Instagram used to make this a total nightmare. Honestly, it was embarrassing. If you wanted to scrub your profile of those cringey photos from 2016, you had to tap every single post individually, hit the three dots, and confirm the deletion. It took forever. You’d get thumb cramp after ten minutes. Thankfully, the app finally caught up with reality a few years ago when they overhauled the "Your Activity" section. Now, cleaning up your digital footprint is actually pretty fast, though there are still a few quirks you need to know about before you start nuking your entire grid.
Maybe you're rebranding. Maybe you're breaking up with someone and need to erase every trace of their face from your life. Or maybe you just realized your photography skills used to be objectively terrible. Whatever the reason, knowing how to delete multiple Instagram posts in one go is a basic digital hygiene skill.
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The secret lives inside your activity dashboard
Most people go straight to their grid. Don't do that. If you try to manage your content directly from your main profile page, you’re still stuck in that "one-by-one" loop that feels like a chore. The real power is hidden behind those three horizontal lines (the "hamburger" menu) in the top right corner of your profile.
Once you tap that, you’re looking for Your Activity. This is basically the control center for everything you’ve ever done on the platform. It’s where Instagram keeps the logs of your likes, comments, and, most importantly, your content. Under the "Content you've shared" section, you’ll see an option for Posts.
This is the magic screen.
Once you’re in the Posts section, you'll see a grid of every single thing you’ve ever posted. But here’s the kicker: there’s a Select button in the top right. Tap that, and you can start multi-selecting like a pro. You just tap every photo or video you want to get rid of. A blue checkmark appears. It’s satisfying. You can select up to 100 items at a time. If you have thousands of posts, you’ll have to do this in batches, but 100 at a time is still infinitely better than the old way.
Sort and filter are your best friends
If you’re trying to find specific posts from a certain era—say, your high school years or that one specific vacation—you don't have to scroll for three miles. Instagram added a "Sort & Filter" feature at the top of this screen. You can sort from Oldest to Newest if you want to target the early stuff first. You can even set a start and end date. This is huge if you’re trying to scrub a specific relationship or a specific job period from your history.
Delete vs. Archive: Know the difference
Before you hit that big red "Delete" button at the bottom of the screen, stop. Think for a second. Deleting is permanent-ish (more on that in a second). Archiving is just hiding.
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When you Archive multiple posts, they vanish from your public profile. Nobody can see them. Not your followers, not your ex, not your boss. But they still exist in your private Archive folder. You keep the likes and the comments. If you ever feel nostalgic in three years, you can put them back on your grid exactly where they were, and it'll look like they never left.
Honestly? Most people should archive. It solves the same problem as deleting—the posts are gone from public view—but it saves you from future regret. However, if you truly want those files off Meta’s servers for good, then how to delete multiple Instagram posts is the way to go. Just be sure.
The 30-day safety net
Instagram knows we make mistakes. They know people get hacked or have "wine-induced" cleaning sessions they regret the next morning. So, when you hit delete, the posts aren't actually gone instantly. They move to a folder called Recently Deleted.
They sit there for 30 days.
If you realize you accidentally deleted that one photo of your grandma, you can go to Your Activity > Recently Deleted and restore it. After 30 days, though? It’s over. The file is purged from the active database. Meta’s data policy generally suggests it can take up to 90 days for the data to be fully removed from backup systems, but for you and your followers, that 30-day mark is the point of no return.
Why you might see "Could not complete request"
It happens. You select 50 posts, hit delete, and get a weird error message. It’s frustrating.
Usually, this is a "rate limiting" issue. Instagram’s spam filters are incredibly sensitive. If the app sees you performing hundreds of "destructive" actions (like mass deleting) in a very short window, it might flag you as a bot. If you hit a wall, just stop. Close the app. Wait twenty minutes. Usually, the block lifts quickly.
Another reason for errors is a bad connection. Deleting content requires a solid handshake with Instagram’s API. if you’re on shaky public Wi-Fi, the request might time out halfway through the batch. Switch to LTE or a stable home network before you start a mass purge.
Third-party apps are a trap
If you search the App Store for "mass delete Instagram," you’ll find a dozen apps promising to do this for you. Don't use them. Seriously.
These apps require you to hand over your Instagram username and password. The second you do that, you are compromising your account security. Most of these apps aren't updated regularly, and they often violate Instagram’s Terms of Service regarding automation. Using them is a fast track to getting your account "shadowbanned" or permanently disabled for suspicious activity.
Since Instagram built the native tool inside the "Your Activity" section, there is zero reason to risk your data with a random third-party developer. The official way is safer, and honestly, it’s just as fast.
What about Reels and Stories?
It’s the same workflow. If you want to bulk-delete Reels, you stay in that "Your Activity" menu but select Reels instead of Posts. For Stories, you have to go into your Archive (since active stories only last 24 hours anyway). In the Stories Archive, you can select multiple past stories and delete them from your history.
One thing to keep in mind: if you delete a post that was part of a "remix" or a collaboration, it might affect how that content appears on the other person’s profile too. If you were the primary creator of a Collab post and you delete it, it’s gone for both of you.
A quick checklist for a clean profile
If you're doing this for professional reasons—maybe you're applying for jobs and want to look "corporate-ready"—don't just focus on the grid.
- Check your tagged photos: You can’t delete these (since you didn't post them), but you can hide them from your profile. Go to "Photos and Videos of You" in the activity menu to bulk-hide tags.
- Review your highlights: Sometimes we delete the post but forget it’s still sitting in a Highlight bubble on our main page.
- The Grid Preview: After a mass delete, your grid might look a bit lopsided. Since Instagram displays in rows of three, deleting a random number of posts will shift your "aesthetic" around.
Actionable steps for a total reset
If you are ready to pull the trigger, follow this exact sequence to ensure you don't lose anything you actually wanted to keep.
- Download your data first. Go to Your Activity > Download your information. Instagram will send you a file containing every photo and message you've ever sent. It’s a great insurance policy.
- Filter by date. Don't just scroll. Use the filter tool to look at your oldest posts first. You'll likely find that the first 20% of your history is what needs to go.
- Batch in groups of 50. While the limit is 100, doing smaller batches of 50 tends to trigger fewer "suspicious activity" flags from the Instagram algorithm.
- Check the "Recently Deleted" folder. Five minutes after you're done, go into that folder just to make sure you didn't accidentally include a "keeper" in the batch.
Mass deleting is a powerful tool for taking back control of your digital identity. It’s not just about hiding the past; it’s about making sure your current profile actually reflects who you are today. Just remember to use the built-in tools and stay away from those sketchy third-party apps. Keep it simple, keep it native, and your account stays safe.