. The types it lists for a device export are Your Instagram activity, Personal information, Connections, Logged information, Security and login information, Apps and websites off Instagram, Preferences and Ad information.
An export to an external service is where Instagram says you can include a copy of the original media you shared, such as photos and videos. That route asks you to choose a service, connect to it, choose how often to export and enter your password. For messages you want to read, the device route is the one the rest of this guide assumes.
Two limits are written into the page. Your export won’t include information that someone else shared, such as another person’s photos that you’re tagged in. And a profile that is deactivated, or scheduled for deletion, may not export until you reactivate it or cancel the deletion.
When the export is ready, you receive an email and a notification on Instagram. You then have four days to download it from Available downloads in the Export your information tool, and the page describes the whole process as password protected and only accessible to you.
Encrypted Instagram chats ended on 8 May 2026
Instagram’s page End-to-end encryption on Instagram now opens with one fact: end-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram is no longer supported as of 8 May 2026. If you have chats affected by the change, the page says you will see instructions on how to download any media or messages you may want to keep.
It adds that on an older version of Instagram you may need to update the app before you can download your affected chats. The page does not say how long those instructions stay available, so if you had encrypted conversations, look for them in the app before you rely on the ordinary account export.
Where the Instagram zip goes next
Portraitor lists Instagram as one of the four platforms it accepts, with WhatsApp, Telegram and Messenger. For Instagram its home page says Export your info gives you a .zip file, and the uploader accepts .txt, .html, .json or .zip, so the archive does not need unpacking first. Which chat export files can be analysed has the full list.
According to the privacy policy, before any part of the conversation is transmitted your browser replaces names, email addresses, telephone numbers, postal addresses and credentials with anonymous placeholders, entirely on your own device. If that step fails, nothing is transmitted and the payment is refunded automatically. Photographs, videos and voice recordings in an export are never opened and never transmitted; only the masked text of the written messages is sent. The policy also says masking removes identifiers but not subject matter, which is it safe to upload your chat history goes into.
You then pick the one person you want a portrait of. In the home page’s words, their messages are read; everyone else stays context. A thread with more than two people is covered in what happens to everyone else in a group chat.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
Can I download only my Instagram messages?
Yes. Instagram says the Specific types of information option allows you to select only certain types of information, such as photos, messages or data logs.
Where is the export on Instagram?
In Accounts Centre, under Your information and permissions, then Export your information. In the app you reach Accounts Centre from Profile and Menu; on a computer, from More and Settings.
How long is the download available?
Four days. Instagram’s page says that once your export is ready you have four days to download it from Available downloads in the Export your information tool.
Does the export include photos other people sent me?
Instagram’s page says your export won’t include information that someone else shared, giving the example of another person’s photos that you’re tagged in. Portraitor never opens photos in an export either way.
What happened to encrypted Instagram chats?
Instagram says end-to-end encrypted messaging is no longer supported as of 8 May 2026, and that people with affected chats will see instructions in the app for downloading messages and media they want to keep.
Ask for messages alone, save to the device, and collect the file within four days.
Your conversations, read the way you would read someone else’s.
Portraitor takes a chat export you already have, anonymises it in your browser, and returns a structured reading of how you come across. Identifying details are removed in your browser before anything is sent.
See how it works →