How to download your Instagram messages

Steps to download Instagram messages

1. Open Instagram and go to your profile, then tap the menu (☰) in the top right and select Accounts Center — or go to Settings, then Accounts Center depending on your app version.
2. In Accounts Center, tap Your information and permissions.
3. Tap Download your information.
4. Select the Instagram account you want to export (Accounts Center can manage several linked accounts).
5. Choose Select types of information, then pick Messages specifically — you don’t need to request your whole account’s data if you only want DMs.
6. Choose Format: JSON. Do not select HTML — the PDF converter needs the structured JSON files.
7. Choose a date range (all time, or a custom range) and submit the request.
8. Wait for Meta’s email — this can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days depending on how much data is included and Meta’s current processing load.
9. When the email arrives, follow its link back to Accounts Center, download the .zip file, and unzip it on your device.
10. Inside, navigate to your_instagram_activity/messages/inbox/, find the folder for the conversation you want, and open it — you’ll see message_1.json (and message_2.json, etc. for longer threads).

Why JSON, not HTML

Meta’s download tool offers both JSON and HTML formats for the same data. HTML produces styled web pages meant for browsing — fine for casually scrolling your own export, but not something a PDF tool can reliably parse into exact timestamps and message boundaries. JSON keeps the same information as structured data: every message’s timestamp in milliseconds, the sender’s name, and message content as separate fields, which is what makes an accurate transcript possible.

If you already requested an HTML export, you’ll need to submit a new request choosing JSON — Meta doesn’t offer a way to convert one format to the other after the fact.

Why it isn’t instant

Unlike WhatsApp’s export, which happens on your phone in seconds, Instagram’s export is prepared on Meta’s servers and delivered by email — this is standard for data-portability requests across all of Meta’s apps, not specific to messages. Requesting only Messages rather than your entire account’s data (photos, comments, stories, etc.) usually makes it come back faster.

Finding the right conversation folder

Each conversation gets its own folder under your_instagram_activity/messages/inbox/, named after the other participant’s username with a short random suffix, e.g. janedoe_a1b2c3d4e5. If you have many conversations, the folder names can be hard to tell apart at a glance — open message_1.json briefly in a text editor, or just check the folder’s modified date, to confirm you have the right one before uploading it.

Menus change — what to look for

Meta periodically renames or relocates settings across Instagram, Facebook and Accounts Center. If “Accounts Center” isn’t where described above, look under Settings and privacy or Settings and activity for anything mentioning “Your information and permissions” or “Download your data” — the underlying export flow is stable even when the exact wording shifts.