In this article
If you've landed on Instaustad for the first time, it's not always obvious which of the five tools does what, or what kind of link each one expects. This walkthrough covers all five in order, so you can bookmark it and come back whenever you need a refresher.
Five Specialized Tools
One simple rule: matched link types for public content only.
Post Captions
This tool is for public photo and carousel posts — the standard grid-style posts, not Reels. Open the post on Instagram, tap the share icon, and choose "Copy link." Paste that link into the Post Captions tool, and it displays the caption text in a clean, readable view you can copy or save as a plain text file. It only works on posts that are currently public; if the account is private, or the post has been deleted, there's nothing to show.
Best Used For:
This is the right tool when you want to reference, study, or archive the written caption from a specific post — not the image itself, just the text.
Reel Captions
Nearly identical in process, but built specifically for Reels. Reel links follow a different URL pattern than photo posts (instagram.com/reel/... instead of instagram.com/p/...), so this tool is tuned to recognize and handle that format correctly.
Copy the reel's link the same way, through the share menu, and paste it in. You'll get the caption text, any hashtags included, and a character/word count, which is handy if you're studying caption length patterns across a creator's content.
DP Viewer
This one works with usernames or profile links rather than post links. Enter a public username or paste a profile URL, and the tool shows you that account's current profile picture at full resolution, rather than the small circular thumbnail you'd normally see.
This is useful for checking details that are hard to make out at thumbnail size — verifying it's actually the person or brand you think it is, for instance, which matters if you're trying to confirm an account isn't an impersonator.
Profile Picture Viewer
Closely related to the DP Viewer, but focused on saving a copy of the picture rather than just previewing it, for profiles where doing so is permitted. Same input — a public username or profile link — but the result includes a way to download the image.
A quick but important note on rights:
Having access to view or save a public image doesn't automatically mean you have the right to reuse it elsewhere. Profile pictures, like any other content, belong to the person or brand who posted them.
Bio Viewer
The simplest of the five. Enter a public username, and the tool displays that account's bio text in full — useful when you're studying how accounts in your niche structure their bio, or when you want to quote someone's stated title or affiliation accurately in something you're writing.
A few things that apply across all five tools
None of them require you to log into Instagram, and none of them ever ask for your password — that's true by design, not by accident, and we've written a separate article on exactly why that matters.
All five only work with content that's currently public; if an account is private, deleted, or restricted, none of our tools can retrieve anything from it, the same way you couldn't see that content by visiting Instagram directly while logged out.
Quick URL Cheat Sheet
Post Captions Tool
Reel Captions Tool
DP / Profile / Bio Viewers
No Instagram password is required to read this independent guide.