If a user accidentally deletes content on Instagram, there is a way to restore it. Meta's other social media platform, Facebook, also allows users to retrieve recently deleted content. It just takes a few simple steps in 'Manage Activity' to restore something. On the other hand, Twitter doesn't have an easy way to find deleted content. The user has to download an archive of their data. This is more information than anyone needs. Luckily, Instagram users can restore deleted content just as easily as on Facebook.
Users might delete content from their feed if they are cleaning it up but then decide they made a mistake. Most of the time, the photo or video should be saved elsewhere, but if it isn't, at least there is a way to get it back. In some cases, the user may have created the content right on the app, so there is no other copy of it. Instagram only added this feature last year, but it was an excellent addition.
When content is deleted on Instagram, it gets moved to 'Recently deleted.' The items stay there for 30 days or 24 hours for stories. After that time, the content is automatically deleted. So, while users can restore all content, including images, videos, reels and stories, it can't be done indefinitely. This is why it's best before deleting content to make sure they want to get rid of it. At least Instagram does give users a limited time to restore posts.
Retrieve Content From 'Recently Deleted'
Go to the app and tap on the user's profile picture in the bottom right corner to restore deleted content. Next, click the three lines in the top right corner. Then, go to 'Your activity.' Next, scroll down and select 'Recently deleted.' At the top, the user can choose a grid for profile posts, a play button for videos, the Reels symbol for reels and the Stories symbol for stories. After selecting the type of content to retrieve, click on the content and tap the three-dotted lines on the top right. Finally, click 'Restore.' Users can also delete content permanently from this folder. It's the same steps. The user will just select 'Delete' instead of 'Restore.' Instagram also verifies users before they can delete or restore content, which adds a good level of security.
Instagram added this feature because users had been asking for it for a while. The company also wanted to give people a way to restore the content if an account was hacked and the intruders deleted posts during the process. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to retrieve photos when that happened. So now, users won't lose their content if their accounts are hacked.
Source: Instagram 1, 2