How to See Old Stories on Instagram (Instagram Old Story Viewer)

Old Instagram Story Viewer: As we all know, Instagram is a popular social networking website just like Facebook and Snapchat, where users share their pictures and videos via the post and stories feature. You can easily connect to your friends and family on Instagram just by following them. Once you follow them, you can view and like the pictures, videos, and stories they share.

view someone's old instagram stories

Stories have a time span of a maximum of 24 hours, after which they disappear automatically. Be it your story or someone else’s, it will only stay for 24 hours unless it’s turned into a Highlight.

The 24-hour time constraint adds so much excitement as well as FOMO to the users that they keep on checking the app over and over again.

It also encourages the users to put across their Stories more frequently and not be saved there as a permanent record which isn’t quite interesting to watch. If it’s a Highlight, it will stay until you remove it, and this way the story will stay for more than 24 hours.

If you’re new to Instagram, this guide will tell you how to look at old stories on Instagram.

In fact, these are the same strategies you can use to see past stories on Instagram without using any third-party apps on Android or iPhone devices.

Instagram Old Story Viewer by iStaunch

Instagram Old Story Viewer by iStaunch is the best tool to see old stories on Instagram anonymously. Just enter the username in the given box and tap on the View Old Instagram Stories button.

Instagram Old Story Viewer

How to See Old Stories on Instagram

Method 1: View Old Instagram Stories of Friends via Highlights

You can easily see someone’s old Instagram stories if it’s saved as a Highlight. The highlights will stay on your profile until you remove them, and in this way, stories will stay for more than 24 hours.

Here’s how you can see old stories on Instagram:

  • Open the Instagram app on your Android or iPhone device.
  • Go to the profile of a friend whose old stories you want to see.
  • Below the bio, see if you find any Highlights. If it’s available, you can view their old stories.
  • In short, the old story will be available for you to view only if it is posted as a Highlight.
view someone's old instagram stories

To save and download the old story you can take a screenshot of it but be ensured that your friend will be notified that you took the screenshot of their story. Although there are various other ways to copy your friend’s story but the easiest of them all is to take a screenshot of it.

If it is your own story that you posted, you may choose to click on the bottom left side of the main Story screen where you will see the icon of ‘Seen By’. You can save the story to your camera roll by choosing the Download option available.

Some of the stories posted by users are so amazing that you crave to watch them over-n-over again because they are worth it.

So either you watch it till it is there for 24 hours or you might get to watch it for an extended period of time if it is available as a Highlight. And you might also copy it by a screenshot as discussed earlier.

Method 2: Ask the Person to Send a Story

You may ask the person to send the story to you through email, DM, or another way you feel it will be convenient for you to download it. Whether you know the person or not, you may just ask them for the Story in a decent manner stating how much you liked it and they won’t be able to deny your request as it would rather be a compliment for the Story they posted.

Keeping one’s ego aside, the other person will surely DM or email you their Story knowing the fact that their Story is actually being liked and appreciated by others.

Thus, adding Stories on Instagram is an excellent feature that users enjoy doing. Every day over millions of users posts their stories which are liked by friends, families, or even strangers in case they are following you.

Final Words

So, to sum it up, you can find old stories on Instagram unless it saved as a Highlight by the user. If you are lucky enough, you can view old Instagram stories anonymously under the Highlights section, if not then the Story just disappeared after completing its 24-hour time slab.

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Posted by
Dharmesh Donda

iStaunch is written by Dharmesh Donda, an avid Internet geek, IT professional since 2012. Have been in IT industry for more than a decade, and currently doing management and consulting work have taken a plunge into entrepreneurship.

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