It might seem like your DMs have disappeared with someone and you've lost an entire history of conversations with them, but that's not the case. You just experience a temporary error that prevents you from loading previous messages, but it will go away soon.
How to Fix Failed to Load Previous Messages on Instagram (2024)
When Instagram says Failed to load previous messages, it means you tried to load previous messages while the app crashed or you had no internet connection. When the app crashes, an error message appears to users trying to use Instagram. If there is a problem with your internet connection, you will also receive this message.
When Instagram performs routine maintenance, this can cause issues with the app and how users interact with it, which is why you're seeing this error.
When you see this error, you need to wait a few hours for them to put the app back on the server. Once this is done, you should no longer get the error message when you try to scroll to the top of your Instagram chats.
