How to export your Instagram messages

Step-by-step tutorial

Option 1: record the chat (fastest)

This one takes a couple of minutes. You film your screen while scrolling up through the conversation, and OttoKnows reads the messages from the video.

Every message that passes on screen gets read, so the further back you scroll, the more history you capture. Hold your phone upright.

1. 1Open Instagram and tap the conversation you want.
2. 2Start a screen recording: from Control Center on iPhone, or by swiping down twice from the top and tapping Screen record on Android.
3. 3Swipe down on the chat as fast as you can to scroll up toward older messages. Go as far back as you can.
4. 4Stop the recording. The video lands in your Photos or Gallery.
5. 5On OttoKnows, tap Click here, choose Photo Library and pick the video.

Recording tips

On iPhone, if you don't see the Screen Recording button in Control Center, add it from the Control Center settings first.

Scroll toward older messages, not newer ones. If you start at the top and scroll down, you'll capture the wrong direction.

If the browser can't open the video, open the page in Safari or Chrome rather than inside the Instagram app.

The video itself stays on your phone. To read it, still images of the chat are picked out in your browser and sent to our AI provider, which transcribes the visible messages.

Option 2: download your information from Meta

This gives you a proper file, but you'll have to wait for Meta to prepare it, usually a few minutes, sometimes longer.

1. 1On your profile, tap ☰, then Accounts Center.
2. 2Open Your information and permissions, then Download your information.
3. 3Choose Some of your information and tick only Messages.
4. 4Choose Download to device, format JSON, date range All time, then Create files.
5. 5When Meta says your information is ready, download the .zip. The chat is in messages, inbox, in the folder named after the conversation, as message_1.json.

Which option should you pick?

Recording is instant and works for any chat you can scroll through. It's limited by how far back you scroll.

The Meta download covers the full history but takes longer, and the .zip includes all your chats, so you'll need to find the right folder. Upload either the .zip or the message_1.json file.

If the .zip holds several conversations, open it, go to messages, then inbox, and upload the message_1.json from the folder of the chat you want. Folder names usually start with the other person's username.

Our take: start with the recording if you're curious right now, and request the Meta download in the background if you want the complete story later.

What to do with it

Once you have it, OttoKnows can tell you who slides into the DMs first, how fast each of you replies, who double-texts, and when the energy changed.

The preview is free. The full report, with Otto's scores, quotes and verdict, is a one-time payment shown before you pay.

Only analyze your own conversations. Never record or download someone else's DMs without them knowing.

FAQ

Read next

• Export an iMessage conversation →
• Save a Snapchat chat →
• Export a Telegram chat →