3 Ways to Download Private Instagram Video on PC or iPhone

Updated Jun 01,2020 | by Cody

You probably know that there are many online tools or software that can help you download Instagram videos. Some Instagram influencers often switch their account between public and private. In this article, I will show you how to download private Instagram videos on iPhone or PC in 2020.

Most of the Instagram downloader tools allow you to download videos by input the URL. However, you have to follow a private Instagram account before you can view the videos and photos. That is to say, the regular way no longer works for downloading videos from Instagram's private accounts.

You can watch the video below or check the steps below texts for detailed steps. 

The truth is: you do not need any online tools or software to download videos or download photos from Instagram private account. All you need is a web browser. whether it is Chrome, Firefox, Edge or whatever.

It is very easy to download private videos or images from Instagram on a Windows PC or Mac. Let me show you how this works.

Step 1. Log in to your Instagram account and open the web page of the private video that you want to download. As for the web browser, Firefox is recommended. Others will also work.

Step 2. Right click on a blank space and select Inspect to open Developer Tools. You can also press F12 on Windows or Command + Option + I on a Mac.

Step 3. From the Developer Tools, click Network > Media. Then you will see the link to the video file, which can be used to download the video. 

Posting interesting videos can help Instagramers continually get free followers and likes. As one of those users who want to save these videos, keep reading to know how to easily download Instagram videos.

Step 4. Open the link to the video in a new tab and then you should be able to right click and save the video to your PC. If the downloadable link does not appear, reload this page.

You may need to reload the page and play the video before it starts to show results under Media tab. If there is still no results, you can click on the All tab instead of Media. From there, you definitely can find the video download URL though it will take more time. 

If you do not like the Developer Tools method, you can still directly download Instagram video on your PC without using other tools. When you open the Instagram page that contains the video you want to download, just right click and select View Source to view the source code. You can also use Ctrl + U keyboard shortcut to do that.

In the source code page, press Ctrl + F to open a search bar and search for “og:video” (without quotes). Then you will find the download link for the private Instagram video. Just open the link in a tab to download private video from Instagram on your PC.

If you want to download private images, just search for “og:image”. You can also use this method to download public Instagram videos or photos.

You probably spend more time with Instagram on your mobile device, so I have made a Siri Shortcut that allows you to download video from Instagram private account. Siri Shortcuts is one of the key features in iOS 12. You can download the Shortcuts app to explore all its potentials.

Besides the Shortcuts app, you will also need to use Safari, which I believe you all have it on your iOS device. As you know, you cannot copy the link to private photos or videos from Instagram app. As a workaround, you can use Safari instead. Follow the steps below to get started.

Step 1. Download the Shortcuts app from AppStore if you haven’t. Then get this Private IG Downloader shortcut by open the link in Safari. (the shortcut link is newly updated)

Step 2. Log in to your Instagram account from Safari. Then go to the webpage of the video that you want to download.

Step 3. Tap on the Safari Share button and select Shortcuts. If you haven’t seen the option Shortcuts, tap More to enable it first.

Step 4. Select Private IG Downloader shortcut to run it. When it is done, it will ask you where to save the video. You can save Instagram video to Camera Roll or iCloud.

The shortcut will set the page title as the video file name. If you want to set a custom name, you can edit this shortcut. Of course, you can also use this shortcut to download Instagram videos without URL. 

Whenever you find a video that you want to download using the Instagram app on iPhone, you can tap Share and run this shortcut from the Share Sheet. It is that simple. If you like, you can also copy the URL and run this shortcut to download Instagram video.

That’s how you can download private Instagram videos without copying the URL on PC or iPhone. Of course, there is online private Instagram video downloader, but it will also ask you to input the entire source code. Since you can search for it yourself, I don’t think that is quite necessary.

Now it is your turn. Which of the methods do you like more for downloading videos or photos from Instagram? Leave your thoughts in the comments. 

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