The one thing everyone gets wrong about leaving social media
When people decide to leave a platform — Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter — the standard advice is "download your data first." Go to settings, request your data export, wait for the email, download the ZIP.
But almost nobody knows this: the export doesn't contain your saved posts. Not the way you think.
The ZIP file you get from Instagram, TikTok, or X contains:
- Your own posts → real media files (photos, videos) ✅
- Your saved/favorited posts → links back to the platform ❌
- Your liked posts → links, no media ❌
- Your collections → collection names with links to posts ❌
The export is a list of addresses, not a box of photos. Your saves are pointers, not copies.
What happens when you delete without backing up
If you delete your Instagram account without backing up your saved posts:
- Your own posts are in the export — Instagram includes your photos, videos, stories, and reels as actual files in the ZIP. You're fine.
- Your saved posts are gone — the export contains links to posts other people created. Those links point to content on Instagram's servers. When you delete your account, your saves go with it. But the links in the export don't magically download the content — they're just URLs, and those URLs expire.
- Your liked posts are gone — same as saves. The export has links, not media.
- Your collections are gone — the collection names survive in the export (as JSON keys), but the posts inside them are links that point back to Instagram — links that will expire and that you can no longer access after deletion.
The right way to back up before leaving
Step 1: Request your data exports (do this first, before deleting anything)
Instagram: Settings → Accounts Center → Your information and permissions → Download your information → Select "Saved" and "Likes" → JSON format → All time → Submit
TikTok: Settings → Privacy → Download your data → JSON format → Submit
X/Twitter: Settings → Your account → Download an archive of your data → Request
Wait for each export to arrive by email. This can take anywhere from a few hours to 48 hours. Download each ZIP promptly — the links expire within days.
Step 2: Download the actual media before the links expire
The exports contain links, not files. You need to download the actual photos and videos before those links die.
If you have a small number of saves (under 200), you can manually click each link in the export and save each photo or video.
If you have thousands — which most people who've been on social media for a few years do — you need a tool. UnplugMe is a Chrome extension that reads the export ZIP and downloads every saved, liked, and favorited post's actual media to your hard drive.
Step 3: Verify your backup
Open the folder where UnplugMe saved your files. Check that:
- The folders match your collection names (if you used Instagram collections)
- The files open and display correctly
- The number of files roughly matches the number of saves in your export
Step 4: Now you can delete your account
Once you've verified your backup, you can delete your account with confidence. Your own posts were in the export. Your saved posts, liked posts, and collections are now on your hard drive.
Why the links in the export expire
Instagram, TikTok, and X/Twitter all serve media from their CDNs (content delivery networks) using signed URLs — links with an embedded authentication token and an expiration timestamp. These tokens typically expire within hours to days.
This is a security feature, not a bug: it ensures only authenticated sessions can access content. But it means the URLs in your data export stop working within days of receiving the ZIP. The export tells you what you saved. It doesn't give you permanent access to the content.
The timeline
- Request exports → 10 minutes to set up, hours to 48 for delivery
- Download ZIPs → minutes (do it immediately — links expire)
- Run UnplugMe → minutes for small archives, hours for large ones (runs in background)
- Verify backup → 10 minutes
- Delete accounts → once verified, you're safe
Total time: 1-3 days, mostly waiting for the exports to arrive. The actual work is minutes.
Don't forget: your saves are other people's posts
Your saved posts are content created by other people. When they delete their posts, go private, or get banned, your saves break — even if you haven't deleted your own account.
This is why backing up your saves is important even if you're not planning to leave. Every day, posts you've saved can disappear when their creators remove them. The longer you wait, the more you lose.
Back up your saves while they're still there. Don't wait until they're gone.
UnplugMe is a personal data portability tool. It reads your official platform data exports and downloads content you already have access to, using your own authenticated session. Nothing leaves your device. First 50 downloads are free — try it here.