Import Instagram DMs

What you need

An Instagram data export containing your messages (JSON format).

How to export from Instagram

1. Open Instagram and go to Settings and activity
2. Tap Accounts Center (or go to accountscenter.instagram.com)
3. Tap Your information and permissions
4. Tap Download your information
5. Select your Instagram account
6. Choose Select types of information and check only Messages
7. Set the format to JSON
8. Click Submit request
9. Wait for the email from Meta (can take up to 48 hours)
10. Download the archive and unzip it on your Mac

Your DMs are in the messages/inbox/ folder inside the extracted archive.

How to import into Retrace

1. Open Retrace and go to Settings
2. Click the Data Sources tab
3. Click the Instagram card
4. Select the inbox folder from your extracted archive
5. Review the conversations found in the preview
6. Link participants to people in your address book (or create new ones)
7. Click Import

What gets imported

• All direct messages with timestamps and sender names
• Group chat participants
• Message metadata (reactions, shares, replies)

Common issues

• Export takes a long time: Instagram exports can take up to 48 hours. You'll get an email when the archive is ready.
• Same format as Messenger: Instagram and Messenger exports use the same JSON structure (both are Meta products). The parser handles both.
• Re-importing: Safe to do. Retrace deduplicates messages automatically.