Instagram is a hugely popular platform for sharing and discovering visual content. With so much inspiring and memorable imagery at your fingertips, you might wonder, How Can I Copy Instagram Photos? Whether you want to save your own creations, or keep a copy of captivating images from others, knowing how to download or save Instagram photos is a valuable skill.
Perhaps you’re looking to back up your personal Instagram archive, repurpose your photos on other platforms, or simply save inspiring content you’ve come across. Maybe you’re considering a digital declutter and want to preserve your memories before changing your Instagram presence or even deleting your account.
Whatever your reason for wanting to copy Instagram photos, this guide provides easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to save photos from Instagram.
Saving Your Own Instagram Photos to Your Phone Automatically
Instagram offers a straightforward way to automatically save photos you create and edit within the app directly to your phone’s photo library. This ensures you always have a local backup of your Instagram content.
To enable this feature, launch the Instagram app and navigate to your profile. You can do this by tapping the profile icon, which is typically located at the bottom right corner of the screen and resembles a person or your profile picture.
Find your Instagram profile by clicking the person icon. Credit: instagram
Once you are on your profile page, locate and tap the menu icon. This is represented by three horizontal lines and is usually positioned at the top right corner of your screen.
Access the settings menu by tapping the icon with three horizontal lines. Credit: instagram
From the menu that appears, select “Settings,” which is generally the top option. Within the Settings menu, tap “Account,” and then look for “Original Photos” if you are using an iOS device. Android users will find a similar option labeled “Original Posts.”
Click “original photos” within your Instagram profile. Credit: Instagram
Instagram will now present you with the option to automatically save your Instagram images. Simply tap the toggle switch next to “Save Original Photos/Posts” to turn this feature on. The toggle will typically turn blue when activated.
Activate the “Save Original Photos/Posts” toggle to automatically save your Instagram creations. Credit: instagram
With this setting enabled, every photo you post to Instagram will be automatically saved to your phone’s photo gallery, providing a convenient backup and making it easy to access your images outside of the Instagram app.
Saving Instagram Photos from Other Users Within the App
Instagram provides a built-in feature to save posts from other users, allowing you to bookmark content you find interesting and revisit it later. This is a great way to save inspiring images, helpful tips, or anything else you want to keep for future reference. Importantly, users are not notified when you save their posts.
To save a post, simply tap the bookmark icon located beneath the post, on the right-hand side, below the image or video. This will save the post to your general “Saved” folder.
Create an Instagram collection to save all your favorite posts. Credit: instagram
For more organization, you can save posts to specific collections. To do this, instead of a quick tap, press and hold the bookmark icon. This will bring up a menu displaying any Instagram collections you’ve already created, along with an option to create a new collection by tapping the “+” symbol. This allows you to categorize saved posts by theme, project, or any criteria you choose.
Organize your saved Instagram content by creating collections for different themes or interests. Credit: instagram
To access your saved posts and collections, go back to your profile by tapping the profile icon. Then, tap the “Saved” option within the menu (the three horizontal lines icon). This will display all the content you’ve saved, neatly organized in your collections if you’ve created them.
Access your saved Instagram posts and collections through the “Saved” option in your profile menu. Credit: instagram
Remember, your saved posts and collections are private, visible only to you. Other users will not be aware that you have saved their content.
Downloading Instagram Photos on a Desktop Browser: A Workaround
Due to copyright considerations, Instagram doesn’t offer a direct download option for photos from other users, whether you’re on a desktop browser or using the mobile app. However, a simple workaround exists for desktop users who want to copy Instagram photos for personal use. Please use this method responsibly and respect copyright.
To download an Instagram image using a desktop browser, first, open the specific Instagram post containing the image in a new browser tab. If you are not logged into Instagram or encountering issues viewing the image directly, you might need to right-click on the image and select “Copy Link Address” to get the direct image URL.
Once you can see the image clearly in the browser, right-click anywhere on the page surrounding the image. From the context menu that appears, select “View Page Source.” This option will open a new tab displaying the HTML source code of the Instagram page.
Access the page source of the Instagram post to find the image URL. Credit: screenshot / instagram
Within the page source code, you’ll need to locate the direct link to the image file. You can scroll through the code or use your browser’s “Find” function (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and search for “.jpg”. Look for the first URL that ends in “.jpg” and is enclosed within quotation marks.
A gorgeous backend. Credit: screenshot
Carefully copy the entire URL found between the quotation marks. Open a new browser tab and paste this URL into the address bar. Press Enter to load the image directly.
Once the image is loaded in the new tab, you can right-click on it and select “Save image as…” to download the photo to your computer, just as you would with any other image on the internet.
By following these methods, you should now be well-equipped to copy Instagram photos for various purposes, whether it’s saving your own content, curating inspiration from others within the app, or downloading images to your computer using the desktop workaround. From saving recipes to mood boards, you have the tools to preserve the Instagram content that matters to you.
