Instagram has been constantly evolving over the 10+ years it has been around, and it’s released some truly impactful features, one of them being Instagram stories. Instagram stories is a beloved feature among Instagram users and has proven to capture the attention of audiences all around the globe.
With over 1 billion monthly active users, you need all of the different content formats to help reach as many people in your target audience as possible. Instagram stories can help you do exactly that.
Have you ever seen content that you loved or were inspired by and wondered how to download Instagram stories to view later? It’s a good question, because Instagram stories aren’t like other content on the platform.
While none of the content types on Instagram allow downloading directly on the platform, Instagram stories are even more unique because the content completely disappears after 24 hours. The user can then add them to an Instagram story highlight album, but if not, they’re gone from the user’s eye forever.
This is great for content creators because it’s possible to share more intimate or personal moments that don’t necessarily fit in with the rest of your in-feed content. It can also create urgency around a topic and capture the audience’s attention.
If you’re curious about how to download Instagram stories, you can seek the help of various third-party tools that can allow you to keep them for as long as you wish. We’ve done the research and created this guide to help you identify the best tools to save Instagram stories.
The tools on this list are completely free, so you don’t have to worry about adding another cost to your Instagram budget.
Let’s check them out!
Why Download Instagram Stories?
Instagram stories are meant to disappear after the 24 hour period, so you may be wondering, why would anyone want to save or download stories in the first place? Is it even ethical to do so?
Instagram doesn’t allow official downloading of any content on their platform, so the answer may well be no according to the platform. Downloading Instagram stories falls into a gray area. If you have the intention of reusing the content or stalking an account in a harmful or negative way, that could be considered unethical and can get you in trouble with Instagram.
If you are deciding to download Instagram stories so that you can view them later and enjoy the content for your own personal use, there’s no harm in doing so. Imagine that your favorite influencer posted about a meet and greet, so you want to download the story so you don’t forget the details. That’s a perfectly reasonable occasion to need to download an Instagram story!
Another example may be that you follow certain accounts that are very innovative with their content and you like to refer back to their posts later for inspiration. No problems there, you can use an Instagram story downloader to help you do so.
Downloading Instagram stories can be useful when you want to download a post from a public figure, celeb, or even your own account. Make sure that you uphold the community guidelines and don’t download stories with the intention of sharing them in harmful ways, or with the intention of reusing the content without permission. You can get yourself into hot water.
Top 10 Tools to Download Instagram Stories
Now that we understand some benefits and words of caution for downloading Instagram stories, here are the top 10 Instagram story downloaders out there to help you do so. All of them are free and they can be very useful for any story you want to reference at a later time.
1. Story Saver
Story Saver is regarded as one of the most effective Instagram downloader tools available. All you’ll need to do is enter the username of the account that posted the story you want to download, and the tool will allow you to download that particular IG story.
You don’t have to download any software to make this happen, and you’ll be able to access the files in a simple and readable format. You can also download story highlights using Story Saver, and they offer the use of a video downloader tool as well.
2. Story Downlaoder
The second Instagram story tool on our list is Instagram Story Downloader. You can download, save, and view IG stories and highlights quickly and easily via this website. All you have to do is find the user, paste the username into the search bar, and download the media after clicking Get Stories.
Story Downloader offers support in three languages: French, English, and Italian. It’s free, fast, secure, and anonymous, so you’ll be able to have access to all of your favorite IG stories at any moment after you use their tool. There is no limit on how many stories you can download, so save away.
3. Igstories.app
You may notice that all Instagram story downloader tools follow a very similar pattern. Igstories.app works pretty much how the first two do— enter a username (no @ symbol), select which stories you want to download, and you’re good to go.
They offer a simple and straightforward way to have access to Instagram stories, and the service is also free.
4. Insta Videos Downloader
Insta Videos Downloader works virtually the same as all other tools on this list. They have a video downloader, photos downloader, story downloader, album downloader, and IGTV downloader.
Enter the Instagram username or URL in the search bar and hit Download to save your Instagram stories.
5. Save Insta
Save Insta is a free Instagram downloader that also provides downloading services for reels, videos, photos, and profiles. The downloads are high quality so you don’t have to deal with fuzzy or blurry photos and videos after download.
They offer a FAQ to help you and there is a wide range of language support, from English to German to Russian and more.
Copy the URL of the story you want to download (username works too) and then paste it into the search box. Hit View and you will move on to the next step in downloading Instagram stories.
6. Alo Instagram
Alo Instagram is a tool-based website for Instagram that gives you access to download a lot of different media on the platform, including IGTV, Instagram Stories, Instagram videos and photos, Instagram highlights, and Instagram profiles, and caption copies. They also provide a hashtag generator.
If you’re interested in some Instagram-related content, you can also check out their Instagram Mag with many different articles about a variety of topics.
To download an Instagram story, visit their website and select the Instagram story download option. You’ll simply enter the username or link and then click Search, which will take you to the next download screen.
7. Toolzu
Toolzu has a nice, user-friendly website to help you download your Instagram stories. They offer other services as well for hashtags, profile search, profile analyzer, and other downloading. This is not just for Instagram, but for other social media networks as well.
Other tools available from Toolzu include many for images and text.
You can use Toolzu to download photos, videos, profiles, stories, and IGTV on their downloader. Simply enter the username and hit the download button. They have no 24-hour limits so you’ll have the story forever no matter what.
They allow you to save the story in high-quality resolution at no charge and no limits to how many you download. You don’t have to register and you can use it from any device.
8. Instafollowers
Instafollowers exist primarily to sell people Instagram followers and engagement for Instagram and other social platforms, but they do offer a range of tools for Instagram and other networks that are completely free. They have tools for IG, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.
One of those tools is an Instagram story downloader which is very simple and straightforward. You simply enter the username of the account you want to download the story from and hit Download. You can use it to also view stories anonymously.
9. Weynstag
Not much has changed from the above tools, and Weynstag falls in line with the rest— enter a username (no URL) and you’ll be able to download Instagram stories for free with no quantity limits. They have multi-language support as well.
10. Bigbangram
Our final option for Instagram story downloader tools is Bigbangram. They offer a variety of tools, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram downloaders in addition to a font generator and hashtag generator.
Their main goal is to sell you their services, but if you simply want to download Instagram stories, you can use this tool for free. You can download content quickly in full-size, high resolution. Bigbangram can download photos, videos, stories, profiles, and IGTV content on both PC and mobile.
Other Options for Downloading Instagram Stories
While you may want to save other people’s stories, you may be looking to save your own! Maybe you didn’t save it when you created it or your phone’s content got wiped out. Instagram doesn’t make it a super straightforward process to save stories, so we’re going to give you some additional ideas below.
Save Stories Manually
You can save your Instagram stories manually while you’re still actively editing them before you make them live. It’s very simple and straightforward.
As you’re creating the story, there’s an icon at the top of the screen that is an arrow pointing downward toward a horizontal line. This icon will allow you to download your Instagram story and it will be saved directly to your device.
If you want to save someone else’s Instagram story manually, you can also do so, but not in the same way. First, navigate to the Instagram story that you want to save, and depending on if it’s a photo or video, you can take a screenshot or screen grab of the story.
- Photo: If it’s a photo, simply tap and hold your finger on the story and take a screenshot of it. That will save it to your device and you can look at it later.
- Video: If the story is a video, you’ll have to use your screen recording feature. Watch the story from the very beginning and as it’s starting, activate your device’s screen recording feature; record the story and stop the recording when it’s done to save it to your device for later viewing.
Activate Your Archive
Another way to save your own Instagram story is to keep it on Instagram and not actually download it. If you don’t want to litter your device and take up a bunch of file space, this is a great option for you.
You can activate archiving for your Instagram stories. Visit your profile to do so. Once you’re there, tap the Menu icon in the upper right corner and navigate to Settings. You’ll go to Privacy > Story > Save Story to Archive.
From there, you can see all of the Instagram stories that you’ve ever posted without having to keep them on your phone. You can repost them whenever you want and also see them at any time or add them to your Instagram story highlights, which we’ll talk about in the next section.
Create Highlights
Creating highlights is another way to help you save your own Instagram stories and reference them later. This also allows users to see them again, which can be great to share relevant or enjoyable content with your followers and profile viewers.
Instagram story highlights are not regular posts in the sense that they don’t go directly into your Instagram feed; they go to a special circular album underneath your bio and are essentially pinned to your account.
You can create as many Instagram highlight albums as you want and you can customize the look of them with your own album cover. This helps your Instagram story highlights to blend in with your profile and offer a professional look to your viewers and followers.
It’s easy to create IG story highlights. Navigate to the story you want to add and tap the Add to Highlights button. You can also create Instagram story highlight albums directly from your profile page by tapping the first circle to the left with a + in it. You’ll then be able to see all of your past stories and choose the one(s) that you want to go into that album.
There are two primary benefits to Instagram highlights:
1. You can create an organized way to provide information and valuable content to your profile viewers. This can help new visitors get an idea about who you are or what you post, and it will also allow your followers to come back and check out your story content that they really enjoyed or wanted to see.
2. Highlights can be categorized into a variety of topics so that you can stay organized and look more professional. Using highlights to share categories of information such as projects, products, outfits, topics, meal plans, and so much more can be very effective in catching the eye of your followers and offering them content that makes them want to view your profile more frequently.
Final Thoughts
No matter if you want to download your own Instagram stories or download those of others, you can see from our list above that there are plenty of ways to do so. You can use a third-party Instagram story downloader or you can take things into your own hands and do it through the manual methods listed above.
Just make sure that you don’t use the content you downloaded from others in a negative way that implicates malicious intent or infringement, and you’re good to go! Happy downloading!
