Sometimes, while scrolling through your profile on Instagram, you realize just how much you’ve grown over the years. You swipe through some cringeworthy posts from when you were a pimply-faced rookie on the Instagram space and you wonder what you were thinking when you uploaded those photos and videos.
While reminiscing about your Instagram journey, you might wonder if there’s a way to revisit your past bios and saunter down memory lane. This is a great way to soak in the nostalgia. Unfortunately, Instagram no longer allows users to directly access their old bios within the app or website, but there is a workaround.
The Old Method
Before October 2023, Instagram had a feature called “Access Data” within the “Privacy and Security” settings. This section included an option to view “Former bio texts,” allowing users to revisit their past profile descriptions. However, it has been removed, leaving users without a direct way to access their old bios.
However, Instagram kept a feature that lets you access the pool of undiluted cringe that is your past Instagram bios. We’ll show you how to get there.
How to See Your Old Bios on Instagram Now
With the redesigned Instagram app, you have a way to view your old Instagram bios. Let’s get to it:
- Open the Instagram app and tap on the profile photo at the bottom right of the screen. This will open your profile.
- On the profile screen, tap on the hamburger menu icon at the top right. This will open the profile menu.
- Click on “My Activity” on the menu. This will open a popup menu.
- On this menu, click on “Account History”. This will take you to a rundown of the changes you’ve made to your account, including your previous bios.
Once you’re there, you might notice one great issue. You can’t copy those bios. Plus, they cut off after a certain length of characters, preventing you from completely viewing the longer ones.
The short length can’t be helped, but you can copy the text by using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to scan and extract the images.
Take a screenshot of the “Account History” page and scan it with Google Lens. This is integrated with some camera apps on Android and can be found on the Google Photos app on iOS.
How to See Your Old Instagram Bios On PC or Web
There’s no option for viewing your old bios on Instagram Web, but you can download your data to view them. Here’s how to do it.
- Open the Instagram website and log in with your account.
- Click on your profile picture at the top right of the page.
- Select ‘Edit Profile” from the menu.
- On the settings page, click on the “Accounts Centre” card. This will take you to Meta’s account center, showing you a rundown of your profiles on the company’s different platforms.
- Find “Your Information And Permissions” on the settings page.
- Then, click on “Download Your Information.”
- On that screen, click on “Request a download.”
- Select your Instagram account, the kind of information you want, and file options. Then click submit request.
Instagram recommends waiting up to 24 hours to get an email from Instagram to initiate your download. However, you should see the link in about two hours.
With these tips, you can take a trip down memory lane by viewing your previous Instagram bios. Instagram doesn’t forget, and neither should you.
