How to unsave Instagram posts, including several at once
1,400 saved posts. Nine hundred of them are recipes you will never cook. Time for a spring clean, even if it is autumn.
Can I unsave all my Instagram posts at once?
There is no official “unsave all” button. What works: open your profile, the menu, Saved and then “All posts.” Behind the three dots at the top, many app versions offer “Select.” Use it to mark several posts and remove them from your saves together.
Selecting tends to be quicker on iPhone than on Android, where Instagram does not offer multi select the same way in every version. You can always remove a single post with the bookmark under it. One tap and the save is gone.
Three ways, depending on how much has to go
One by one with the bookmark
Open the post and tap the filled bookmark at the bottom right. Done. Perfect when one particular post is annoying you.
Several with “Select”
Saved, “All posts,” three dots at the top, “Select.” Tap the tiles that should go and confirm at the bottom. With a huge number of saves, do it in rounds, otherwise the app tends to get sluggish.
A whole collection gone
Deleting a collection removes the collection itself. Depending on the version, the app asks whether the posts should also leave “All posts.” Read that dialog twice.
When unsaving does not work
Select is missing
You are probably inside a single collection instead of “All posts,” or your app version does not offer multi select yet. Update the app and check “All posts” again.
Removed, but back again
This often happens on a bad connection or when you remove a lot very fast. Instagram simply did not take the change. Close the app, wait a moment, check again.
Grey tiles will not open
Those are usually posts that were deleted or made private. They often vanish from your saves on their own. If not, multi select helps, because you can still mark them there.
Not much works on a computer
In the browser you can see your saves, but clearing out at scale is an app thing. Browser extensions promising “unsave all” need your login. We would think twice about that.
Before you go full declutter
Save a few things somewhere else first. Not everything. Just the ones where you think “oh, right” while scrolling past. The café, the hike, that one recipe with miso.
If you want to know what is even in there before you delete: Instagram lets you export your data, including a list of your saved posts with links. It is not a copy of the photos, but it is a backup of the links. The export guide shows how.
So it does not hit 1,400 again
Save on purpose
Ask yourself what it is for when you save. “Someday” is not an occasion. “When mum visits” is.
Small collections
Rather “recipes under 30 minutes” than “food.” The narrower the name, the more likely you will find something later.
Pull out the ideas you actually want to do
Anything that should become an actual plan goes to Swiva via share. It lands in a list with a note and you can swipe through what fits today. The rest can stay in Instagram.
What Swiva cannot do here
Swiva does not delete anything in your Instagram and cannot see your saves. There is no import of your whole collection. You decide post by post what to share over.
A few quick answers
Does anyone notice when I unsave their post?
No. Your saved posts are private and unsaving triggers no notification. Shared collections are the exception, because everyone in them can see what is inside.
Where is multi select?
Profile, menu, Saved, “All posts” and then the three dots at the top. Many app versions show “Select” there. If it is missing, an app update usually helps.
Does deleting a collection also unsave the posts?
Not automatically. The collection is gone, the posts usually stay in “All posts.” Depending on the version, the app asks what should happen to them.
Is there a safe app that unsaves everything?
You would have to give a third party tool your Instagram login. Instagram itself offers no “unsave all.” Multi select in the app is slower, but you hand nothing over.
Can I restore saves I removed?
No, there is no bin for saves. If you exported your data beforehand, you at least still have the links to the posts.
Your next good idea gets to stay.
Save it to Swiva and come back to it when you actually have time for it.
Free to download, for iPhone and Android.