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How to Download Your Instagram Data (Step-by-Step)
Instagram collects a lot of information about you — and you have the right to access all of it. Whether you want to audit your followers, review your DM history, or simply understand what the platform knows about you, downloading your Instagram data is the place to start.
This guide walks you through the exact steps, explains what you'll find in the download, and shows you how to get the most out of it.
What's Included in Your Instagram Data Export
When you request your data, Instagram compiles a comprehensive archive. The main categories include:
- Followers and following lists — complete records of everyone following you and everyone you follow
- Posts, stories, and reels — your media and captions
- Messages — your full direct message history
- Comments — every comment you've left on any post
- Liked posts — your entire like history
- Search history — what you've searched for on the platform
- Ads data — the interest categories Instagram uses to target you
- Account activity — logins, device history, IP addresses
For most people interested in follower analysis, the followers and following files are the most useful part.
How to Download Your Instagram Data on Mobile
iPhone and Android steps are identical:
- Open Instagram and go to your profile
- Tap the three lines (hamburger menu) in the top right
- Tap Your Activity
- Scroll down to Download Your Information and tap it
- Tap Download or Transfer Information
- Select Some of your information
- Under "Connections," check Followers and Following
- Tap Next
- Choose Download to Device
- Select a date range (or "All time" for the complete history)
- Set the format to JSON (easier to work with programmatically)
- Tap Create Files
Instagram will process your request and send a notification (and email) when the download is ready. This typically takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours depending on how much data you have.
How to Download Your Instagram Data on Desktop
- Go to instagram.com and log in
- Click your profile photo in the top right
- Click Settings
- Click Meta Accounts Center → Your information and permissions
- Click Download your information
- Follow the same steps as the mobile flow above
Understanding the Files You'll Receive
Your download arrives as a ZIP file. Inside, you'll find folders and JSON files. The most relevant ones for follower analysis:
followers_1.json — A list of every account currently following you, including their username and the date they followed.
following.json — A list of every account you follow, with the same structure.
To find who unfollowed you, you'd compare a current followers_1.json against a previous one. Anyone present in the old file but absent in the new one unfollowed you during that period.
This comparison can be done manually with a text editor or automatically with a tool like FollowGone, which does the analysis for you after you upload your export.
JSON vs. HTML Format — Which Should You Choose?
Instagram offers two export formats:
HTML is human-readable and opens directly in a browser. It looks like a webpage and is easier to skim visually.
JSON is structured data — harder to read manually, but far more useful if you're using any tool to analyze it. FollowGone, for example, works with JSON exports.
Recommendation: Download in JSON format. You can always generate a human-readable view from JSON, but the reverse is much harder.
How Often Can You Request a Download?
Instagram limits how frequently you can request your data. Typically, you can submit a new request once every few days. For ongoing tracking, this means you'll want to:
- Download your data at a consistent interval (weekly or monthly)
- Store your exports somewhere safe so you can compare them over time
- Use a consistent format (always JSON) to make comparisons easier
Privacy and Security Notes
Your data export contains sensitive information — your DM history, login locations, device identifiers. Treat the ZIP file like you'd treat your password:
- Don't upload it to services you don't trust
- Don't share it on cloud storage with public access
- Delete exports you no longer need
FollowGone is designed with this in mind. We only need the followers/following portion of your export, and we process it without storing your personal data on our servers.
What You Can Do With Your Data
Once you have your export, the use cases go beyond just tracking unfollowers:
- Audit fake or inactive followers — compare usernames against known bot patterns
- Review who you're following that doesn't follow back — a useful list for cleaning up your feed
- Track follower growth over time — by comparing exports month over month
- Understand when you gained or lost followers — the timestamps in the JSON files tell a detailed story
Downloading your Instagram data puts you back in control of information that's already yours. Use it.
Ready to analyze your followers list? Upload your export to FollowGone and get a clear picture in minutes.