Not all is lost. At least not on Instagram.

Remember that great bio you wrote a year ago, the one with the perfect quote and a series of carefully selected emojis that all fit perfectly within 150 characters? That quote that said – wait, what did that quote say?

Don’t worry if you’re drawing a blank. Your former bios are still out there, and you can easily retrieve them. Here we’ll discuss how to see old Instagram bios and outline all the information the app saves on your behalf.

How to see past Instagram bios

Prepare to go down a rabbit hole – there’s a lot to find in the IG archive. We’ve included the steps you’ll need to take to find old Instagram bios on iPhone (iOS), Android, Mac or PC:

On mobile

1. Open Instagram and tap your profile picture in the bottom right corner of the screen to bring up your account.

2. Tap on the three horizontal lines in the top right corner of the profile screen.

3. An options menu will pop up. Choose Your Activity from the pop-up menu.

4. Click on Account History.

5. You should see a summary of all the changes made to your account. Among these are all the times you edited your Instagram bio. You can find the bio you’ve been missing in this list and copy and paste it into your profile.

For desktop

This set of instructions is for all you big screen ‘grammers. Here’s how to find old Instagram bios on your Mac or PC. Quick note: it’s easier to find archived data on a phone, so you may want to power up the handheld app just this once.

1. Open your Instagram account in a web browser, and click on your profile icon in the top right-hand corner, then click on the Settings cog.

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2. Choose Privacy and Security from the panel that pops up on the left-hand side of the screen.

3. Scroll down to Data Download and select this option.

4. Enter your email address and select your preferred data format (HTML or JSON). You’ll be asked for your password.

5. Instagram will send you your archived data in a ZIP file, but it could take several days.

What else is in the archive?

Sometimes it’s nice to take an unexpected trip down memory lane. While searching for the bio you missed, you may find a few other gems in the archive. Here’s what you can expect to unearth:

• Former usernames: Depending on your account’s age, this data discovery might come with some cringe factor. But don’t think of your earliest username as something to be ashamed of – it’s vintage.
• Bio links: Bio links are one of the most critical elements in your Instagram profile. They encourage others to learn more about you on other social media platforms such as TikTok or Snapchat. As you scroll through past links in your archive, you’ll remember what causes were important to you and the good press your business received. If you see a Linktree in there, good on you. Our tool makes it easy to redirect users to several places on the web and social media, and if you’ve used a Linktree before, you’ve been making the most of your bio for a while.
• Password changes: You won’t be able to retrieve previous passwords but will be able to see when you changed them.
• Changes to privacy settings: Remember when you took your account public? Instagram does, and you can find that information in this archive.
• Account created: Check out the date you created your account for the ultimate throwback moment.

What kind of activity can you track?

Your account history has a lot to say about your time on Instagram, but the activity section of your account tells you even more. You can check the following in this space:

• Time spent on the app: Learn how long you spend on average on the ‘gram per day and how your activity levels vary by day of the week. No one’s judging you for spending hours scrolling on a Sunday afternoon.
• An archive of photos and videos: In this section, you’ll find the posts, Reels, videos and highlights you’ve shared in the past.
• Interactions: Relive precious moments with followers by seeing what comments, likes and Story replies you’ve received. Businesses can also read reviews.
• Recent searches: Yes, this is where you’ll find evidence of the search you did on your ex’s ex’s ex, but it also comes in handy when you’re trying to recall, say, the name of a recommended restaurant you looked up.
• Links you’ve visited: If you don’t remember the name of that great sustainable clothing site you checked out from an ad in your feed, good news. Instagram keeps a record of the links you’ve clicked on.
• Archived and recently deleted content: Remember that Story you had second thoughts about and took down after posting? You can find it here. It deserves a second look.