How to Download Your Instagram Data Export

Requesting the export

1. Open Instagram and go to your profile, then tap the menu (three lines, top right).
2. Tap Settings and privacy, then Accounts Center.
3. Tap Your information and permissions, then Export your information.
4. Tap Create export, choose your Instagram account, and select Export to device.
5. Under the information to export, choose Some of your information and tick only Followers and following. This keeps the file small.
6. Set these three options — they matter:
   • Date range: All time — anything shorter gives you an incomplete followers list and wrong results.
   • Format: JSON — the machine-readable format most tools need.
   • Media quality: Lower quality— you're not exporting photos, so this just keeps the file small.
7. Tap Start export.

Requesting it from a desktop browser

You don't need the app. In any browser, go to accountscenter.instagram.com, open Your information and permissions, then Export your information and Create export. The options are the same as in the app: Some of your information, Followers and following only, All time, JSON, lower media quality, then Download to device.

One thing to watch on desktop: Accounts Center lists every profile attached to your login, and if you also have a Threads account it can be pre-selected instead of your Instagram profile. If you leave it that way the ZIP will contain only Threads data and no Instagram followers at all. Pick the Instagram profile explicitly on the first screen before you choose what to export. (If you do want your Threads lists, the same export covers them; see the Threads checker.)

When it's ready, the export appears under Download your information on the same page and the link stays valid for about four days. Download the ZIP to your computer and drop it straight into the export analyzer — there is nothing to unzip or rename first.

Downloading the file

Instagram prepares the export and notifies you when it's ready — usually within 10–20 minutes for followers-only exports, though it can occasionally take longer. Go back to Export your information, tap your ready export, and download the ZIP file. You may be asked to re-enter your Instagram password to confirm it's you — that's Instagram's own security check on their own site, which is normal.

What's inside the ZIP

The export contains a folder with your connections data, including followers_1.json (split into multiple numbered files for large accounts) and following.json. These two files are all a followers comparison needs.

You don't need to open or understand these files. Upload the whole ZIP to UnfollowChecker and it finds the right files automatically, compares the lists in your browser, and shows you who doesn't follow you back. Your data never leaves your device.

Troubleshooting