I am trying to get some details ( username, description, Posts Count, total likes & total comments ) from Instagram user*

Question

I am trying to get some details ( username, description, Posts Count, total likes & total comments ) from Instagram user

1. First i get the code from api.instagram.com with scope user_profile and user_media https://api.instagram.com/oauth/authorize?client_id={appId}&redirect_uri={redirectUri}&scope=user_profile,user_media&response_type=code

2. After the user accepts the permission and allows the sharing of information it I got the code in my redirectUri.

3. then using that code and developer auth details I get the access_token by

   https://api.instagram.com/oauth/access_token endpoint with fields client_id, redirect_uri, grant_type = authorization_code, client_secret and the code. in response, I got the user_id and the access_token.

4. Then I try to get the username and user details by calling the below endpoint Refrence

   https://graph.instagram.com/me?fields=id,username&access_token={access_token} . in response, I got the username and id.

5. Now I am not sure how to get the details like ( username, description, Posts Count, total likes & total comments ).

What I have tried

1. I try to get the details by calling the https://www.instagram.com/someone/?__a=1 it works fine sometimes but now it's not returning anything.
2. Instagram Graph Api in this I am getting the error the access token is not valid. ( not sure which access token to user Instagrams or facebooks )

Answer 1

You're currently using the Instagram Basic Display APIs ( official docs ) which are highly limited and do not include any of the information you seek, apart from the username .

Instagram chose not to include this information in the Instagram Basic Display APIs, while they offer them in the Instagram Graph API ( official docs ) instead.

However, the Instagram Graph API only works with Business and Creators accounts, therefore you can not use it for most Instagram users.

Furthermore the 2 APIs do not communicate with each other, so you can not use the Basic Display Token on the Graph token, even if the user is business.

Bottom line:

• if you're planning to retrieve this information for normal users (non-business and non-creators), you won't be able to use any official API
• if you're planning to retrieve this information only for business or creator accounts, you need to switch your entire logic to the Instagram Graph API , including the login flow, which needs to happen via Facebook => Page connected to IG.

It's a pity, I know, but that's the current situation.

EDIT: scraping from https://www.instagram.com/someone/?__a=1 is very complicated, Instagram has a great anti-crawling policy and will block scraping very well.