Download Instagram Stories: Top 10 Tools To Choose From

Have you ever been browsing through Instagram, come across a great story, and wondered if there’s any way to download Instagram stories?

Instagram stories have risen in popularity over the past few years because they are non-committal ways to post content. Unlike regular posts, which will stay on your profile until you delete them, Instagram stories are automatically removed after 24 hours, unless you specifically add them to your highlights. 

This means that you can share moments that might not be worthy of a full post on their own. On the other hand, that means that viewers can fall in love with stories only to have them disappear a few hours later. 

To solve this problem, there are quite a few third-party tools that let you download and save Instagram stories so that you can hold on to them forever. In this guide, we’re going to cover some of the best tools that you can use to download Instagram stories. All the tools we’re going to cover are completely free, so you can try them out to find the one that works best for you. 

Let’s dive in. 

Why Download Instagram Stories?

If people post Instagram stories with the intention of them being deleted, you might be wondering why anyone would want to save Instagram stories or whether doing so is even ethical.

The answer is a bit nuanced. Like most things in life, downloading Instagram stories is a grey area: there’s definitely an unethical and Instastalker way to go about it, but there’s also a normal and ethical way to do it too.

For example, if you’re downloading the stories from your ex’s private account and sharing them with your friends, that’s unethical. However, if one of your favorite influencers posts a funny story that you want to keep or your favorite musician posts a preview of a track they’re working on that you don’t want to forget, most people would probably find that completely fine. Plus, you might even just want to download your own stories to save for later — nothing wrong with that. 

Long story short: downloading Instagram stories can be useful for when you want to save a post from a public figure or one of your own posts. Use common sense when deciding whether or not it’s okay to download someone’s story, and don’t violate anyone’s privacy by doing so. 

Top 10 Tools To Download Instagram Stories

Now for the part you’ve all been waiting for: our list of the top 10 tools that you can use for Instagram stories downloads. Let’s kick things off with our top tool: Story Saver. 

1. Story Saver

Story Saver is a pretty straightforward tool. All you need to do is enter the name of the account whose stories you want to download, and the tool will download all of its current stories. It’s completely free, and there is no software to download. 

2. InGramer

InGramer works much like Story Saver: enter the account name, and you can download Instagram stories from it. However, InGramer lets you choose which specific stories you want to download. Once you enter the account name, it will display all the currently active stories, and you can pick the ones you want to save. 

InGramer is also free to use. 

3. Instafollowers

Instafollowers works exactly like InGramer. First, you enter the account name, and then you select which stories you want to download. The tool is also free. Plus, when you use it, you can view stories anonymously.

4. Story Downloader

Like the other tools on this list, all you need to do to use Story Downloader is enter the username that posted the stories you want to download. Then, you can view them anonymously and download Instagram stories. Once again, this tool is free. 

5. Toolzu

Toolzu works just like the other tools we’ve covered: enter a username and download the stories you want. Toolzu doesn’t have any 24-hour limits, so you can now download as many as you want at a time. 

6. Igstories.app

Igstories.app follows the same formula as all the others. Once you enter a username (without the @), you can then select which of their stories you want to download. 

7. Weynstag

No surprises here. Simply enter a username and download the stories from Weynstag. Once again, it’s free to use. 

8. Insta Videos Downloader

Insta Videos Downloader works the same as the other tools with one slight change. Instead of inputting a username, you type in the Instagram URL for the account whose stories you want to download. Other than that, nothing to report here. 

9. Alo Instagram 

To use Alo Instagram, just find the account’s username, input it into the textbox, and download Instagram stories. The tool is free to use. 

10. Bigbangram

Once again, to use Bigbangram, you simply type in the URL of the account you want to download Instagram stories from. From there, you can save the stories to your device. 

Other Options For Downloading Instagram Stories

Activate Your Archive

If you’re looking for an Instagram story saver specifically to save your own stories, there are easier ways to go about it. For starters, you can always download the stories you post (we’ll go over that later).

There’s also a way to save your stories without downloading them and taking up storage on your device. Instead, you can archive your stories so that Instagram saves them privately to your account. 

To do this, all you need to do is turn on archiving for your stories. First, tap the profile icon or your profile picture. Then, navigate to settings. Next, go to “Privacy,” then “Story.” After that, all you need to do is toggle on “Save to Archive.” 

Now, all your stories will automatically be saved to your account. If you want to add them to your highlights eventually, you can do so from your archive. Or, you can simply repost one of your old stories at some point down the line. 

Save Stories Manually

The easiest way to download Instagram stories you’ve posted is by saving them while they’re still active. Doing this is simple. 

First, navigate to the story you want to download. Then, tap the icon of an arrow pointing downward in the right hand corner of the screen. When you do that, the story will be downloaded to your device and saved to your photos. 

Create Highlights

If saving your own stories is your primary goal, there’s one other way you can accomplish this: turning them into highlights. 

Highlights are sort of a middle ground between stories and regular posts. Essentially, they are stories that you permanently display on your profile (until you delete them). If you have a story you want to share for longer than 24 hours, you can add it to your highlights. 

However, keep in mind that highlights are not private. So, if you just want to save a story for your own viewing pleasure, this isn’t the way to do it. 

Creating highlights is easy. All you need to do is navigate to the story you want to add to your highlights and tap the “Add to Highlights” button in the bottom right hand corner. 

Later on, you can also download your Instagram highlights if you want to. 

Highlights are useful for two reasons:

1. When you post highlights, new visitors to your profile can get a quick overview of the content that you post. Plus, they can catch up on content that they missed.
2. You can categorize your stories into different topics. For example, if you’re a fitness blogger, you could have a highlight reel for your workouts, another for the food you eat, and another about your personal life. Plus, you can add an appealing cover to each category to make it easier to navigate. 

Take a look at how nutrition and fitness influencer, Derek Simnett (@simnettnutrition), uses highlights on his profile:

Instagram Stories Downloads

Whether you’re looking for an Instagram story saver for your own stories or stories from other people, there are lots of ways to do so. If you want to save other people’s stories, you can do so by using a third-party app. Alternatively, you can use a screen recording app. 

If you want to save your own stories, you can either download them manually while they’re still active, automatically archive them, or add them to your highlights. 

Whatever your goals are, always make sure that you’re acting ethically. Don’t download and save the stories of people who wouldn’t want you to save their stories. With that in mind, you should be ready to start your Instagram stories download today!