How to download Instagram Stories: your own, other people's and what the rules say

How to save your own story

There are three points where you can save a story to your phone: in the editor before sharing, while it is live, and from the archive. Instagram Help on saving your story to your camera roll covers the first two. How to post a story and choose who sees it is covered in our guide to Instagram Stories.

Before sharing

Take a photo or video, or pick a file from your camera roll. While the frame is still open in the editor, a save button sits at the top of the screen. On Android it is called Download, and on iPhone it is called Save.

While it is live

A shared frame is saved through its own menu. The steps:

1. Open your active story.
2. Tap Options in the bottom right of the photo or video.
3. On Android, choose Save Photo/Video.
4. On iPhone, tap Save…, then Save Photo/Video for one frame or Save Story for the whole sequence.

Save Story joins every frame into one video. The Android help page has no such option.

Automatic saving to the camera roll and archive

Instagram Help describes automatic saving for the archive, not for the camera roll. Since December 5, 2017, frames move to the archive on their own when they expire, and only you can see them. The switch sits here: Profile, Menu, Your activity, Archived, then Options and Settings. The toggle is called Save story to archive. According to Instagram Help, once the archive is off, anything new you share is deleted after 24 hours. For the camera roll, use the manual buttons above.

How to download an old story from the archive and add it to Highlights

The archive keeps frames your viewers can no longer see. You can download any of them at any time, with almost the same buttons:

1. Tap Profile, then Menu in the top right.
2. Tap Archive and open the frame you need.
3. Tap Options in the bottom right.
4. Choose Save photo or Save video.

How to reshare an old story and add it to Highlights

An archived frame can go up again. Instagram Help follows the same path: Profile, Menu, Archive. Open the frame, tap Share at the bottom and choose Your story.

Highlights keep chosen frames on your profile beyond the day. Create one with New on your profile: select the frames, tap Next, set a cover and a name, then tap Done. According to Instagram Help, a Highlight stays until you remove it, and the people allowed to see your stories can see it too. Instagram Highlights explained walks through collections, and our Instagram archive guide shows what else the archive holds.

Can you download someone else's story: what the app offers and what it doesn't

The app has no button to download Instagram Stories posted by other people, and the help pages on saving cover your own content only. With someone else's frame, Instagram allows two things, and both keep it inside the app.

Send it in a chat

The Send button sits in the bottom right corner of the frame. Pick people or a group chat and tap Send again. According to Instagram Help, content shared this way keeps the same visibility settings as other posts. When the original disappears from Instagram, it is gone from the chat too.

Reshare it to your own story

The second route shows someone else's frame inside yours. Instagram Help sets one condition: the original account must be public. By default anyone can reshare from public accounts, while teen accounts have this turned off. Tap Share in the bottom right, then Add to story, Next and Share. Viewers will see who posted the original and can open that account.

The author controls this in Settings, under Sharing and reuse and then Stories to stories. There are three choices: Everyone, Followers you follow back and Off. None of these routes lets you save a story from another account to your camera roll.

Will the author know about a screenshot or screen recording?

For a regular story, no. Instagram's guide to Stories answers directly: the platform sends no notification when someone takes a screenshot of a regular story. The one exception is disappearing photos and videos in private messages. According to Instagram Help, if Instagram detects a screenshot of such a file, the sender sees a dotted circle next to it. The guide says nothing separate about screen recording.

What Instagram tested in 2018

In February 2018, TechCrunch reported a different approach. In that test, a camera shutter icon appeared next to anyone in the viewer list who took a screenshot. The current guide describes no such icon for stories.

Silence from the app does not make the copy yours. A screenshot or screen recording is still someone else's photo or video.

Copyright and privacy: other people's photos and videos are not yours to post

Instagram's Terms of Use say you can't do anything that violates someone else's rights, including intellectual property rights. The same clause bars posting someone else's private or confidential information without permission. Instagram Help on copyright says the safest option is to post only content you created yourself. For anything else it recommends written permission from the author, and Instagram cannot help you get it.

A separate help article lists what does not protect you from infringement:

• Giving credit to the author.
• Adding a disclaimer that you don't own the rights.
• Not making money from the post.
• Modifying the original photo or video.

According to Instagram Help, repeat violations can limit your ability to post photos and videos and cut access to some features. In more severe cases the account may be disabled.

Privacy of your own stories

Any viewer can save a story with a screenshot, and you will get no notification. Personal moments are safer with a Close Friends list. The archive help page adds one more detail: public content kept in your archive is used to improve AI at Meta unless you delete it or make your account private.

Sites that download Instagram Stories online: the risk and why they don't need your password

Search online and you will find sites and apps that promise someone else's frames as files. Some of them ask you to log in with your Instagram account.

What the platform rules prohibit

The same Terms of Use say you can't access or collect information in unauthorized ways. They name automated collection without Instagram's express permission separately. The document also bars soliciting, collecting or using other people's login credentials, including usernames and passwords. A site that asks for your password to fetch someone's frames works against these terms.

Why not to hand over your password

Instagram Help on securing your account says never to share your login information with an app you don't trust. With your username and password or an access token, such an app can gain complete access to your account. An access token is a digital key an app presents in place of your password. The risks of third-party login are covered in our article on apps that show who unfollowed you.

How to watch a public profile's active stories without joining the viewer list

Behind many download searches sits a different wish: to watch someone's stories without them knowing. From your own account that is not possible. Instagram Help says it plainly: when you see someone's story, they can tell that you've seen it.

Public profiles leave another route. Sled opens their active stories through a private link, with the photos, videos and the publication date and time of each. No sign-in, password or registration is needed. The profile owner does not see the view, and checking whether a profile has active stories is free.

Each frame lasts 24 hours, so check within that day. Other ways to view stories anonymously are compared in our guide to anonymous story viewing.

Common questions