Instagram

Social Archiver can save individual Instagram posts, reels, and stories, use an optional signed-in session for content visible only to your account, import Saved collections or profile posts from Chrome, and collect new public posts through subscriptions.

Save one post or reel

Archive an individual Instagram URL from the mobile app, desktop app, web app, Obsidian plugin, or Chrome extension. On mobile, you can also send the link to Social Archiver from the iOS or Android share menu.

Supported individual-content URLs include:

• Posts at /p/
• Reels at /reel/ or /reels/
• Legacy videos at /tv/
• Profile-scoped post links such as /<username>/p/...

Depending on what Instagram makes available, an archive can include the caption, author, images or video, comments, and replies. An existing post shows an already archived notice instead of creating a duplicate.

Stories use the separate Story archive or Chrome story-clipping flow. The optional session described below is for individual posts and reels; it does not import a whole profile or Saved collection by itself.

Optional signed-in session

Connect Instagram when the post or reel is visible only to the signed-in account. The connection does not bypass Instagram access controls: private or followers-only content can be archived only when that account can actually view it.

Mobile

1. Update and sign in to the Social Archiver mobile app.
2. Open Settings → Integrations → Instagram.
3. Tap Connect, then sign in on the instagram.com screen.
4. Complete any security check or account chooser.
5. Confirm that the sign-in view closes and the Instagram row shows the connected account.

Open the connected row to toggle Use session from share menu. When enabled, supported Instagram links shared to Social Archiver are handed to the app and processed through that device's session. If the share flow opens the main app, keep it open until media upload finishes.

Desktop

Open Settings → Integrations → Instagram and connect in the Instagram sign-in window. Supported URLs entered through URL capture, Quick Capture, clipboard capture, or browser-tab capture then use the session connected on that Mac.

Mobile and desktop connections are separate. Connect Instagram on every device where you want session-backed capture.

Session privacy

• Instagram passwords, cookies, and session tokens stay in the dedicated built-in browser on that device. Social Archiver servers do not receive them.
• When you create an account archive, only the original URL, normalized post data, and media downloaded on the device use the normal user-content upload flow.
• Do not connect Instagram on a shared device, and archive only content you are allowed to preserve.

Disconnect

Choose Disconnect under Settings → Integrations → Instagram. The app clears Instagram cookies from its built-in browser on that device and stops session-backed capture. Existing Social Archiver archives are not deleted.

Clip from Chrome

For a single post or reel, open its own page so the URL contains /p/<code>/ or /reel/<code>/, then open the extension popup. From a feed, click the post timestamp; from a profile grid, click the post itself.

Stories and highlights can be clipped from the story viewer. Story clips save the media file directly, so the Obsidian destination needs a vault folder selected in extension Settings. If a story exposes separate audio and video streams, use the account Archive action rather than expecting a local clip to merge them.

Import Saved collections with Chrome

1. Sign in to instagram.com in Chrome.
2. Open the Social Archiver extension and choose Import Instagram Saved Posts.
3. Select the Saved collections and posts to import.
4. Choose Desktop / Obsidian for ZIP parts and local import, or Web for direct account upload.
5. Start the import. Large jobs can be paused and resumed.

The browser downloads selected media locally before packaging or uploading it. The Web destination creates account archives and uses the monthly successful archive quota. Duplicate or skipped items do not create another archive.

This feature depends on Instagram's signed-in browser session and private web API behavior. Instagram can require account verification or temporarily limit large imports.

Back up profile posts with Chrome

Use Instagram Import → My Posts to back up posts and reels visible in the profile grid that is open in Chrome.

1. Sign in to Instagram and open the profile grid you are allowed to archive.
2. Open the extension popup and select Instagram Import → My Posts.
3. Choose the number of recent posts, from 50 up to 5,000.
4. Start the import and keep the Instagram tab available during discovery.

My Posts uses the Web destination and creates Social Archiver account archives. It scrolls the profile grid, discovers post and reel links, and rehydrates each item so captions, media, comments, and author details can be preserved when available. Duplicates are skipped. For very large profiles, runs of 1,000–2,000 posts are generally more reliable than one 5,000-post job.

Send Instagram media to Immich

Connect Immich Direct Upload in the Chrome extension to send supported Saved, My Posts, or profile-grid media directly to an Immich album. The Immich API key remains in that Chrome profile for direct uploads.

Instagram may expose high-quality video and audio as separate streams. Pair the Local Media Helper when you want those streams merged before Immich upload. See Mobile Integrations: Immich for mobile and server-synced export behavior.

Profiles and subscriptions

• Use profile crawl in the Obsidian plugin for a bounded one-time backfill of supported public profile posts.
• Create an Instagram profile subscription to collect new public posts on Social Archiver's schedule.

The device-local signed-in session is not used for profile crawl or scheduled subscriptions. Those flows only collect content available to their own crawler. See Subscriptions for setup and current limitations.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Sign-in finished but is not detected	Finish any security check, terms prompt, or account chooser, then reopen the connection view.
The app session expired	Reconnect under Settings → Integrations → Instagram. Logging out or changing the password can invalidate it.
An individual post will not archive	Use a /p/, /reel/, or /tv/ URL and confirm the connected account can view it. Profile, Explore, and Saved-list pages are not individual post URLs.
Chrome import is not shown	Open an Instagram tab in the same signed-in Chrome profile and confirm Instagram import features are enabled in extension Settings.
My Posts finds no items	Open the intended profile grid, scroll it once, reopen the popup, and keep that tab open during discovery.
Import reports a temporary limit	Stop repeated attempts and wait several hours, sometimes up to a day. Repeated logout and login does not remove an account-side limit.
Another device shows no connection	This is expected. Device-local sessions do not sync; connect separately on that device.

Related pages

• Chrome Extension
• Mobile App
• Desktop App
• Mobile Integrations: Immich
• Subscriptions