Instagram Stories is a feature that was launched back in 2016 as a way to compete with the rapidly growing Snapchat. Over time, it has evolved and become a place where individuals, brands, and influencers hang out and share their perspectives of the world.
The thing is that stories don’t last more than a day unless you save them as a highlight. If it’s not your account then that interesting story may be gone forever. At least, that’s what it meant in the past.
With newer apps like StoriesDown, this is no longer a real challenge because it allows you to circumvent some of the restrictions Instagram has put in place. In this guide, we’ll dive into what you can and cannot do with StoriesDown, whether it’s a legit application, or a scam to avoid.
Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. However, this does not impact our comparisons and recommendations. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.
Table of Contents
Storiesdown overview
StoriesDown is a relatively new application launched at the beginning of 2021 that allows users to download almost any Instagram Stories video directly to their device. Even if they don’t wish to download videos or images from Instagram Stories, they can download the content that has been uploaded to the profile of an account.
The platform is anonymous which means you don’t have to log in or otherwise present any other information before you can start using it. With that being said, it is monetized with ads so make sure you don’t click on the wrong thing while using it.
Features & Functionality
It has a few core features and some auxiliary features that make it more interesting to use. Keep in mind that it’s a bare-bones application that does one thing well and not much else.
Download Instagram stories
As mentioned previously, you’re able to download Instagram Story videos and images using StoriesDown. Like viewing a story within the Instagram app, you only have access to the content that was posted in the last 24 hours. If there’s nothing posted within that timeframe then StoriesDown will tell you there’s nothing to fetch.
Download Instagram posts
In addition to downloading Stories, you can also download the posts that an account uploads to their page. This includes the image and video posts – it’s all fair game.
For both the Instagram stories and the Instagram posts, you can only access them if the account is publicly available. If they’ve set the account to private then StoriesDown will say there are no posts available.
Anonymous to use
One of the biggest benefits of StoriesDown is that it’s 100% anonymous. You do not have to create an account, log in with your Instagram account, or otherwise identify yourself. Just navigate to the website and download the Instagram story or post you’re interested in.
Works on most devices
Another benefit of StoriesDown is that it will be compatible with most devices that you want to use it with. Whether that’s a laptop, phone, tablet device, etc. makes little to no difference to the application. It’s browser-based, mobile-friendly, and gets the job done in most cases.
Free
You can’t beat this price tag. Of course, it makes money in a different way which is by displaying ads on its website. It also doesn’t have a cookie consent banner which means you’ll be tracked whether you want it or not. It partners with Google as its advertising provider and we all know how Google treats users – as data points. On a side note, Google is being sued by multiple states for persistent tracking.
Ease of use
One thing the platform has going for it is the super simple ease of use. As mentioned before, there are no requirements to log in before you can get started. All you need to do is find the username of the account you’re interested in and paste it into the search box. Here’s how the process works.
How to download Instagram stories with Storiesdown
- Navigate to storiesdown.com
- Past the username in the search box of the homepage without the @
- After it loads, choose whether you want to look at stories or at photos
- When you find the one you want, click the download link below it
The download will begin automatically after clicking the link.
Customer support
The platform does have a contact us link in the footer, but, keep in mind that the software works as-is. If you find a page that the tool cannot download from then support isn’t much help. When I emailed them, it took a while to get a response and, even then, it wasn’t very helpful.
It’s important to note that the software is free and relatively simple so there aren’t many opportunities to communicate with support. You can request that your profile is removed from the service via a contact form at the bottom of the page. That’s about the extent of the assistance.
Is Storiesdown safe?
This is a bit iffy in my opinion. It works as advertised and allows you to download Instagram videos. In that regard, it’s safe and my antivirus software didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary when I scanned the download file.
There is no about page revealing who the company is run by and the blog posts are all written anonymously. The privacy policy and terms of service do not refer to an address of the company but it seems to be based in the Netherlands because that is the applicable law. Then again, it could have chosen that country because they found it looked the best to visitors – I don’t know.
Taking all these things into consideration, it seems StoriesDown works as advertised, isn’t forthcoming about who’s running it, and may not last very long.
Want to grow your Instagram account instead?
If you’re looking at other accounts as inspiration for your own, there are a few tools that will make it much easier to grow your brand. These include but aren’t limited to:
- Inflact (formerly Ingramer): Read the full review here.
- Instazood: Read the full review here.
- Kicksta: Read the full review here.
- Upleap: Read the full review here.
They’re all Instagram growth services that’ll help you optimize your account and activities to get the biggest benefit with the least amount of effort.
Conclusion
StoriesDown is a simple application that works as advertised. You can download Instagram stories without logging in or including your personal account details. It doesn’t work with private accounts though so keep that in mind.
To answer the question ‘Is StoriesDown a scam?’ I’d say no. It’s not a scam because it does what it says it will do. With that being said, it’s not the most reputable service either. It has zero social presence, no humans seem to be associated with the site, and support is through a Gmail account. My recommendation? Use the service sparingly or not at all.