Do you want to see the exact time of an Instagram post?
Maybe you want to find out the exact time that you posted a photo on Instagram.
Or maybe you want to find out the exact time that someone else posted on Instagram.
When you post something on Instagram, it will show how long ago it was posted (e.g. 1 second, 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day).
If you’ve posted something over a week ago, it will show the date of the post instead (e.g. 18 December).
However, it does not show the time that it was posted.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to see the exact date and time of an Instagram post in 4 easy steps.
- How to see the exact time of an Instagram post
- How do you find out when a picture was taken on Instagram?
- How do I search for posts by date on Instagram?
How to see the exact time of an Instagram post
To see the exact time of an Instagram post, view the post on a desktop, right-click the date, select “inspect”, copy the timestamp, and convert it.
After you’ve converted the timestamp, you’ll be able to see when the photo or video was posted in “RFC 2822 time” format.
If you don’t convert the timestamp, it will not be easily readable.
However, you can only do this on a desktop as you need to open the developer tools.
You won’t be able to do this on the Instagram app as you won’t be able to see the post’s elements.
Below is a step-by-step on how you can do this.
Step #1: View the Instagram post on a desktop
Go to instagram.com > log in > navigate to the post.
Firstly, go to instagram.com on a desktop and log in to your account.
Do note that you cannot use the Instagram app for this as you’re required to inspect the page.
Similarly, you won’t be able to use Instagram on your mobile device’s browser as well.
Once you’re on Instagram, navigate to the post that you’re curious about.
If you found the post on the Instagram app, you can copy its link by tapping on the “triple-dots” icon and tapping on “Copy Link”.
Then send the link to yourself via Email, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.
If you’re on the user’s profile, click on the post to expand it.
On the other hand, if you’re already viewing the post, you don’t have to click it again.
You’ve completed the first step of the guide—viewing the Instagram post on a desktop.
In the next step, you’ll learn how to inspect the date and time of the post.
Step #2: Highlight, right-click the date, and select “inspect”
Date/time of post > highlight > right-click > inspect.
Once you’re viewing an Instagram post, you’ll see a date under its likes (e.g. November 13).
However, if the photo or video was posted less than a week ago, it’ll show the seconds, minutes, hours, or days since it was posted instead.
Next, highlight the date, and right-click on it.
A pop-up will then be opened containing multiple options—copy, search, print, and inspect.
Click on “Inspect” to inspect the date.
You’ve completed the second step of the guide—inspecting the post.
In the next step, you’ll learn how to find and copy the timestamp of the post.
Step #3: Copy the timestamp in the “datetime” element
Navigate to the “datetime” element > double-click and copy the timestamp.
After you’ve inspected the date of the post in the previous step, the developer tools will open.
On the developer tools, you’ll land on the “Elements” tab.
On the “Elements” tab, you’ll see a ton of elements in HTML.
However, don’t be overwhelmed by this as you only need to copy one of it—the “datetime” element.
If you’ve right-clicked and inspected the date of the post from the previous step, the “datetime” element will be highlighted for you.
Double-click the timestamp inside the quotation marks (e.g. “2020-11-13T14:00:14.000Z”) and copy it using CTRL + C.
If the element is not highlighted, you must have inspected outside of the date.
To resolve this, close the developer tools, highlight the date, right-click it, and click on “inspect” again.
You’ve successfully copied the Instagram post’s timestamp.
In the final step, you’ll learn how to convert the timestamp into a more readable one.
Step #4: Convert the timestamp using an online converter
Coder’s Toolbox unixtimestamp > paste timestamp in “ISO 8601 time” > view converted time in “RFC 2822 time”.
The final step is to convert the timestamp that you’ve copied in the previous step and converting it into a more readable one.
In order to do that, you need to use an online converter.
Use a UNIX time stamp converter like Coder’s Toolbox unixtimestamp.
Then, paste the timestamp in the “ISO 8601 time” field.
After you’ve pasted the timestamp in the “ISO 8601 time” field, check the result (converted date and time) in the “RRFCC 2822 time” field.
The result in the “RRFCC 2822 time” field will be a more readable one.
You should get a date and time that looks like this, “Fri, 13 Nov 2020 22:00:14 +08:00”.
“Fri” is the day that the photo or video was posted, and “13 Nov 2020” is the time that it was posted.
Lastly, “22:00:14 +08:00” is the exact time that the photo or video was posted.
Congrats, you’ve successfully found out the exact date and time of the Instagram post.
How do you find out when a picture was taken on Instagram?
When a picture is posted on Instagram, the date and time at which it was posted can be seen under its comments.
Hence, you can find out when a picture was taken on Instagram by looking at its date/time under the comment section.
For example, if a picture was posted an hour ago, the timestamp, “1 hour ago” will be shown.
However, if a picture was posted more than a week ago, the timestamp will be changed to the date at which it was posted instead (e.g. December 23).
When the picture is more than a year old, the year that it was posted will be shown.
Alternatively, you can inspect the date and time of the post by navigating and inspecting it on a desktop.
How do I search for posts by date on Instagram?
There isn’t a feature on Instagram where you can search for posts by date as there isn’t a filter for it.
When you post something on Instagram, the date and time of the photo or video will be shown.
However, you cannot search for it by date on the Instagram app—you have to use a third-party app for this.
You can only search for stories by date in the archive section of Instagram.
To access your story archives, navigate to your profile > menu > Archive > Stories archive > calendar tab.
Once you’re on the calendar tab, you can scroll through it and see the dates when you posted a story.
Conclusion
Finding out when an Instagram photo or video was posted is simple.
All you have to do is to navigate to the post and check the date and time under it.
However, if you want to know the exact time of an Instagram post, you need to follow the steps above instead.
On the other hand, if you want to know when a story was posted, you can simply head over to your stories’ archive.
Your posts’ archive does not show the exact date of your posts, so there’s no point viewing it as it’s redundant.
Further Reading
How to Know When An Instagram Account Was Created
Can Someone See That I Viewed Their Instagram Highlight?
How to See How Many Videos a YouTube Channel Has
Lim How Wei is the founder of Followchain. Feel free to follow him on Instagram.
