Technology
Your full Instagram history – how to see EVERY status, username, login and search you’ve ever done
INSTAGRAM holds loads of data on you – including details of stuff you did years ago.
You can check up on this info whenever you like, examining old profile bios you had, or long-discarded usernames.
Instagram / The SunYou can find your Instagram info in Settings[/caption]
Facebook has been desperate to improve how transparent it is with your info.
And because Facebook owns Instagram, both apps let you quickly see a deep-dive into your online habits.
On Instagram, there’s loads of info you can check out.
For instance, you can see when you joined Instagram, including the exact time.
Instagram / The SunYou’ll need to find the Access Data tab[/caption]
Instagram will tell you about any account privacy or password changes you’ve made, as well as past email addresses and phone numbers.
If you’ve used other usernames or full names, you can see those.
And all of your old “bio texts” and bio links will also be visible.
There’s a Connections section that shows your current follow requests, any accounts following you and accounts you follow, and hashtags you follow too.
And it’ll show any accounts you’ve blocked, or ones that you hide stories from.
Instagram keeps a detailed record of all logins and logouts on your account, as well as your search history.
So unless you’ve deleted it, you can see what you were looking for back in 2012.
There’s also a timeline of Stories you’ve interacted with, including polls, emoji sliders, questions, music questions, countdowns and quizzes.
And at the very bottom, you can look at “ads interests”, which reveals what Instagram thinks you like – and therefore shows you ads around.
Instagram / The SunYou can check loads of historic details about you that are being stored by Instagram[/caption]
Instagram – the key facts
Here’s what you need to know…
Instagram is a social network for sharing photos and videos
It was created back in October 2010 as an iPhone-exclusive app
A separate version for Android devices was released 18 months later
The app rose to popularity thanks to its filters system, which lets you quickly edit your photos with cool effects
When it first launched, users could only post square 1:1 ratio images, but that rule was changed in 2015
In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1billion in cash and stock
In 2018, some analysts believe the app is worth closer to $100billion
In October 2015, Instagram confirmed that more than 40billion photos had been uploaded to the app
And in 2018, Instagram revealed that more than a billion people were using the app every month
How to access Instagram data
Find your info is easy.
First, tap on your Profile and then go to the Menu.
Next tap on Settings and then choose Security.
Halfway down the page is a section called Access Data – tap that.
You’ll be able to see all of the info Instagram holds on you, split into different sections.
These sections are Account Info, Profile Info, Connections, Account Activity, Stories Activity and Ads.
Below the Access Data tab is another option to Download Data.
This lets you export all of Instagram’s records on you as downloadable files.
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In other news, a new Instagram hoax is trying to steal logins by faking a “copyright violation”.
Scammers are using Google Alerts to send out links to malware.
Video chat app Zoom will offer free and paying users end-to-end encryption.
And, Windows 10 users are being told to update their PC to escape an ‘Eternal Darkness’ flaw.
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