One of the features users have been clamoring for from Instagram is finally available, albeit only in the web version of the app for the time being. You can now download and save all your data at once, which includes all your photos if you so desire. That’s a lot better than saving them one at a time. It’s all thanks to Europe’s new GDPR privacy laws that require tech companies to be more transparent about the kind of user data they hoard. It also mandates that they allow their customers to download a copy of that data whenever they want.
The feature was first mentioned a few weeks ago, but Business Insider was able to confirm it’s finally available on the web. iPhone and Android Instagram apps will also get the Data Download feature in future updates. Tech companies have until May 25th to comply with the new GDRP regulations, which explains why Instagram is rolling out the feature right now.
Once you ask Instagram to hand over a copy of your data, you’ll be sent a link to the registered email on your account, and the link can be used to download everything. You’ll have to wait up to 48 hours for it to show up in your inbox, however.
In addition to getting all the photos you’ve posted to Instagram in a single download, which is really the only reason to be excited about this new feature, the data dump will also contain your likes, searches, direct messages that haven’t been deleted, as well as the usernames of your followers and of the people you follow. If you’ve also used Stories, you’re going to get that data in your download, too.
