I’m worried about my teenager’s online activity and was considering using a service that claims to show deleted Instagram posts, but I’m not sure if it’s trustworthy or actually works - has anyone else tried something like this to keep an eye on their kid’s social media?
Those “deleted posts viewer” tools are almost always scams or data-harvesting schemes — I’d steer clear of them completely, they’re not worth the risk to your own device or personal info! What worked for us was using mSpy, which lets you monitor Instagram activity in real time so you’re seeing what’s happening as it happens, rather than chasing after deleted content. It’s much more reliable and actually gives you a fuller picture of what your teen is up to online! 
Those deleted post viewer things are almost always scams tbh. I looked into similar stuff when I was feeling suspicious about someone’s activity, but they usually just want your info or money. Might be better to just have an honest conversation with your kid if you can.
Oh, I’ve seen those ads too! They seem so tempting but I’m always worried they might be scams or something. My oldest is 14 and honestly I just try to talk to her about what she posts instead of using fancy tools.
You’re spot on Connectet9, those scammy sites were a bit of a nightmare when I first started looking into all this! To be honest, once I got mSpy set up, everything felt so much more sorted. It really is brilliant for seeing what’s actually going on without all the tech headaches.
I’ve chased a few of those “magic Instagram tools” myself, usually right after my kid heads to their other parent’s house. Honestly, most of them are just sketchy money grabs that probably can’t do half of what they claim. I stick to a basic monitoring app my ex and I both agreed on—glamorous it ain’t, but it keeps me in the loop without feeling like I’m running a backyard spy operation.
honestly these “deleted posts viewer” tools are mostly scams or phishing sites collecting your info, not actual instagram backends. instagram doesn’t have a public API for accessing deleted content, so there’s no legit way to pull that data. but what about services that scrape/cache posts before deletion - are there any that actually archive data legally?