Recovering messages that I’ve deleted?

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blizeH - Jan 17, 2021 at 04:05 AM
HelpiOS Posts 14311 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 24, 2024 - Jan 22, 2021 at 04:19 AM
Hello, I deleted a direct message chat and would like to get the messages back - as far as I can tell, with Instagram the messages are stored server-side so this should be possible? I’m in the U.K. so I think, under GPDR laws, they are obliged to give us the option to access them.

I’ve tried requesting my personal data - it includes a messages folder but it doesn’t have any of my deleted messages in it. I’ve emailed Instagram about this but haven’t heard back yet, I don’t know if there’s a better way to contact them?

I see [this site](https://assisttechie.com/ig_msg_rec/ referenced a lot, including on some legit websites like Wikihow, but it feels very scammy to me? Safari gives it a ‘deceptive website’ warning, and even if you type in a garbage username it still says ‘verifying username’ and then ‘username found’... but I’m wondering if I should try it anyway, even if it means paying for one of the services they push.

Are there any other things I can try that I haven’t considered please? Unfortunately asking the other person for them is not an option, they said they’ve deleted them too.

Thank you!
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1 response

HelpiOS Posts 14311 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 24, 2024 1,891
Jan 17, 2021 at 11:18 AM
Hi,

Some users have successfully recovered a few of their deleted Instagram messages by downloading a copy of their data. Unfortunately, I suppose your messages are permanently deleted considering you tried the same method.

The site you're referring seems suspicious and I recommend you to avoid that kind of platform. If Instagram can't recover your messages, it is impossible for a third-party site to do so. Most of them are fake and may steal your personal data from your Instagram account.

You can try to recover your messages from Facebook in case your Instagram account is linked to it, but this is not guaranteed. Go to the Facebook Inbox and on the left menu bar, click the Instagram icon.

Good luck.
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blizeH Posts 1 Registration date Sunday January 17, 2021 Status Member Last seen January 18, 2021
Jan 18, 2021 at 07:46 AM
Thank you so much! Your post is really helpful.

Regarding the Facebook recovery - my Instagram account is very old and created before this was a thing, so only yesterday did I actually get around to linking them. The Facebook Inbox isn’t appearing for me - and when I visit the link (https://www.facebook.com/messages/other) from another page I get an error. Any idea on how I would access this please to see if the old messages are there?

Thanks again :)
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HelpiOS Posts 14311 Registration date Friday October 30, 2015 Status Moderator Last seen April 24, 2024 1,891 > blizeH Posts 1 Registration date Sunday January 17, 2021 Status Member Last seen January 18, 2021
Jan 22, 2021 at 04:19 AM
After I checked the Inbox feature, it seems working only from a Facebook page that you manage as admin and your Instagram account must be linked to that page. Also, your link no longer works on the new version of Facebook, the new link is "www.facebook.com/FACEBOOK-PAGE-NAME/inbox".

I think there's a small chance this will work... Sorry.
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