How to Recover Deleted Instagram Direct Message and Data on Android/iPhone

Last Updated on April 19, 2023 by Joanna Lake

Instagram is a well-known photo and video sharing social networking app, which is widely used to share wonderful moments, and with Instagram Direct, we send messages to your friends with text, photos,and posts, videos or profiles that we like.

You may have accidentally deleted your Instagram Direct messages and then wonder how to get them back again. Or maybe you intentionally delete some of the photos, videos or posts on your Instagram, and for one reason or another, you want to get those deleted data on Instagram.

So, is it possible to recover those deleted Instagram Direct messages or other data? In this article, we will solve all your problems.

Is it Possible to Recover Deleted Instagram Messages by Downloading Instagram Data

The answer is no. When you download your Instagram Data, Instagram will collect the data right away only including those messages that exist at the moment, then they will send a zip file to your email. Open it you will find the message folder only contains the recent messages.

Here is the detailed guide to collect your Instagram data, Just go through the steps below:

Step 1: Open Instagram on your browser, sign in then select your account picture, then click Edit ProfilePrivacy & Security on the left sidebar.

Step 2: Go to Data download and choose Request download, then enter your email address and select the Next button. It will ask you to enter your password, after that, the data will be sent to your email.

Step 3: Unzip the file, and you will find all your Instagram data including contacts, comments, likes, photos, etc.

Step 4: Open the messages folder, and you will find all the recent chats. Double-click the Inbox folder, the attachments (Photos, audio and videos) of the Instagram messages will be collected in a folder with your friend’s name.

Why Recover Deleted Instagram Messages on an Associated Facebook Not Working?

The linked Facebook and Instagram account will sync the message, then you can reply to Instagram messages while using Facebook. And once for a while, users could view their deleted Instagram messages in the Inbox of Facebook messages.

Many articles suggest taking a look at your facebook messages. But none of the deleted Instagram messages were in the Facebook account’s Inbox.

Actually, it was a bug which had already been fixed. So, recovering deleted Instagram messages with Facebook is not working anymore.

By the way, you may find some websites also claim it will help you recover deleted Instagram Data online, and require your Instagram ID and password.

While logging in to your Instagram account on an unknown website is risky behaviour because you don’t know whether they will collect your password. And some users found their account was hacked and many posts were deleted after using these websites.

How to Recover Deleted Instagram Data on iPhone

Although, recovering deleted Instagram Direct messages is not quite feasible, we can recover other data like photos or videos that were generated or downloaded by Instagram. And you can recover SMS messages, WhatsApp messages, or even iMessages as a supplement.

To Recover that data, I will introduce iPhone Data Recovery which can help you to recover almost any kind of data from an iOS device including text messages, iMessages, WhatsApp messages, Kik messages, Line messages and more.

Step 1: Download and Install the iPhone Data Recovery.

iOS Data Recovery (Win)iOS Data Recovery (Mac)iOS Data Recovery (Win)iOS Data Recovery (Mac)

Step 2: Connect your iPhone to the computer. Then open FoneLabiPhone Data Recovery.

Step 3: Click the Start Scan button, and the program will scan all the data on your device, and the deleted ones will show in front.

Step 4: Then you will see all iPhone data, select a category on the left, and choose those you want to recover and click the Recover button to save those data on your PC. If you have to recover some Instagram data, you can check the App Photos and App Videos.

After a while, there is a folder popping up and you can use iPhone transfer to import them to your iPhone.

It will show a window that tells the location of the output folder and click the Recover button.

Method 2 Recover Deleted Instagram Data on Android

Similar to iOS Data Recovery, Android Data Recovery will provide a superior recovery service for Android users, thus you can recover most deleted Instagram messages with it.

Moreover, it will help you retrieve the deleted social media data, such as the photos and chat history of WhatsApp (including WhatsApp Business) and WeChat. With this program, you don’t have to worry about the data loss issue.

Normally, if you need to restore data from Google backup, it will overwrite other data on your devices.

While this software is able to view and selectively download data (specific contacts or messages, for example) from a Google Drive to your PC.

Step 1: Make sure you have installed the Android Data Recovery on your PC/Mac, and connect your phone to the PC using a USB.

Android Data Recovery (Win)Android Data Recovery (Mac)iOS Data Recovery (Win)iOS Data Recovery (Mac)

Step 2: Open the program and choose Recover Lost Data.

Step 3: Tick the checkbox of Messages, and select the Start button. You will see all the messages on your device after a while.

Step 4: Once you have checked the data you want to recover, click Recover and it will be stored on your PC. Later, you can import these files to your Android phones.

How to Recover Disappearing Messages on Instagram

Under vanish mode, you will be able to send a disappearing message to your friend. Once they read the messages, it will disappear on both sides.

To prevent users from secretly taking a screenshot, you will receive a notification if your friend does it on your disappearing message.

Unless you take photos of the chat before the messages disappear, you can’t save the messages. And there is no way to recover them.

Except for the Instagram photos and videos, you can’t recover other deleted Instagram data with Instagram Recently Deleted Folder.

Summary

Instagram announced that you can’t recover Direct Messages like Instagram photos, there is no deleted folder for Instagram chats.

There are 2 possible solutions for recovering deleted Instagram Direct Messages: one is to ask your friend to send you once again, the other is to recover with mobile phone data recovery software, these tools are able to scan all the data on your device.

Thus, don’t delete Instagram Direct Messages for any reason, since it’s hard to recover them.

FAQ

1Why I couldn’t find the Direct Messages on Instagram?

Can’t find the Instagram Direct messages on your chat list? You may haven’t checked the request box yet.

The request box will contain the messages from the users that you haven’t followed. Once you accept it, it will show in your chat list.

Open Instagram app, and hit the message icon and you’ll see the chat list. Look at the search bar, you will find “X requests”, tap it when you find it’s more than zero.

See if you can find the messages you want. When you find it, long press the message on your Android phone, and tap Accept.(If you are using an iPhone, swipe the message left and hit Accept). After that, you can view the messages on your chat list.

Open the Request in the Direct Message