How to Open Drafts on Instagram

You’ve spent time perfecting a photo, color-grading a Reel, or writing out a detailed caption, only to get interrupted. No problem - you hit Save Draft on Instagram, trusting you can come back to it later. But when you return to the app, your masterpiece is nowhere to be found. This article will show you exactly where Instagram stores your drafts for Posts, Reels, and Stories, and what to do if they seem to have disappeared.

Where Are My Instagram Drafts? The Secret Isn't Where You Think

The number one reason people can't find their drafts is that they're looking in the wrong place. Logically, you might check your settings or scour your profile for a "Drafts" folder. But Instagram hides drafts within the content creation flow itself. To find your drafts, you have to act like you're starting a brand new post. This simple mind-shift is the key to rediscovering your saved work.

Because they are saved locally on your device, you also need to use the same phone or tablet you used to create the draft in the first place. Drafts won't sync between devices or to the desktop version of Instagram.

How to Find Feed Post Drafts (Photos and Videos)

Saved a feed post with the perfect filter and a killer caption? Rediscovering it is simple if you know these steps. Feed post drafts include single images, carousels, and regular video posts.

1. Tap the + icon at the bottom of your screen to open the post creator, just like you would to create a new post.
2. Ensure you're on the Post tab at the bottom.
3. At the top of your phone's media gallery, you’ll see two tabs: Recents and Drafts. This is where your unfinished posts are waiting for you.
4. Tap on Drafts to see everything you’ve saved. If you have more than a few, you might see a Manage button on the right. Tap that to see thumbnails of all your saved post drafts.
5. Select the draft you want to continue working on. You can now make further edits to the media, rewrite your caption, or hit the Share button to publish it.

Remember, this folder only contains your feed post drafts. If you’re looking for a half-finished Reel, read on.

How to Find Your Reel Drafts (Two Easy Methods)

Reels are the engine of Instagram growth for many creators, so losing a draft can feel especially frustrating. Luckily, Instagram gives you two straightforward ways to access them.

Method 1: Find Reel Drafts Through the Reel Creation Tab

This method is nearly identical to finding feed post drafts and works perfectly if you’re already in the content creation mindset.

1. Tap the + icon at the bottom of the screen.
2. Slide the bottom menu over to the Reel tab.
3. On the Reel creation screen, look for the gallery icon in the bottom-left corner. Next to it, you'll see a folder labeled Drafts.
4. Tap Drafts. A new screen will pop up showcasing all of your saved Reel drafts.
5. Tap on the Reel you want to edit and you can pick up right where you left off.

Method 2: Find Reel Drafts Directly From Your Profile

For more frequent creators, this is often the faster way to get back to work. Instagram creates a dedicated, visible Drafts folder for your Reels right on your profile.

1. Navigate to your profile page by tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Tap the Reels tab icon (it looks like a clapperboard) located right below your bio, alongside your feed grid icon.
3. The very first item shown, before any of your published Reels, will be a folder named Drafts. It will even show a count of how many drafts are inside.
4. Tap this folder, and you’ll see all your saved video drafts. Select the one you want and get back to creating!

What About Instagram Story Drafts?

For a long time, Story drafts didn't really exist. If you backed out, your progress was gone for good. Thankfully, Instagram has added a similar feature, but it works slightly differently than Posts or Reels.

When you create a Story with text, stickers, or any edits and then hit the back button to exit, Instagram will now offer you three choices: Discard, Save Draft, or Cancel. If you choose Save Draft, your progress is saved.

Unlike Reels, there is no permanent Drafts folder for Stories on your profile. To find a Story draft, simply go to create a new Story. When you open the Story camera, a small pop-up should appear at the bottom asking, "Continue editing a draft?" with options to view your drafts or start a new story.

Heads up: Instagram Story drafts are temporary. They are automatically deleted after seven days. This makes them great for quick edits but less reliable for long-term planning.

Troubleshooting: Why Can't I Find My Instagram Drafts?

What if you've followed the steps and your drafts are still missing? Don't panic. There are a few common reasons why this might happen, and some of them have simple fixes.

1. They Are Saved Locally and Only on One Device

This is the most common pitfall. Instagram drafts are saved to the local storage of the device you used to create them - not to your account in the cloud. If you saved a draft on your iPhone, you will not see it if you log into the same account on an iPad or your friend's Android phone. To access it, you must use the original device.

2. You Logged Out, or Uninstalled and Reinstalled the App

Because drafts are stored locally, logging out of your Instagram account on that device often deletes all your saved drafts. For the same reason, deleting and reinstalling the app will almost certainly wipe them out for good. It's a system limitation that makes native Instagram drafts feel a little unreliable for work you can't afford to lose.

3. You Were Logged Into the Wrong Account

If you manage multiple Instagram profiles (e.g., a personal account and a business account), it's easy to accidentally save a draft while logged into one account and then look for it while logged into another. Double-check that you're in the correct profile before you start searching.

4. The App Was Recently Updated

Though less common now than it used to be, a major app update can sometimes interfere with draft storage or change the user interface, making drafts harder to find. If your drafts disappeared right after an update, it's unfortunately possible they were cleared out during the process.

Pro Tips for Using Instagram Drafts in Your Workflow

Now that you know how to find them, you can start using drafts as a powerful content creation tool instead of just an emergency backup. Integrating drafts into your workflow can save you time and make your content more intentional.

• Content Batching: This is the single biggest advantage of drafts. Set aside a few hours one day to shoot several Reels and create multiple graphics for your feed. Edit them, write captions, and save them all as drafts. Over the next week or two, you can simply open the drafts folder, make any final adjustments (like adding a trending audio to a Reel), and publish. This transforms social media from a daily scramble into a planned and efficient process.
• Ideation &, "The Holding Pen": Hear a trending audio you want to use later? See a cool transition you want to try? Don't just save the audio. Quickly film the first few clips of a Reel idea and save it as a draft. Your drafts folder can become a visual idea bank - a place to hold your half-formed ideas until inspiration strikes to finish them.
• Polling for Outside Opinions: Not sure which cover photo to use for a Reel or whether a text overlay is easy to read? Save a draft and show it to a friend or teammate on your phone before you publish it to the world. It’s a low-risk way to get a second opinion.
• Editing and Refining Your Captions: The first version of a caption isn't always the best. Saving a post as a draft lets you step away for an hour or a day. When you come back to it with fresh eyes, you’re more likely to catch typos, think of a better hook, or add a more effective call to action.

By treating drafts as a strategic tool, you can create a more organized and stress-free content system, turning what was once a source of frantic searching into a planned step in your process.

Final Thoughts

So, the mystery is solved. To find your Instagram drafts for Posts or Reels, you just have to start the process of creating a new one. Remember that drafts are tied to your specific device, which means they’re an imperfect solution for a planned content strategy, especially if you're working with a team.

The "local-only" limit of in-app drafts is exactly why we built Postbase. Losing a brilliant piece of content just because you had to switch devices or a teammate wanted to give feedback felt broken. That’s why we offer a visual content calendar where your entire strategy - drafts, ideas, and scheduled posts - lives in one place that’s accessible by your whole team, on any device. That way, your content drafts serve your strategy instead of being trapped on one phone.

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