Threads

What you'll get

Before you start

1. Use a phone. On threads.com in a mobile browser: the menu top left, then Settings, then Account, then Download your information. Meta's own article states this feature is not available on computers, so any guide telling you to use a laptop browser is describing a route that does not exist.
2. The app route is different and goes out through Instagram. Instagram app, Profile, menu top right, Accounts Center, Your information and permissions, Export your information.
3. Do not be surprised if Threads is not listed as its own selection. It usually arrives bundled under the Instagram profile, and Meta notes that Threads in Accounts Center is not available in every region. This is the most common reason for "there is no Threads option".
4. Know the password for the profile you are exporting. Meta asks for the password of the selected profile, not just whichever account you happen to be signed into.

How to download

1. Choose JSON, not HTML. Nothing that reads your data will parse the HTML version, and getting this wrong means starting the export again.
2. Take all of it in one request. Different requests can include different categories, so a second export is not automatically more complete than the first.
3. Set the media quality on purpose. Higher quality means a larger download, and selecting fewer categories makes it smaller.
4. Meta emails you when the file is ready. Their stated figure is up to 30 days, though most people get it well before that. Check spam.
5. You then have four days to download it. That is short enough to miss, and missing it means requesting again from scratch. The file also sits in the Available downloads section inside the app if the email goes astray.

After the download

• Posts and replies share one file. threads_and_replies.json holds both, which is tidy and also means you have to read the timestamps and parent references to tell a top-level post from a reply.
• Your own media comes down as actual files in a media folder, but only at the quality you chose. A JSON-oriented export may leave the binaries out entirely.
• There are no metrics on your own posts. No likes received, no comment counts, no reshare numbers. The archive is your content and nothing at all about how it performed.
• You do not get anyone else's content. Meta says so plainly for this export, and it covers being tagged in somebody else's photo as much as it covers replies.
• Deleted posts are gone. Meta says deleted data may be held briefly for safety but will not appear in the download.
• Followers and following arrive as usernames with timestamps rather than anything you can reconcile against another platform, so a rename since the export makes that file ambiguous.
• The follower and following lists get chunked into numbered files once they grow long, which is a reliable way to miss most of them if you assume a single file.
• Nothing here is officially documented at the file level. The filenames come from people who have parsed real exports rather than from Meta, so if one of those files matters to you, open it and look rather than trusting the list.
• Meta will not delete a Threads account for you. You have to sign in and request it, the request is cancellable until the 30-day deadline, and after that it is permanent and you can no longer retrieve anything.
• Deleting Threads does not touch your Instagram or Facebook account.
• Store the archive in ProtonDrive or pCloud for an off-site backup
• Not sure where to store your export? See our backup guide.