Can you see someone’s deleted stories on Instagram? I watched a very good story the other day, I went back to download it and forgot. Can I go back and find it? ‘ The question posed by a Flowline Center reader this week and given to me to answer.
The short answer is you can’t see someone’s deleted Instagram Stories unless you save them as Highlight.
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Deleted Instagram Stories
All Instagram Stories have a 24-hour lifespan that you or someone else have made. The only exception is if they are converted to Highlight. Then they stick around until you remove them. As far as I know, this is the only time a Story will last longer than a day.
If it’s been more than 24 hours since you found the story and it wasn’t added as a Highlight, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. This time limit is part of the psychological battle that social networks use to stay connected. We hate the idea of missing out on anything, so having a time limit on something is sure to keep us coming back and checking we haven’t missed it.
We use Instagram more, content is consumed more, people do it more, people use it more, etc.
Check Highlights on Instagram for Deleted Stories
You can check your friend’s profile to see if they added the Story as a Highlight and if it’s still there. If it’s as good as you say, he might have thought the same thing and adding it as a Highlight could make it stick longer. So you can see deleted Instagram stories. To do that:
- Open Instagram on your phone.
- Go to this friend’s profile.
- Look just below the Story section to see Highlights.
If you’re lucky, the story will be there and you can either read it or make a copy of it.
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Save a copy of someone’s Instagram Story
If the story you’re looking for is Highlights, you should be able to review it anytime. If you don’t want to risk it disappearing, you can get a copy. The easiest way to do this is to take a screenshot, but Instagram warns the poster you made. There are several ways to copy Instagram Story.
If it’s your own story, you can select the Seen icon in the lower left corner of the main Story screen. You should see a Download option where you can save the story to your camera roll.
If you want to record someone else’s Story you need to be more creative. I tend to use Storeisig, a website that lets you view and download other people’s Stories. Another website claims to do the same thing, Ninja Copy. I haven’t tried it but it might work.
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Can you get someone’s Instagram Stories back?
Not all Instagram Stories are one great and some are worth rewatching. You can view a Story as many times as you want as long as you stay within the 24-hour limit. Just select the Story as you normally would and repeat as many times as you want.
The time limit still applies, so if the poster fails to add it as a Highlight, you should make the most of it while you’re there, unless you save a copy for yourself.
Ask them for a copy of the Story
You cannot Convert a stored Story to Highlight and there is no official way to recover copies of others’ work on Instagram, but there are workarounds. If these two download websites don’t cut it, you have another option. Just ask the person who sent the Story to send you a copy.
You can then download as you wish. Once on the camera roll you can do whatever you want. Send it via a DM, email or something. If you really know or know the person, a short message asking nicely for a copy of his awesome Story because you loved him so much is sure to hit his ego enough to share it with you.
Instagram Stories are an excellent part of the app. Like Snapchat, the integration of the time limit adds a lot to the experience, from tickling our FOMO to encouraging sharing more than we would if we were a permanent record. He uses our own psychology against us but in a useful way and I think Stories will be very popular for a long time.
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